Mathematics of the people, for the people, by the people: encouraging mathematical happiness.

Massachusetts
Joined October 2009
Hi everyone - I've opened a BlueSky account: @republicofmath.bsky.social. See you there!
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Geometric proofs of the irrationality of square-roots for select integers arxiv.org/pdf/2410.14434
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
Hi! Next month I'm running a learning experience for K-12 teachers called "21st Century Mathematics". Its goal is to help teachers to connect the math they teach with some math that has been discovered in the 21st century. Info+register: justinlanier.org/21st-centur… Pass it along!
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
Base b is "robust" if each fraction 1/2,1/3,..,1/(b-1) is a ratio of two integers expressed in base b that use each digit 1, 2, 3,.... (up to some value) exactly once. (1/b cannot be so expressed. Why?) @iconjack shows base 10 is robust. Base 3 and base 4 are robust. Base 5? 6?
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Dominic Welsh's important contributions to probability and combinatorics: arxiv.org/pdf/2404.13942
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Data from 350,757 coin flips provide strong evidence that when some (but not all) people flip a fair coin, it tends to land on the same side it started. arxiv.org/pdf/2310.04153.pdf
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
N>1 cups all upright. A "move" consists of turning all but 2 cups over. (So, each move N-2 cups change state upright/upside-down.) For which N is it possible to make all N cups upside-down? [General theory about N cups and turning N-k over at a time?]
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
Square tiles in an NxM grid with one blank space. Tiles can slide H and V into the space. Starting with a blue tile top right, blank space to its left ... For which N and M is possible to make slides and have the blue tile visit each and every location in the grid?
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
An inf number of bags. First contains one Red & one White ball. Second 2R & 1W balls. Third 3R & 1W balls. I pull out a ball from first bag. If R, I win! If not, I go to second bag & pull out a ball. If R, I win! If not, on to next bag, and so on. Will I win? Expected # of turns?
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
This configuration of 16 triangles has perimeter 14. (Assume each triangle side length is 1.) Remove triangles one at a time, always increasing perimeter. What's the least number of triangles you can get to? What is the final total perimeter of the configuration you have?
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The sum of two cubes problem—an approach that’s classroom friendly arxiv.org/pdf/2309.00162.pdf
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Republic of Mathematics retweeted
Suppose you find n consecutive integers that sum to a square number r^2. Prove that those n integers plus the next r integers added together equals the sum of the following r integers. Moreover, prove that n integers after all that sum to (r+n)^2 so that this process repeats.
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Algebraic Topology for Data Scientists bit.ly/3qPPvWp
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So Twitter is now "X" - X the unknown? X the variable? X the place holder?
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The Euclidean algorithm can be used to generate a very large family of rhythms, including rhythms in which the rests have a palindromic structure. arxiv.org/pdf/2307.13120.pdf
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You need 27 tickets to guarantee a win on the UK national lottery arxiv.org/pdf/2307.12430.pdf
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Right! Exams are a near sure way of ensuring that many students will cram and so forget what they supposedly "learned". Harry Bahrick wrote about this in the Oxford Handbook of Memory
Something about the way we teach math is broken. We do review in September because kids have forgotten everything. They have forgotten it because it was mostly memorized to be tested. Their brains--rightfully so--discard such trivial junk. But, sure, let's carry on...@HumResPro
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A First Course in Causal Inference bit.ly/3OQa7ro
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