Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight in maths and mathematical thinking.
Something that’s been brewing for a while: I’ve come to the decision that DMFT will no longer report on AI-related topics. I’m not judging anyone for being interested in them, or even finding joy in them; I’ve just reached a point where I find the whole thing tiresome, and more than adequately covered elsewhere.
As you were.
Links
Maps! I like maps. The UN has just adopted a “new” world map, using the Equal Earth projection. This has inspired me to finally pick up Paulina Rowińska’s Mapmatics, which has been on my to-read list for years. Meanwhile, here’s a blog about spurious accuracy in latitude and longitudes.
Art! I like art. Fractal Kitty is encouraging people to paint the OEIS.
Estimation! I like estimation. Here’s @quixoticgeek thinking through a statistic that can’t possibly be correct.
Accessibility! I like accessibility. Naomi Wray has an article about how to be d/Deaf-inclusive in communicating maths. (In case, like me, you weren’t sure about the difference between deaf and Deaf, here’s an explainer.) If – for any reason – you’d find captions would improve your theatre-going experience, you should check out Stagetext.
Games! I like games, sometimes. Apparently rock-paper-scissors is (conceptually) older than paper. Speaking of rocks, the World Stone Skimming Championship took place in Scotland recently, and one day I’ll read up on the physics of it or possibly the other physics of it. In things more suited to those of us who can barely manage two, Alex Bolton has put together a CYOA game about shuffling.
Currently
Karen Campe’s Carnival 254 is live! Submit your links for the next edition, in the capable hands of Ben Leis, here.
Dr Katherine Holmes is running a maths-themed STEM improv jam tomorrow, Thursday September 10th (a week tomorrow).
7:30pm UK time, pay what you like. You can sign up to the newsletter here.
There’s a TurtleStitch Discovery Day at Warwick University on Tuesday 22nd September from 10am to 3pm UK time, giving you a chance to play with the amazing digital embroidery machines in a relaxed environment. Register here; you can drop in at a time to suit you.
Rob Eastaway is giving a “more Shakespeare-oriented” version of his Much Ado About Numbers talk at the Covent Garden Actors’ Club on Thursday November 19th at 7pm. Book tickets here.
Turns out, that’s during Maths Week England (November 15th to 21st); last year, they had daily video puzzles and will be doing the same again; reach out to elinortf [at] hotmail [dot] com if you’d like to submit one for this year.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C
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The Carnival rounds up maths blog posts from all over the internet, including some from our own Aperiodical. See our Carnival of Mathematics page for more information.
]]>We spoke to Deniz & Thorsten, who host the aboutlogic channel.
Channel title: aboutlogic
Link: youtube.com/@aboutlogic
Topics covered: Philosophy, logic, and mathematics
Average video length: 30-90 minutes
Recommended videos: Emily Riehl, Joel Hamkins
What is your channel about, and when/why did it start?
aboutlogic is a podcast on logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy, and theoretical computer science. It features in-depth conversations with people working in and around the foundations of these subjects. We talk about topics ranging from the foundations of computer science and set theory to critical thinking, puzzles, and what academic life is really like. Its motivations, frustrations, and surprises. We started in February 2026.
Who are you? Tell us about yourselves.
aboutlogic is hosted by Deniz Sarikaya (Universität zu Lübeck) and Thorsten Altenkirch (University of Nottingham).
Who is the intended audience for the channel?
Anyone curious about the foundations of math and logic.
What is a typical video like?
Our videos are typically long-form conversations/interviews with guests working in mathematics, logic, and philosophy.
They last about 30-90min and are posted once a week, alternating between a Premises episode (a deep dive with Thorsten and Deniz) and an interview episode with a guest.
Why should people watch? Why is it different from other mathematical video content?
We combine rigorous logic/philosophy with accessible conversation, and bring on guests at the cutting edge of the field.
What are some highlights of the channel so far?
An upcoming highlight will be our conversation with Tudor Achim, Co-Founder & CEO of Harmonic, about Aristotle — the AI system that won IMO gold and solved Erdős problems — and what it means for the future of mathematics. We’d also point to our videos with Emily Riehl, Joel Hamkins and Dana Scott.
]]>Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and love of mathematics, even when deadlines are tight. Fortunately, I anticipated this might happen and prepared my links last week.
Over the weekend, the Pseudorandom Ensemble had our last rehearsal before the Mathsworld show we’ll see you at on the 21st. A few rough edges to rehearse off in private, but we’ve got some absolute bangers to share with you.
Links
Regular readers will probably be aware of my occasional minor obsessions, and the UK Constituency dashboard ticks several boxes for me. Did you know that South Dorset generates £216 million in tax? Neither did I!
Other important questions include, what happens when you throw a paper aeroplanes in space? and what actually happens to an arbitrary drum when you beat it?
I feel like I must have shared this article about computer arithmetic beyond floats, but can find no evidence.
Friend of DMFT Tom Briggs is developing library stacks to support his excellent book, The Mathematician’s Library. Other friends DMFT include Alex Bellos, whose fortnightly Guardian puzzle series has recently included a Monty Hall variation and a nice fishtank geometry puzzle from George Watkins.
The Aperiodical’s occasional series of video producers to watch recently featured Ellie Sleightholm.
Currently
Sam Hartburn (as well as preparing for the show) is currently putting together the playlist for August’s TMiP Animation Collaboration Challenge, although I suspect the number of RANDOMNESS videos was small. September’s prompt is PROOFS WITHOUT WORDS, and I’m almost tempted to give it a go. In my copious free time. The September episode of the TMiP podcast is out, too.
Karen Campe is working on this month’s Carnival of Mathematics post; if you submit something there now, it’ll go to next month’s host, Benjamin Leis.
It’s #SciArtSeptember. Join in!
The Ig Nobel Prize ceremony is tomorrow, Thursday September 3rd. It will be webcast live, from 6pm UK time.
Dr Katherine Holmes is running a maths-themed STEM improv jam on Thursday September 10th (a week tomorrow).
7:30pm UK time, pay what you like. You can sign up to the newsletter here.
Richard Elwes is talking big numbers at the Wells Literary Festival on Sunday October 18th at 4:15pm. Tickets are £12.50.
Katie Steckles and Ben Sparks are running a pair of two-day Maths Communication training workshops in
Edinburgh (November 23rd-24th) and Bristol (February 24th-25th 2027).
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C
]]>Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight in maths, puzzles and problem-solving.
I’m just back from a week in Germany, where the highlight was the Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum in Paderborn, a fantastic history of computing museum. I spent the whole afternoon going “THIS IS SO COOL!” and “I’ll catch you up, I need to get a picture of this.” It’s a super-rare three Michelin stars sort of museum.
Links
While the eclipse (as documented previously) was won by a skateboarder, here’s a close runner-up. Meanwhile, here’s a wonderful Desmos Doodle from Fractal Kitty
In elliptic curve news: there have been discovered one of rank 30 and another of rank 31 – the previous record was 29, and had stood for a couple of years. I do not know what that means or why it’s important, but it sounds that way. Similarly, Robin points to a new length-5905 superpermutation, which I understand better but not well.
The 12yo – who came up with the fantastic multilingual pun of “Doe, a deer, a female deer; Reh, a deer, a German deer” while we were away – has been trying to build a chess engine in Scratch. He’ll be interested to read a thread on a useful bit-twiddling hack. Elsewhere in games, Simon Tatham is doing evil hat/t-shirt things to Minesweeper.
The Scottish contingent (hi, Ayliean and Lorna! hi, Chris!) have pointed me at a couple of silly-season stories knowing that I would sigh and commiserate. Here’s Greggs with a meaningless formula – I assumed that Q was queue length, but no, it’s something to do with a “quicnic”, and I am defecting to Pret. In the world of golf, the BBC report on a probability calculation but don’t provide anything to allow one to check it. (I bet they’ve assumed independence. Also, I gather there are about a billion rounds of golf played every year, so one in 332 billion feels a lot less impressive.)
Breathe, Colin, breathe. Let’s relax with a mesmerising map of trains across central and western Europe and a deep dive into geodesy.
Currently
The deadline for this month’s Carnival of Mathematics is fast approaching: submit your links here so Karen Campe can assemble them into a post. (I gather her birthday is also fast approaching. Many happy returns, Karen!)
Also also fast approaching is the deadline for August’s TMiP Animation Collaboration, where the theme is RANDOMNESS.
You’re all coming to see the Pseudorandom Ensemble at MathsWorld on Monday 21st September, correct?
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C
]]>Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and love in doing maths, figuring stuff out, getting stuck and getting unstuck again.
You’ll need to forgive a slightly brief end-of-summer DMFT; it’s the sort of week where there aren’t enough days to do everything that needs doing.
Links
I think it’s fair to say that Danny Leon won the eclipse.
“When are we ever going to use that, miss?” “Shut up and read about the topology and geometry of balloon polyhedra.”
I once had a terrible journey: EVERY level crossing gate I came to was down. Worse than that, my train was late. Here’s a project to predict when your local level crossing is likely to be closed.
A recent DMFT mentioned the reliance of the Apollo missions on seamstresses. Weavers – the “Little Old Ladies” also played a key role.
It’s always good to see Gerard Westendorp getting nerdsniped. Here’s the top of a thread about mutant buckyballs, and the foot, in which someone has made footballs that way by Thomas Fernique, who also seems like the sort of person whose nerdsnipes are often fruitful.
Currently
At MathsWorld, you can still get tickets for September 21st’s Pseudorandom Ensemble show, with special guest Helen Arney. (Still feel like that’s the wrong way round). In the meantime, if you’re nearby, you can check out Samira Mian‘s InHERited Lines exhibition until the end of August.
Do send in your Carnival material so Karen can make a post from it, please and thank you. The summer bumper special is up at Theorem of the Day.
Looking further ahead, Kit Yates is talking at the Stratford Literary Festival on November 1st, 2-3pm UK time.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C
]]>We spoke to Ellie Sleightholm about her YouTube channel, on which she posts roughly once a week to share the beauty in mathematics.
Channel title: Ellie Sleightholm
Link: youtube.com/elliesleightholm (YouTube) or instagram.com/ellieinstem (Instagram)
Topics covered: Mainly mathematics but also cover videos on space and technology
Average video length: 15 minutes on YouTube; 60 seconds on Instagram
Recommended videos: Derivatives Aren’t What You Think They Are, Mathematician Visits Artemis II – Here’s What I Learned, and The Mathematics in Machine Learning
What is your channel about, and why did it start?
My channel is about uncovering the beauty of mathematics! Mathematics is everywhere, even in places you’d least expect, and through my channel I aim to showcase that. A lot of people might have negative experiences with maths at school and I want to show them that it is so much deeper and more beautiful than how you may have been taught at school. I’m basically one big maths nerd and I love sharing that with the world! My channel started when I was studying mathematics at university. It was initially to film day in the life content and after I graduated, I transitioned into making more fun, educational style content.
Who are you? Tell us about yourself.
My name is Ellie Sleightholm. I’m a Mathematics Graduate with a BSc from the University of Leeds and a MASt (Masters) in Part III Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. After my degree, I worked in the space industry for 2 years as a Space Systems Optimisation Engineer and then an Astrodynamics Software Engineer. I got to incorporate my love for mathematics and coding in these roles. I then worked in the AI/Machine Learning industry for 2 years developing innovative technologies and also creating educational content which I loved too! I am currently working for Veritasium, the science YouTube channel, and will be pursuing a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge in October 2026.
Who is the intended audience for your channel?
Anyone who wants to appreciate the beauty of mathematics! I try to make all my content accessible so people above GCSE level can engage and learn something from it.
What is a typical video like?
A typical video usually includes a specific topic that I discuss the mathematics around. So for example, I picked Machine Learning for my latest video and explained some mathematics used there. For my non-mathematics videos, these are more documentary style in format including interviews with experts. An example of this is my video of my visit to Germany for Artemis II.
Why should people watch your videos?
If you love watching other people nerd out about mathematics then my content is for you :) I’m a firm believer that while we can claim ‘mathematics is everywhere’, people don’t really understand how much so until they are exposed to it. That’s the aim of my channel. I want you to go and make your morning cup of coffee, look at the mixing and remember a video from my channel talking about the mathematics in that cup. Or if you’re on your daily walk and you stop by a Fern bush, I want you to remember the video I did on the transformations involved in making such a beautiful piece of nature. If you want to connect with the world around you from a mathematical perspective, that’s what I aim to do on my channel!
What are some highlights of the channel so far?
I’ve genuinely enjoyed making every piece of content on my channel but I have really loved making more documentary/real-world explainer content. I was fortunate enough to be invited by NASA to watch the launch of Artemis II in Florida as well as invited to Germany to see firsthand Europe’s involvement in the mission. I loved being able to speak to the people involved in the mission and share that with my audience.
The full videos are here:
NASA Invites Mathematician to Watch the Launch of Artemis II
Mathematician Visits Artemis II… Here’s What I Learned
For my more mathematical content, I love looking at things around me and finding the hidden, beautiful mathematical structures. I did a video on the mathematics behind the Barnsley Fern which I loved putting together.
What exciting plans do you have for the future?
Much more content! I’ve really enjoyed doing both mathematical deep dives as well as documentary style content so both of those will continue to be released on my channel. I’m also excited about filming on location with other mathematicians! Of course, as I embark on my PhD journey, I’d also love to share a glimpse into what I get up to and the mathematics that I learn there too.
