@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz
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DavidKButler

@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz

Lecturer at Maths Learning Centre, Uni Adelaide (my views here). Grad Dip Ed & PhD Finite Geom. Love maths and helping people learn. he/him #MTBoS #100factorial

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coldclimate, to random
@coldclimate@hachyderm.io avatar

At work, challenge Three Letter Acronyms (TLA) at every opportunity.

  • They are a barrier to entry for those who don't live in your work
  • People are embarrassed to ask, so at best they are distracted Googling. Mostly they are now just not understanding
  • When used in combinations they make sentences difficult to parse. "We're targeting key SLOs as a way to maintain our SLAs as one of our OKRs for EOW".

I freaking hate them

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@coldclimate One of the main reasons I made this t-shirt, to be honest.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Here is a tweet of mine from 2019 that is still relevant to me.

A fear I find hard to articulate:
When we do "fun maths" activities and then the kids go back to their usual classrooms and do the usual things, are we just emphasising that the "fun maths" isn't real maths and the real maths is the not-fun bit?

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp I think sometimes we could make the everyday maths a little more like the fun maths though.

Like we often do colour and movement in the "fun maths" thing, and there could also be colour and movement in everyday maths class.

And fun maths often emphasises creative thinking, while everyday maths often emphasises following directions.

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@RobertJackson58585858 @christianp Topology is a classic case. I’ve met many students severely disappointed by doing a maths course called Topology after experiencing things with donuts and teapots and Mobius strips called Topology.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

I love those few minutes at sunrise when the tops of the trees are in sunlight but you are still in shadow.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

I saw the time was 4:12pm and i wondered...

How many times a day does the hour divide the minute?

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Worth noting this is NOT a puzzle. I really am just wondering.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

I have just discovered a trick that helps me divide a number by 1000.
I know I have to move the number down three steps along the decimal places. Well, I just make it have three places before the decimal point.
eg 9.8÷1000=009.8÷1000=0.0098

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Works for multiplying by 1000 too. Make sure you have three places after the decimal point.
eg: 0.41×1000 =0.410×1000=410

DavidKButler,
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@RobertJackson58585858 no idea what you’re talking about and honestly I am happy not to go any closer.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Eight shopping trolleys in the riverbed.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

In honour of Pi Day, we played the Numbers Game, but instead of the traditional 2-digit target, I just wrote π.
People managed to get to 3.144, which was pretty close! (We also got closer with 22/7, but it used the 2 too many times.)

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Wow. I had forgotten how much of writing in LaTeX is finding tiny tupos in the maths.
My most common today:

  • forgetting the “\” before “frac” and “sqrt”
  • forgetting braces around the exponent so I get eg x¹2 instead of x¹²
  • opening with a “{“ but closing with a “)”
DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

LinkedIn has such a weird vibe.

ColinTheMathmo, to random
@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Today's maths PSA: Events of probability 0 are not necessarily impossible.

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@ColinTheMathmo We just don't care about them.

christianp, to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

At the factory where they test alarms, what noise do they use for the real alarm?

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp Screams.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

People say that topology is the maths of properties that don’t change when you stretch or twist things, but this is not at all what someone’s first maths course with “topology” in the title feels like AT ALL. Not even remotely.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

“When someone has trouble in mathematics, we should bolster our support, not lower our expectations.” - Francis Su @mathyawp

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Suppose a,b,c are integers and V is the plane in R³ with equation ax+by+cz=0.
I wonder if there is a simple algorithm that will find the shortest vector in V with all integer coordinates.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

A student in the #MLCUoA had to enter into the little box on the screen a vector with three coordinates, each of which had a denominator of sqrt(305745), so just know someone else is having a frustrating day.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

#tablegame2024
“Mantis”
Inspired by the mantis shrimp (which can perceive more colours of light than we can, and smash glass tank walls).
Very easy to figure out, mathematically interesting, and you’re always involved even when it’s not your turn. A good game.

DavidKButler,
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

How the game works: Everyone has a tank of coloured mantis shrimps and the goal is to make ten of them escape from your tank. On your turn you draw a card and play it either to someone else’s tank, where if it matches one of their existing colours, they all escape and move to your tank, or play it to your own tank, where if it matches one of your existing colours, they all escape to be scored. The cool bit is that each card has three colours on the back, one of which is correct.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Caught some very interesting shadows in the angled mirrors at #100factorial today.

DavidKButler, to random
@DavidKButler@mathstodon.xyz avatar

An appropriate t-shirt to wear on my 44th birthday.

DavidKButler,
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@ColinTheMathmo Yep.

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