Mathematics | Chris Aldrich

🔖 Gems And Astonishments of Mathematics: Past and Present | Dr. Mike Miller at UCLA Extension

Bookmarked Gems And Astonishments of Mathematics: Past and Present (UCLA Continuing Education)

Mathematics has evolved over the centuries not only by building on the work of past generations, but also through unforeseen discoveries or conjectures that continue to tantalize, bewilder, and engage academics and the public alike. This course, the first in a two-quarter sequence, is a survey of about two dozen problems—some dating back 400 years, but all readily stated and understood—that either remain unsolved or have been settled in fairly recent times. Each of them, aside from presenting its own intrigue, has led to the development of novel mathematical approaches to problem solving. Topics to be discussed include (Google away!): Conway’s Look and Say Sequences, Kepler’s Conjecture, Szilassi’s Polyhedron, the ABC Conjecture, Benford’s Law, Hadamard’s Conjecture, Parrondo’s Paradox, and the Collatz Conjecture. The course should appeal to devotees of mathematical reasoning and those wishing to keep abreast of recent and continuing mathematical developments.

Suggested prerequisites: Some exposure to advanced mathematical methods, particularly those pertaining to number theory and matrix theory.

September 25, 2018 - December 4, 2018

Tuesday 7:00PM - 10:00PM

Location: UCLA

Instructor: Michael Miller

MATH X 451.44 | 362773

Fee: $453.00

I’ve been waiting with bated breath to see what Dr. Miller would be offering in the evenings at UCLA Extension this Fall and Winter quarters. The wait is over, though it’ll be a few days before we can register.

If you’re interested in math at all, I hope you’ll come join the 20+ other students who follow everything that Mike teaches. Once you’ve taken one course from him, you’ll be addicted.

👓 Mathematician-M.D. introduces a new methodology suggesting a solution to one of the greatest open problems in the history of mathematics | USC

Read Mathematician-M.D. introduces a new methodology suggesting a solution to one of the greatest open problems in the history of mathematics by Daniel Druhora (USC Viterbi School of Engineering)

A completely new approach suggests the validity of the 110-year-old Lindelöf hypothesis, opening up the possibilities of new discoveries in quantum computing, number theory and cybersecurity

Athanassios Fokas, a mathematician from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics of the University of Cambridge and visiting professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering has announced a novel method suggesting a solution to one of the long-standing problems in the history of mathematics, the Lindelöf Hypothesis.

👓 Stonehenge builders used Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before Greek philosopher was born, say experts | The Telegraph

Read Stonehenge builders used Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before Greek philosopher was born, say experts by Sarah Knapton (The Telegraph)

The builders of Britain’s ancient stone circles like Stonehenge were using Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before the Greek philosopher was born, experts have claimed.

I’ll be bookmarking the book described in this piece for later. The author doesn’t get into the specifics of the claim in the title enough for my taste. What is the actual evidence? Is there some other geometrical construct they’re using to come up with these figures that doesn’t involve Pythagoras?

👓 LaTeXiT | chachatelier.fr

Bookmarked LaTeXiT (chachatelier.fr)

Should LaTeXiT be categorized, it would be an equation editor. This is not the plain truth, since LaTeXiT is "simply" a graphical interface above a LaTeX engine. However, its large set of features is a reason to see it as an editor; this is the goal in fact.

👓 Andrew Jordan reviews Peter Woit’s Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations and finds much to admire. | Inference

Read Woit’s Way by Andrew Jordan (Inference: International Review of Science)

Andrew Jordan reviews Peter Woit's Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations and finds much to admire.

For the tourists, I’ve noted before that Peter maintains a free copy of his new textbook on his website.

I also don’t think I’ve ever come across the journal Inference before, but it looks quite nice in terms of content and editorial.

👓 Where Boys Outperform Girls in Math: Rich, White and Suburban Districts | New York Times

Read Where Boys Outperform Girls in Math: Rich, White and Suburban Districts by Claire Cain Miller (nytimes.com)

A study of 10,000 school districts shows how local norms help grow or shrink gender achievement gaps.

👓 Francis Su’s Favorite Theorem | Scientific American Blog Network | Roots of Unity

Read Francis Su's Favorite Theorem by Evelyn Lamb (Scientific American Blog Network | Roots of Unity)

The Harvey Mudd College mathematician tells us why he loves playing with Brouwer's fixed-point theorem

I need to remember to subscribe to this podcast…

🔖 The Theory of Quantum Information by John Watrous

Bookmarked The Theory of Quantum Information by Tom Watrous (cs.uwaterloo.ca)

To be published by Cambridge University Press in April 2018.

Upon publication this book will be available for purchase through Cambridge University Press and other standard distribution channels. Please see the publisher's web page to pre-order the book or to obtain further details on its publication date.

A draft, pre-publication copy of the book can be found below. This draft copy is made available for personal use only and must not be sold or redistributed.

This largely self-contained book on the theory of quantum information focuses on precise mathematical formulations and proofs of fundamental facts that form the foundation of the subject. It is intended for graduate students and researchers in mathematics, computer science, and theoretical physics seeking to develop a thorough understanding of key results, proof techniques, and methodologies that are relevant to a wide range of research topics within the theory of quantum information and computation. The book is accessible to readers with an understanding of basic mathematics, including linear algebra, mathematical analysis, and probability theory. An introductory chapter summarizes these necessary mathematical prerequisites, and starting from this foundation, the book includes clear and complete proofs of all results it presents. Each subsequent chapter includes challenging exercises intended to help readers to develop their own skills for discovering proofs concerning the theory of quantum information.

h/t to @michael_nielsen via Nuzzel

John Watrous's excellent quantum book just came out. It's still available free on his webpage: https://t.co/D2rr5FTly6

— michael_nielsen (@michael_nielsen) April 28, 2018

🔖 actualham tweet about interactive glossary/encyclopedia for challenging technical/academic jargon that can be layered into textbooks

Bookmarked a tweet by

Robin DeRosa on Twitter (Twitter)

Just Skyped with a math student @UofR who has built (beta) an interactive glossary/encyclopedia for challenging technical/academic jargon that can be layered into textbooks. He wants to develop it as an #opensource resource for #OER. More soon, but the future is SO OPEN!

— Robin DeRosa (@actualham) April 27, 2018

Following Ilyas Khan

Followed Ilyas Khan (LinkedIn)

Co-Founder and CEO at Cambridge Quantum Computing

Dear god, I wish Ilyas had a traditional blog with a true feed, but I’m willing to put up with the inconvenience of manually looking him up from time to time to see what he’s writing about quantum mechanics, quantum computing, category theory, and other areas of math.