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Lego Math Maniac

Though I have lived in Southern California for several years, I have never been to Legoland, a theme park based around the classic (and awesome) children’s toys.  The park perennially sits in the shadow of more popular parks in the region (e.g. Disneyland, Universal Studios, and the Banana Club Museum), and its prices make it hard . . . → Read More: Lego Math Maniac

Car Talk Mathematics

Happy 2012! I hope you all has a restful and calorie-filled holiday.  For my part, the holidays typically involve a fair amount of driving, and ergo, a fair amount of listening to podcasts.  To that end, I’d like to ease into a new year of mathematics by considering a simple puzzle, one which was featured recently . . . → Read More: Car Talk Mathematics

A Mathematics Community

Whether knowingly or not, NBC Thursday night comedies have made occasional dalliances with mathematics.  For example, you can see here for a mathematical discussion inspired by The Office, and here for one inspired by Parks and Recreation.

Today I would like to add to this esteemed list the show Community, now in its third season on NBC’s . . . → Read More: A Mathematics Community

Wedding Mathematics, Part 3

Today I would like to wrap up my series on mathematics and weddings (a series begun here and continued here) with a little advice for soon-to-be brides and grooms who are looking to integrate some math into their celebrations.  If this describes you, then congratulations – not only on your upcoming nuptials, but also on the . . . → Read More: Wedding Mathematics, Part 3

Wedding Planning and the Ménage Problem

Last month I wrote a wedding-themed post on some statistics behind the show Four Weddings.  Now, fully refreshed from my own two week honeymoon, I would like to take some time to discuss some other areas of intersection between weddings and mathematics.

One of the things I most looked forward to during the planning of our wedding . . . → Read More: Wedding Planning and the Ménage Problem

Four Weddings and Some Statistics

When my fiancee was in the midst of the wedding planning, part of her research (or perhaps it was simply a guilty pleasure) involved watching wedding shows on basic cable.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure, between stations like WE tv and TLC, there are no fewer than nine different wedding-themed reality . . . → Read More: Four Weddings and Some Statistics

Math Jams

Sorry I’m so late to the party on this one, but I wanted to draw your attention to this NPR article from a couple of months back.  It profiles the “Songwriter in Residence” program at the University of Tennessee’s National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (or NIMBioS if you feel like spitting a . . . → Read More: Math Jams

Secure Your Phone with Pretty Pictures

A good friend of mine is moving on up in the world, and to prove it, he recently upgraded his cell phone.  His new phone is one of several that has a clever password feature – instead of entering a traditional password, one creates a shape within a 9 point grid, like a miniature connect the . . . → Read More: Secure Your Phone with Pretty Pictures

Test Taking, Part 3

If you’ll permit me this small indulgence, gentle reader, this week I’d like to return to a topic from last month.  More precisely, I’d like to continue the series of posts that discussed how one best ought to prepare for an exam in which all N questions are given beforehand, and one knows that M questions . . . → Read More: Test Taking, Part 3

Addendum to Math Gets Around: The Humanities

Last week we discussed an example of when a mathematical background might prove useful even in the least quantitative of liberal arts courses.  More specifically, we asked the question: if a teacher gives you a list of N questions, tells you that M will be on an exam, and you must answer K of the questions given . . . → Read More: Addendum to Math Gets Around: The Humanities