Transform Your Cat with Math

This XKCD cartoon is a follow up to the Mystery Chord post. Anyone know any other good Fourier jokes?

**Reminder YofX will be moving to www.yofx.org in 12 days on 7/20**

A Mathematician Goes on Vacation 5

This is the best picture I took all vacation. There is so much going on, but notice in particular how the foot of the table rests on the perimeter of the reflection of the table surface...momement of ecstasy! I recognize not everyone is that moved. (My wife just rolls her eyes.) I'm hoping if you read this blog. You might be geeky enough to appreciate it.

Tintin Calculus

Trying to figure out a name and some cover art for the calc text you just wrote? Look no further. I found this is the children's section of my library. And before you run to see if your library has it, be warned there isn't any Calculus (as we know it) in the comic. Calculus is a character that is the object of a sinister plot. Tintin then goes on to save Calculus, and probably the rest of the world too. Funny, I was googling Tintin and found an animated version of the comic online. Too lazy to read, watch it. And if you like your calculus affair with a little more calculus, click here.

A Mathematician Goes on Vacation 4

I saw this symbol on a lot of walls. It is the Serbian Cross. I'm told the meaning is basically equivalent to our motto "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" (although the Wikipedia article says that this interpretation is a common misconception). I was impressed by the interesting symmetry: two lines of reflection and rotational symmetry.

pic by alexmac1

Mystery Equation

I was struck by this illustration browsing Drawn's feed. I still haven't figured out what the equation is supposed to relate. The caption on illustrator Mark Smith's site reads

Green idealists fail to make the grade. The people that recycle the most are also the most likely to cause serious environmental damage by taking long haul flights when holidaying abroad.

Is the equation relating atmospheric quantities? Any of you know? Check out Smith's other work. You might enjoy it as much as I did.

Cover Math Graphic

I liked this cover illustration from the June 2005 Harvard Business Review. 'It's something in his eyes?'

Lobachevsky Chair

I was at Housatonic Community College some weeks ago for a math conference. They have beautiful new facilities there, but most impressive are the chairs in the cafeteria. They kind of remind me of a hyperbolic plane. The geeky thing was that it was a math conference so I wasn't the only one noticing. Now I just need a set for my dining room.

781 dots

This image from the British Library is stunning. Found it on Flickr by sunny-drunk

great pic

Photo taken by Swisscan that I picked up on the Flickr photo group, Everything's Geometry. (My sentiments exactly.) I take the feed. Join up, geek out.

Semester Drag

It is that time of the semester when everyone is feeling a little bedraggled. My students are looking at me like if I ask them to simplify one more expression they will pass out. I try to put a good face on, but I'm feeling it too. In short, we're all a little fried. Soon the finals adrenaline rush will save us, but in the meantime I figured we all might need a reminder why we take/teach a math class. I found this graphic over at Filckr by Network Osaka. The graphic is really cool. Make sure to blow it up.

Math, the Chaste Science

Check out this snarky math comic. Would anything outflank math on the right? Could there be a logician out there saying, mathematics is just applied logic?

Graph of the Day

We're snowed out today! (except for maybe evening classes). Enjoy the day off, solve a math problem.

Numbers Everywhere

This has to be a familiar phenomenon for anyone who spends a good part of each day working with numbers. I'll often look at the clock and get a charge out of the fact that it is 12:34, or 12:21, or 3:57. Just as geeky, getting excited about a friend that lives on 169 W Center St. (I mean imagine if your address was a perfect square!) There is a famous anecdote of the mathematician Ramanujan (the self-taught prodigy mentioned in Good Will Hunting). He was visited by GH Hardy who rode in a taxi with the number 1729. Hardy asserted that it was a dull number. Ramanujan still laying in bed said, it was the smallest number expressible as the sum of two distinct pairs of perfect cubes (1729= 1^3+12^3=9^3+10^3). This is incredible to come up with off the top of the head. My geek powers extend nowhere near this far. But....I did I pick up my father in Boston last weekend and loved the fact his conference hotel room was 735. 7 divides 35, cool. And 7,3,5 are the first three odd primes. Just had to share. Enjoy the pick.

Venn's for Sue

Sue's class is doing Venn Diagrams, so I thought I'd include a two more of my favorites. There are a ton of funny/cute uses of Venn Diagrams. It is definitely the one part of math that has stuck for every graphic designer.

Explain your next breakup with a Venn Diagram. Fuffer on Flickr


I call this the intersection of snarkiness.(You'll probably have to blow this one up to see it.)


This is pure wise-assery. Kevan on Flickr


Also, check out my personal favorite in this previous post.

You Venn Again

Look what I found in Rolling Stone. Party like a math-star.

when will I use math in the real world?

Memorize all these equations. There'll be a quiz next class.

*Check out grrlscout224's photostream

Triangle Inscribed by Sun on Wall

Another great image from the Everything's Geometry Group on Flickr. This is from nolando.

Lunch Break

Found this entertaining myself with flickr on lunch break. Check out tarotastic's page.

Slide Rule Sue Rides Again!

Sue brought her grandfather's slide rule in this morning. He was an engineer trained at MIT. Just being around it was seriously good math karma. Now if I could only figure out how to work it?

Math Moves Product