Over the months I've been repeatedly disappointed by James Gleick's opinions on democracy, human rights and genocide

Real shame as his Chaos book was one of about 4 books from the library that inspired a very young me into a life-long fascination with mathematics and computers

:(

#gaza #democracy #uspol #genocide #humanrights #maths #science

It's Pi Day! 🥧

If you're looking to celebrate the magic of mathematics, check out the @mathematics Community Feed.

#PiDay #Math #Mathematics #Maths #Pi

How to say you're a #maths geek without saying you're a maths geek !

#Math

Does the concentration of maths degrees in high-ranked universities mean that people who might be interested in taking up a career in teaching maths will find it more difficult to access degree level maths education?

And if that is the case (as Neil Saunders argues), will we see the shortage of maths teachers worsen, the number of people who are adept at maths further decline & the UK's workforce become less able to take up highly skilled jobs?

#maths #education

https://theconversation.com/englands-maths-teacher-recruitment-problem-is-set-to-worsen-246351

Made a Christmas card featuring a bar chart of the total number of each gift given over the 12 days of Christmas in the song. 12 partridges in pear trees, 22 turtle doves and so on. #mathstodon #maths

#TechCrunch:
❛❛ an even wilder claim tucked into the blog post … that this #chip was so mind-boggling fast that it must have borrowed computational power from other universes.

Ergo the chip’s performance indicates that #parallel #universes exist and “we live in a multiverse.” ❜❜

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/10/google-says-its-new-quantum-chip-indicates-that-multiple-universes-exist/ 2024 Dec 10
🔗 https://blog.google/technology/research/google-willow-quantum-chip/ … #Google #blog
🔗 https://Wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse … #Multiverse

#Community #TimeTravel #Research #quantum #computing #maths #science #physics #Kronodon

There was a maths (or maybe science) question in school that has always stuck with me, because of how much I didn’t understand the question.

“A car hits a brick wall at 100 km, what speed is doing when it hits the wall?” Was the first part of the question.

My answer to that was 0, because when you hit the wall the speed it’s doing is 0. You have stopped moving.

No, it was 100.

I now realise that this question was not one of speed, but of velocity or momentum. And that it’s a physics question, not a maths question.

The question should have been how much *energy* or momentum is the car carrying when it hits the brick wall. #maths #science #schooling

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This week for #FactFriday I want to point out some of the more subtle ways that #misinformation and #disinformation is spread on #blogs and #SocialMedia by people I am dubbing the #Disinformati (the #Illuminati of disinformation 😉 ) as a cautionary tale of what to be aware of when on these sites. I have encountered all of this in the realm of #Mathematics #Maths #Math but the take-aways apply equally to all subjects....

And here's another book I’ve just finished, for anyone who has studied (or is studying) maths. It’s a lovely gallop through the parts of mathematical history that we don’t hear about, steering away from the stories that focus on the “Great Men” of the white western world, and digging around in a far more global and diverse view of how mathematics was developed. Especially highly recommended for anyone teaching maths at any level. It’s out in a couple of weeks. #maths #books #history

6. An excellent way to develop your own #mathematical #positivity is to introduce more maths-positive people into your life. You're on Mastodon: follow some [Hi! Nice to meet you 😃]. Interact with them. Ask them things. Share the mathematical discussions that you have with with your kids (include #tmwyk when you do!)

#maths #teaching for #parents

5. Model mathematical #positivity at times - not just when they're doing homework! Ask #mathematical questions about everything (look for patterns in things & try to explain them, essentially).

#maths #teaching for #parents

4. That's not just in front of your children, either: stop doing it with other adults. Better still, challenge other adults to stop doing it. If you want your child to succeed in #maths you MUST genuinely have a positive attitude towards it, not just fake it in front of them.

#maths #teaching for #parents

3. Try not to fall into (or get out of) the habit of saying things like "I've never been any good at #maths," "I've always hated maths," "I've never seen the point of maths," etc: these are the most effective ways to kill a potential future mathematician.

#maths #teaching for #parents

2. Are they doing something you don't recognise, or maybe you do recognise but never got the hang of it? Get them to #teach you as much of it as they can. Work together on it. Admit that you don't understand it YET but don't use this as an excuse to not engage. Learning new things is a positive thing. Not understanding something is a prerequisite for learning something new.

#maths #teaching for #parents

1. Do they seem to have been taught a different method for something you remember? Not a problem: get them to #teach you theirs, and encourage them to try to understand yours. See if you can spot similarities. Why do both work? Can you find reasons why one may be "better" than the other (there are no right answers here, but just being more familiar doesn't count)?

#maths #teaching for #parents

You don't have to be a mathematician, or even "good" at #maths, to help your #children learn maths. You just have to model resilience and positivity towards what they're doing, and to avoid reinforcing negative tropes.
A #thread: