Weekly Picks

We try to read every blog post that goes through Mathblogging.org. For the Weekly Picks, we collect posts from last week that give you an impression of what the mathematical blogosphere has to offer.

Since we’re running awfully late, here’s a quick list.

Educators:

profkeithdevlin explained why Algebra is not “Arithmetic with letters”.

Better Explained takes a metaphor for the interaction of intuition and rigor and runs with it.

21st century educator resolved some common objections to computer-use in math education (with a follow-up).

Musing Mathematically pondered how cellphones can be used for instant feedback in class.

Researchers:

0xDE discussed cordal graphs and the eternal problem that properties that are clear for finite structures are not at all clear for infinite structures.

felixbreuer taught at a teach-in against police violence (here are the lecture notes).

Disquisitiones Mathematicae shared some “extended” slides from a talk on diffusion in the Ehrenfest wind-tree model.

Gowers’s Weblog gave an insight into how to think mathematics while proving the fundamental theorem of arithmetic.

Jacques Distler’s Musings suggested that an old “A train leaves”-riddle might help understand the superluminous neutrinos.

Community

Knot your average sheep finished a post on MathsJam started a year ago.

The Accidental Mathematician shared the most insightful comments on the new-publishing-model discussion.

Xi’an’s Og encountered an unusual ethical problem while refereeing a PhD.

Shorts:

Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks gave you the 15 best names in Mathematics.

matthen generated an evolving shape with a small genetic algorithm.

As always,

Ejnoy!