Golden ratio hardwired?

This is a rather intriguing possibility suggested by recent work reported on the New Scientist website. Why are we hardwired for beauty? Why is beauty mathematical (in this case)? Why is mathematics beautiful? How universal is all this? Is it not a little rude of me to ask so many questions without suggesting any answers?

An aegrotat from all exams?

David Corfield recently solved a little problem I posted on this blog. His name had come a few times to my notice recently, for his research work, his posts on the n-Category Café, and his book Why do People Get Ill? In a peculiar twist, when I went to our library to borrow his Towards [...]

Mathematicians collapse the world’s financial institutions

There is a grain of truth in the vast empty silo of that title. Quantitative analysts are paid well for building and interpreting mathematical models of financial markets and risk. Quants are ever-refining these models, so that they incorporate more and more of the real world. This presents two problems. First, relying heavily on mathematical [...]

Leonardo da Vinci: a fun guy

Here is a modern sculptural representation of a sketch by da Vinci, while below is a photo I took a couple of months ago of a fungus in my front garden.

For those of you with an interest in such things, it is Ileodictyon cibarium (I think).

Heterodox mathematics

Like almost any organised, hierarchical system, mathematics suffers from dogma and oppressive orthodoxy. To be fair, since mathematicians are fond of saying that organising mathematicians is a bit like herding cats, this toeing of the line is less rigidly enforced than in most other systems. Some of us have our toes to the line while [...]

Scientific tattoos

I have for a long time fancied having Euler’s identity tattoed somewhere, because to me it is the quintessential formula capturing the depth, mystery, wonder, power, and complexity of mathematics. It seems that a number of scientists like to wear their hearts on their sleeves, in some cases quite literally.

I think I might have chosen [...]

Stunning math video

Here I am rambling into the void while real mathematicians (in this case Arnold and Rogness) are producing exquisite works of modern mathematical art like this one:

Thanks to Richard Brown for bringing this to my attention. Another great math video is over here.

17=evil.

My sources* inform me that Plutarch (c.40CE-120CE) wrote that the Pythagoreans** disliked (”abominated” in one translation) the number 17 for barricading 16 from 18. Why single out 17: doesn’t any number form a barricade between two others?
The Pythagorean love of number mysticism had them linking all sorts of numbers with all sorts of gods and [...]

On the value of boredom

I’m just skimming through my Head of Department’s copy of The Problems of Mathematics* by Ian Stewart on a beautiful sunny day of the Southern Hemisphere spring. It’s a Friday, and I have a lot of work to do, but frankly I’m a little bored with all of it at the moment. Perhaps this is [...]

geometry: outside in

Well, I think it is high time we had some good old Really Hard Sums. Of course, these Sums mentioned in the address of this blog are what many people think I do all day, when truth be told mathematical thinking is much more about patterns, symmetry, and beauty. I cannot say it better nor [...]