Every day for lunch I eat salad (made with vegetables from our local farmers’ market or from our college’s organic farm) and homemade yogurt and granola. The only time I ever eat fast food is on long car trips. So why, I ask you, did the question “What shape are the golden arches?” pop into…
Author: Dave Richeson
Auden: minus times minus equals plus, the reason for this we need not discuss
I stumbled upon this quote by W. H. Auden (from A Certain World: A Commonplace Book, 1970): Of course, the natural sciences are just as “humane” as letters. There are, however, two languages, the spoken verbal language of literature, and the written sign language of mathematics, which is the language of science. This puts the scientist…
A pyramidologist’s value for pi
Recently I came across two theories about the design of Great Pyramid of Giza. If we construct a circle with the altitude of the pyramid as its radius, then the circumference of the circle is equal to the perimeter of the base of the pyramid. Said another way, if we build a hemisphere with the same…
What do you want on your tombstone?
I’ve come across a few mathematicians or scientists who have been so proud of their scholarly achievements that they’ve asked for them to be put on their headstone when they die (or have had their achievements placed on their headstones by someone else). Please let me know if you know of others. [Update: thanks to…
Happy birthday Uncle Leonhard, I hope you enjoy your new home
On today, Leonhard Euler’s 304th birthday, we find that the Euler Archive has a new home! This labor of love, created and run by Dominic Klyve, Lee Stemkoski, and Erik Tou, houses thousands of pages of Euler’s original works as well as a growing number of translations of Euler’s works. The site had been located…
Math books for young children
I have a child in first grade and another who will be in elementary school in a couple years. So I’m on the lookout for good children’s books about mathematics. Below is a collection of books that I’ve read or that have been recommended to me. (I got some of these suggestions from people on Twitter.) I’d…
Albrecht Dürer’s ruler and compass constructions
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) is a famous Renaissance artist. Mathematicians probably know him best for his work Melencolia I which contains a magic square, a mysterious polyhedron, a compass, etc. Today I was reading his book Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt (The Painter’s Manual: A manual of measurement of lines, areas, and solids…
A picture of frustration: Sam Loyd’s 15 puzzle
Mathematics, whether it be calculus homework or cutting-edge research, can be very challenging. Haven’t we all faced a problem that we struggle with for hours or days? The answer, we know, or we hope, is within our grasp—but we just can’t reach it. In moments like that I always think of this picture from the…
Millay’s Euclid looks on Beauty bare
I had forgotten about this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay until I stumbled upon it again today. I thought you all would like it. Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare. Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace, And lay them prone upon the earth and cease To ponder on themselves, the…
Lincoln and squaring the circle
I’d heard a long time ago that Abraham Lincoln was a largely self-taught man and that he read Euclid’s Elements on his own. Right now I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and from it I learned that not only did he read Euclid, he spent some time…
David Richeson: Division by Zero 