Interesting article from the NY Times this week...

This is a really interesting article. I certainly can imagine this becoming an increasingly important idea in education. I certainly wish I had had these sorts of programs, particularly in high school, to build up my instincts when it comes to maths. Amazing. I wonder just how far-reaching the application of this style of learning could be... What do you think?

Brain Calisthenics for Abstract Ideas

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/health/07learn.html?_r=1

Just because sometimes I need a break from math stuff...

My latest fad is a desire to buy a plot of rural land and set up a large luxury safari-style tent, solar shower, hobby farm etc. I think I will definitely need to rig up a swing like this and bring a long flowy dress so I can sit in the countryside and do the whole boho ethereal thing as I ponder recursion theory...

Yeah, yeah, roll your eyes. It's all good, I'm used to it :)

Fashion and Hyperbolic Geometry

I only did one semester of Topology in my degree. We got straight into homeomorphism and sat around laughing away (in science professor from The Simpsons type laughter) about how a topologists can't tell the difference between a cup of coffee and a donut because they are homeomorphic. Hardy har har.

But, um, if I'm going to be completely honest, I had NO idea what the point of it was. Yeah, it's kind of fun and at various points quite trippy, but when was I ever going to use this? How did it relate to other areas of mathematics?

Of course, I should have asked the lecturer. But I was just trying to get everything in my head, do it all correctly, pass the exam. Worry about "the point of it all" later, right?

Yeah... Probably not the best way to go through university. So I'm taking the time to try to piece everything together now...

The more research I do, the more I realise just how much I've forgotten and how much I need to re-learn, but I did come across this article which was fun and interesting.

Maybe its time I had my nonna teach me how to crochet so I can make myself some hyperbolic pants...

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/mar/knit-theory

Mmmmm, pi....

TriBeCa Film Festival

So I saw 'Revenge of the Electric Car' at the TriBeCa Film Festival last week. Loved it. It's the sequel to 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' from a few years back.

Follow the link to read my blog post about it below. Just another one of the many interesting career paths involving maths and science. If I hear "Ugh, when will I ever use this?" from a student one more time... !!!

http://addingbliss.typepad.com/adding-bliss/2011/04/how-jess-spent-her-week-week-7-attending-the-tribeca-film-festival.html

xxj

Pi Day

I know it's really sad, and I shouldn't admit this to anyone, but I really can't wait for it to be March 14, 2015!

Now, this only works if you write the date USA-style with the month first. Since I'm living in New York City at the moment, it totally works :)

March 14, 2015...

3/14/15

Yep... PI! 3.1415...

Sadly, I have pi memorised to some ridiculous number of places. I won't write it out here. It's just too too nerdy even for this no-one-reads-me math blog. I had a friend in 6th grade who was just such a know-it-all and kept going on about how she had memorised all these digits of pi, so I decided I just had to beat her. Yep, put me on in a sports team and I have no idea what's going on and don't really care who wins, but challenge me to a pi dual and I'm all over it like a fat kid on a cupcake. Totally kicked her ass by the way. Yeah... Just sayin'...

She went on to graduate high school two years early and has just finished med school, while I'm still boasting about my success back in 6th grade... on a blog that no one reads... Oh dear.

Xx

Yep...

I remember a particularly grueling Number Theory lecture where the chalk boards covering the front wall (numbering 9 in total on rollers so they could slide up and down the wall) were totally covered in really dense proofs and crazy symbols. At the end, the lecturer was about to erase the boards but decided against it when he saw the next class was for first years. The looks on their faces as they walked in and saw what was in store for them in the years to come... Classic!

I imagine a couple of people transferred to Arts after that...