]]>Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and delight of working things out. I had a delightful chat with young Bill about complex numbers and matrices and noticed that the difference between him and most of my students is that he wants to know how things work and how they fit together and why, while most young mathematicians I meet are interested in learning rules that get the Right Answer.
Links
There’s a solar eclipse happening today! Over the UK, it’s only partial (coverage from around 6pm-8pm our time); you can check details where you are here. Don’t look directly at it, that will frighten it. Colanders make very good shadow-creators. Here is a worksheet about the trigonometry of eclipses, a neat “when will we ever use that in real life?” answer; I found this Desmos activity a bit more engaging.
Staying in space, I understand that the world’s richest person isn’t content with crashing cars into pedestrians, lakes, etc., and has crashed a landing stage into the moon. The ESO, realising it was going to happen, thought “I know! Let’s do some science!. Also astronomical: I’ve been enjoying The Message From Deep Space, which several people recommended to me – so far, it’s about decoding the way an alien meteorite does maths.
Fractal Kitty is a busy kitten currently; she’s working on a series of posts about maths art prompts and has developed something fun about the maths of hanging chains that I’m looking forward to playing with. More detail on that here.
Musical legend Tom Lehrer did many remarkable things; one of these was to release as much music as he possibly could into the public domain. Eric Ries has compiled a songbook thereof.
Currently
The Pseudorandom Ensemble considered playing a Tom Lehrer song in tribute, but then thought “why should we? He never did any of ours.” You can now buy tickets for our show at MathsWorld on September 21st.
We’re not the only great MathsWorld events coming up: June Barrow-Green is speaking about the historical representation of women in maths tonight at 6:15pm UK time, and I’m gutted to be missing Samira Mian‘s InHERited lines exhibition which is at MathsWorld until the end of August. There’s a Meet The Artist with her tomorrow (Thursday August 13th) from 10am UK time.
There’s a Finite Group livestream tomorrow, Thursday August 13th at 6pm UK time.
Next week is the traditional MathsJam Tuesday around the world. Go along, or find out how to start your own.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C
]]>Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to share the joy and love in mathematics, to show that it’s more than the mindless memorisation of arbitrary rules. Guess who nearly got sucked into a 6 ÷ 2 × 3 debate on Mathstodon? I note that “the ISO 80000-2 standard for mathematical notation recommends only the solidus / or fraction bar for division.” So there.
In more edifying news, this is issue #64 of Double Maths First Thing, which is 100 in decimal. However, it started at 0, so last week’s was “really” the hundredth issue. I noticed that the list of numbers that are squares in both hex and decimal is not in the OEIS, but equally, I’d struggle to justify it being interesting to anyone except DMFT readers, and even then maybe not many of you.
Links
I’m not flying anywhere this summer, so I’ve not heard anyone say “why don’t they just board planes back to front, wouldn’t that be quicker?” CGP Grey can answer that. Here’s Wikipedia on the Steffen method.
In TMiP news, there’s a new Animation Collaboration playlist about VECTORS – August’s prompt is RANDOMNESS. There’s also a new podcast episode available. Speaking of videos, undergraduates and sixth formers (or your local equivalent) might be interested in taking part in Mathstory, which is themed around mathematical stories.
I enjoyed Mark Dominus’s dive into Egyption fractions.
Superstar Fractal Kitty points at Moduloku puzzles, which you can solve here. Meanwhile, there are some (vague) details on reddit about how Clues By Sam is made and on Hacker News too. CbS remains my favourite daily puzzle game.
Talking of superstars, I mentioned Ayliean‘s Tower of Hanoi world record at EMF; here’s a lovely little video about it. It always surprises me that the Tower of Hanoi is a relatively recent invention – Lucas invented it in 1883. (The framing of it still troubles me slightly.)
Currently
At MathsWorld, upcoming lates include June Barrow-Green on August 12th from 6:50pm UK time. Tickets for the Pseudorandom Ensemble show on September 21st are not yet available (at least at press time), but keep your eyes on the events page.
Robin Whitty has just beaten the DMFT deadline by putting together the links for Carnival of Mathematics 254, and you can submit your links for the next host, (DMFT favourite) Karen Campe, here.
The next Finite Group livestream is on Thursday August 13th at 6pm UK time, and Scroggs will be coding up solutions to Peter’s historical maths challenges.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C
]]>
The Carnival rounds up maths blog posts from all over the internet, including some from our own Aperiodical. See our Carnival of Mathematics page for more information.
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