Picking and choosing In a post last April, I described some of the mathematics behind combinatorics – the branch of mathematics concerned with counting all the different ways to do something. Often, this kind of maths appears in … 02. Mar 2020 | By Katie Steckles | 7 comments
Nothing I try to find a varied range of topics to write about for this blog, but sometimes you run out of inspiration and find you have nothing to write about. Luckily, this has happened to … 20. Feb 2020 | By Katie Steckles | 5 comments
Aldo Spizzichino exhibition at the HLF 2017 Parallel to the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation organizes an exhibition related to mathematics or computer science, as part of the accompanying program of the HLF. In 2019 it was the mathematics … 11. Feb 2020 | By Constanza Rojas-Molina | 3 comments
Calculating Percentages I have a strange relationship with my calculator. A lot of people who haven’t met many mathematicians assume when they meet me that my status as a mathematician qualifies me as a super-brain who would … 29. Jan 2020 | By Katie Steckles | 0 comments
Building Blocks A friend of mine recently kindly made me a present, using their 3D printer – a puzzle made up of 21 pieces, three each of seven different shapes. The statement of the puzzle is as … 20. Jan 2020 | By Katie Steckles | 0 comments
A mathematical card trick Often at this time of year, people are visiting family, and sometimes traditional games and toys come out to occupy your time. If you’ve got a deck of playing cards handy, you can perform a … 23. Dec 2019 | By Katie Steckles | 0 comments
Candle puzzles – solutions Here are the solutions to the eight candle puzzles we posted earlier. The candles cost €1.05, and the matches cost €0.05. Every 30 seconds the number of people whose candles are lit doubles, starting with … 17. Dec 2019 | By Katie Steckles | 4 comments
Eight Candle-based Maths Puzzles Around this time of year, people light a lot of candles in celebration of the season. Here is a selection of candle-based maths puzzles you can share with friends and family! We’ll share the solutions … 10. Dec 2019 | By Katie Steckles | 1 comment
Zero-player Games You might enjoy playing games with a friend, or a group of friends. The good news is that even if you don’t have any friends, or even if you don’t exist yourself, you can still … 19. Nov 2019 | By Katie Steckles | 8 comments
Perfect Squares Squares – shapes with four right-angle corners, and four equal-length sides – are lovely. Mathematicians especially love them, as evidenced by the number of nice geometrical and numerical constructions based on squares. For example, a … 05. Nov 2019 | By Katie Steckles | 0 comments
