#Math

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'Children’s math and reading skills have “significantly worsened” across most European Union countries, posing a huge risk to how well the bloc's future workforce can power its economy, according to a European Commission employment report.'

https://www.politico.eu/article/the-kids-arent-alright-eu-report-flags-poor-math-skills-as-a-competitiveness-risk/

I've heard conservative politicians trying to blame employees for poor productivity, but it seems that the people responsible for education are involved.

I updated my bio. I am still interested in machine learning, and I am continuing my own projects in this area, but this terminology has become synonymous with an ideology and culture to which I am diametrically opposed.

There is great value in tools like optical character recognition, speech recognition, and machine translation (when ethically applied). However, the current regime selling machine learning tools as products is completely disconnected from what I would view as a healthy and productive contribution to society.

I would still like to contribute to practical applications of mathematics in the world, and I hope that academia will continue to support my efforts to contribute in a way that supports everyone, not just a small cadre of plutocrats.

My son asked me the following yesterday:

If 5! = 5*4*3*2*1, is there a similar notation for 5+4+3+2+1 ? (aka triangular numbers, "n+1 choose 2", etc.)

It turns out that Donald Knuth proposed that this be denoted as "5?" and in analogy to the "factor-ial" he called the additive version the "term-ial".

Going the other direction, is there a notation for 5^4^3^2^1 ? (Either 5^(4^(3^(2^1))) or (((5^4)^3)^2)^1) .)

Here's something interesting for you to think about. I am working on a VR museum and science complex.

As part of this, there is a mathematically themed social meeting point called the Coxeter Cafe. It is decorated with statues of the 9 regular polyhedra and has a dome tiled with a hyperbolic tessellation because, of course - what else would we expect at the Coxeter Cafe?

Like many cafes it has windows and I am thinking about what they should look out onto ...

Whittier College is hiring an assistant professor of computer science and mathematics for Fall 2025. Applications received by November 15 will receive full consideration. This is a tenure track position! Please boost for reach.

Apply online here:

https://apply.interfolio.com/156223

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The successful candidate will lead our Interdisciplinary Computer Science program, and will be expected to teach upper-level computer science courses such as: Operating Systems, Computer Organization and Architecture, Data Structures and Algorithms, Senior Seminar; and introductory requirements for the ICS major, such as Computer Science I & II, Discrete Mathematics, and Calculus, and occasionally some service courses below the calculus level.
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I'm trying to come up with "math-y pilgrimage sites" to visit.

For example, the bridge in Dublin where Hamilton wrote the equations for the quaternions.

Or the estate where Newton wrote the Principia.

Or, to include a more literal religious angle: the Boole window in the Lincoln Cathedral.

What are some places that you think math and computing nerds should visit?