Author Archive
Mathematically Speaking – a series of podcasts
In this series of engaging podcasts, Mathematically Speaking explores the language of Mathematics:
The Mathematician from Madras, India
My first impression of Madras was a modern, Indian city bustling with activity; a diverse gateway to the south and a hot and dusty place preparing for the rainy monsoon season. It as a place of old cars, farm carts carrying produce, and people busy in the pursuit of commerce. Woman were down at the […]
More Pi
What is remarkable is that π occurs in a wide variety of mathematical settings and across all mathematical domains. It turns out that is the ratio of a circle’s area to the area of a square constructed on the circle’s radius. It is also the ratio of a sphere’s surface area to the area of […]
Pi – Reimagined by Daniel Tammet
Daniel Tammet’s first language is Numbers and he decided to learn the ‘poem’ of Pi. And he had the opportunity (at the age of 25) to recite Pi to an audience at Oxford University—for over 5 hours! Listen to Daniel as he tells us about a different pi from the one taught in classrooms. Every […]
Another Numbers Matter
In the news, this time another “numbers matter” from STUFF: “Think of the last time you used a set of scales. Or purchased something that had been weighed or measured before being packaged. Perhaps you’ve taken some medication today. Or bought chia seeds at the supermarket. Put petrol in your car. Posted a parcel. Poured […]
Numbers Matter
Novak Djokovic started to realize what he had just achieved. This was the moment he won grand slam number 23, surpassing Rafael Nadal at the top of the men’s all-time list. In a golden era for the sport – stretching back to Roger Federer’s first grand slam title 20 years ago – Djokovic has now eclipsed those […]
Rogue Waves
What are rogue waves? Today, the monster wave of sailors’ nightmares has a formal scientific definition: a rogue wave is at least twice as high as recent waves around it. It can rise and disappear quickly out of a stormy sea, but it can come out of nowhere too – in calm waters. ANU theoretical physicist Professor […]
Mathematics for Humanity – Math Making the World a Better Place
Minhyong Kim rejects being called an optimist, but he sounds an awful lot like one. “If we take reality exactly as it is, I don’t think we have any real grounds for pessimism,” he said in a recent conversation. That outlook is behind Mathematics for Humanity, a program Kim recently started that aims to apply […]
A Stable Solar System? Not According to Latest Math
In 2009, a pair of astronomers at the Paris Observatory announced a startling discovery. After building a detailed computational model of our solar system, they ran thousands of numerical simulations, projecting the motions of the planets billions of years into the future. In most of those simulations — which varied Mercury’s starting point over a […]