@peterrowlett@mathstodon.xyz
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peterrowlett

@peterrowlett@mathstodon.xyz

I teach maths at university in the UK — including modelling, combinatorics, game theory, history, programming — and research university-level mathematics education practice. And I play maths with my son.

I edit https://mathstodon.xyz/@aperiodical with https://mathstodon.xyz/@christianp & https://mathstodon.xyz/@stecks, co-host podcast Mathematical Objects, volunteer for the Institute of Mathematics & its Applications, and do various other things.

I'm part of the Finite Group. Join us!

#academia #highered #math #maths #mathematics #education #university

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peterrowlett, to random
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This quoting Fermi has really tickled me, from the cover feature in the current @newscientist. This is exactly how I felt studying particle physics at A level, and a part of why I went towards maths rather than physics at uni.

peterrowlett, to random
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My son tried to solve a Rubik’s cube at the childminder, showing off since he does it routinely at home, but he got stuck. This is a plea for help!

We learned from the Think Maths instructions. At step 4 where the bottom ought to be a cross, dot, line or V, he says it did this - both line and V without being a cross. Then doing either the L move or the V move didn’t find a cross. I don’t know how to replicate the problem, so set up the yellow layer starting in this position (but without the first two layers solved). Playing around, we found we appeared to be stuck in a loop - depending on orientation we could sometimes rotate the line 90 or swap to a dot and back. I wasn’t able to inspect the childminder’s cube but he says the rest of the cube was two complete layers as it should be. Is this a situation that arises? What do you do if it does?

Think Maths Rubik’s Cube instructions screenshot showing step 4 - long, but available as a document online.

peterrowlett,
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@standupmaths thanks. The idea that a childminder’s cube might have been broken and put back wrong is totally plausible!

peterrowlett, to random
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I’m at the conference in Cardiff. It’s the big UK maths and stats conference focused on higher education teaching, learning, assessment and support. Anyone else here?

peterrowlett,
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@christianp I don’t. I got it on paper. I’ve seen a couple of people mention Numbas so far. Chris is here, I guess he’ll have a copy you can see later.

peterrowlett, to random
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After our binary adding counting board, we made a set of Napier’s more famous calculating device, a set of Napier’s bones. Good times tables practice!

peterrowlett,
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A calculation my son made with our Napier’s bones. Each column/place when multiplied by a number on the left contributes something to its column/place (below the diagonal) and a carry to the next column/place. You resolve it by adding each digit below the diagonal to the carry from the previous.

peterrowlett, to random
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My son was making binary numbers in Lego, so we did a bit of binary adding using a counting board method designed by Napier that’s familiar to him as it’s very like . We started with him setting out some numbers - 8, 12, 3, 33, 76 and 186.

Continued in thread 🧵

peterrowlett, to random
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“If one and a half chickens lay one and a half eggs in one and a half days, how many eggs will nine chickens lay in nine days?”

(Question asked to a robot brain in Escape, a 1945 short story by Isaac Asimov collected in I, Robot.)

peterrowlett,
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@rmathematicus The Brain says 54 and I agree. 1.5 eggs per 1.5 chickens is one egg per chicken. Q is how many 1.5 days in 9 days, which is 6. So 6 eggs per chicken and 9 chickens, that’s 54 eggs. In the story two engineers asked The Brain to settle it because they disagreed, though details aren’t given.

peterrowlett,
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@OscarCunningham @rmathematicus Asimov imagined a more sophisticated AI than this!

peterrowlett, to random
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Slightly fascinated by this game my son and I played from a Lego magazine he bought. It seems mathematically rich and not a mechanic I’m familiar with. Does it have a name when it’s not ‘X-wings vs TIE fighters’?

peterrowlett, to random
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Here’s another Game of Life position on a Rubik’s Cube. Let’s see what happens to this plucky fellow. Thread 🧵

peterrowlett, to random
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I was interviewed by Nira Chamberlain, President of the Mathematical Association, to give an answer to his question “what is the point of mathematics”. I spoke about teaching students about the role mathematical modelling can play in sustainability.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vWGhpJP6NXs

christianp, to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Waiting to get on a train which is due to leave at 09:02. I have an off-peak ticket, and the barrier won't let me through because my ticket isn't valid yet. There's nothing on my ticket or booking reference, or the Trans-Pennine Express website, that says when off-peak starts. I hope it's not 09:00!

peterrowlett,
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@christianp when this happens, I usually just wave my ticket at a person and they let me through. I don’t know why the barrier can’t check ‘is the next opportunity to use this ticket an off-peak train?’ rather than having a time-based release.

peterrowlett, to random
@peterrowlett@mathstodon.xyz avatar

My son made this and challenged me to predict how it rolls, then showed me. He said it rolls this way because the small wheel moves round more quickly than the big one. We had a discussion about the rigid bar between the two.

peterrowlett,
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@gregeganSF yes! Vaguely, anyway, enough to see it looks interesting. I put it in the Aperiodical news queue, which is basically just giving someone the job of looking at it and summarising it in a future blog post.
https://aperiodical.com/activitypub/account/mathnews/notes/0e75ed11-7921-4702-976c-a3483e950c89

peterrowlett, to random
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Had a fantastic day at The Mathematikum in Gießen!

Foam catenary arch in room full of people and exhibits.
Child tiling using ‘hat’ tiles.
Mirrors with me reflected.

peterrowlett,
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You know how the star on the hypotenuse is the sum of the stars on the other two sides? Or rabbits?

Big star weighed on a balance against the other two.
Triangle and on each side a rabbit in proportion to the side lengths.
Big rabbit weighed on a balance against the other two.

peterrowlett, to random
@peterrowlett@mathstodon.xyz avatar

How about a game of ‘where in the world is Peter?’ Here’s clue 1 - more in the thread to follow later.

If you know and want to reply saying so, use a CW “spoiler”.

peterrowlett,
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So…

peterrowlett,
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Had my first correct answers, and some guesses on the right lines. Clue 5.

peterrowlett,
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Clue 6, something more mathematical. Where am I?

peterrowlett,
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A last clue, a closer look at those spheres.

Inside a sphere, levels with stairs between.

peterrowlett,
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We were in Brussels at the Atomium, centrepiece of the 1958 World’s Fair, and nearby Mini Europe, offering “all the wonders of Europe, in miniature”, yesterday. We enjoyed our visit! Thanks for a bit of fun to pass today’s train journey.

peterrowlett,
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@6d03 my son was the same, even though I warned him about this in advance!

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