A lovely arrangement from inside Hallgrímskirkja, in Reykjavik. Sunlight passing through the congruent window on the opposite side of the church creates what looks like a translation. I wonder if there’s a time of year when the images match up exactly?
I’m thrilled to be a part of the upcoming Jaipur Literature Festival in New York City, where I’ll be in conversation with mathematician and novelist Manil Suri. Manil’s latest book, The Big Bang of Numbers, is a tour of mathematics from the ground up, allowing the reader to the experience of the power of mathematical creation as Manil constructs the universe using only math. It is a fun, friendly, and one-of-a-kind book.
In our JLF session A Universe Built on Math, Manil and I will be talking about math, writing, teaching, and everything in between. The talk is happening on September 13th at 4:30 pm at the Asia Society. All the details can be found here.
I wrote a column for Quanta Magazine on the recently discovered “hat tile”, the first ever aperiodic monotile!
Have you ever admired how the slats of a hardwood floor fit together so cleanly, or how the hexagons underneath your bathroom rug perfectly meet up? These are examples of geometric tilings, arrangements of shapes that fit snugly together while filling up space. Two-dimensional tilings are admired all around the world, both for their beauty — as seen in the artistry of mosaics in cathedrals and mosques around the world — and for their utility, in walls and floors everywhere.
In math, tilings are often appreciated for their regular patterns. But mathematicians also find beauty in irregularity. It’s this kind of beauty that a retired print technician was seeking when he recently discovered the first “aperiodic monotile”— a single tile that fills up the plane in a non-repeating pattern. To get a handle on this big discovery, let’s start by thinking about a simpler problem: how to tile a line.
You can read the full article for free here.
I was re-writing an introductory lesson on functions this morning and was reminded of something from years ago.
An influential teacher was telling their followers not to teach the vertical line test because it was confusing. I strongly disagreed. The vertical line test is a great way to meaningfully connect several fundamental ideas: the definition of a function, the definition of a graph, domain and range. The influencer was unmoved, but conceded slightly, saying that the topic should be handled with caution. I responded, “Yes, any time a teacher teaches something they don’t fully understand themselves, they should be cautious!”
It’s sad to know that there are teachers out there not teaching the vertical line test because someone told them it’s too confusing.
Originally posted on Mastodon.
I visited a school recently and was surprised to learn they had no cafeteria. The school requires that students bring their lunches from home which they eat in their classrooms. The school can do this because it’s a charter school and is not bound by the same laws that require public schools to ensure that all students have access to meals.
On the one hand, this is precisely the kind of freedom charter school advocates would say can drive innovation. Rather than wasting a lot of money on building and operating a cafeteria, let’s spend that money elsewhere. On the other hand, requiring that students bring their lunch every day subtly, but effectively, screens out students with unstable home environments.
Originally posted on Mastodon.