Dec

4

Where Math-Blog is headed

By Antonio Cangiano. Filed under Math Education | 4 Comments 

Since I began this blog, and from the time when the first of its posts started to grow in popularity, I’ve simultaneously received numerous emails from people who are deeply interested in math. If we exclude entirely nonsensical and almost comical rants from folks whose sanity is, at best, questionable, the overwhelming majority of emails are heart warming letters from people who’ve either just discovered, or rediscovered their love of math, and have found this blog to be inspirational. Receiving these letters has helped me think about my editorial line and the overall aim of this blog.

It started as a personal blog and evolved into a site which openly welcomes contributions. This much is certainly true, yet I couldn’t help but ask myself, where is Math-Blog really going? There are plenty of mathematical resources out there on the web, if you know where (and how) to search for them. What’s the point then of this blog’s existence, I couldn’t help but ponder. Aside from my own desire to speak about my great passion for mathematics, I found in these letters all the motivation and reason I needed to make Math-Blog even more prominent amongst online math resources. For you see, there is, in fact, a little known world of people who secretly - or admittedly - have a deep fascination with mathematical subjects, though for one reason or another, didn’t actually end up becoming professional mathematicians. These people have all sorts of skill levels, but more often than not, they’re in need of some catching up (or refreshing) when it comes to the basics of mathematics.

Math can be a lifelong journey of discovery, even for those whose day job has nothing to do with mathematics or who may have fared poorly in an academic math setting. I know people who’ve spent the last 10 years studying Calculus, Real and Complex Analysis, Algebra and Number Theory on their own from advanced university textbooks, purely for the pleasure of learning, and now they’re highly skilled mathematicians - despite their lack of formal mathematical certification (or having never published a single math paper in a peer reviewed journal). This world of mathematicians who approach math out of love, not as a profession, like to be inspired, guided, and helped, especially at the beginning of their journey.

Thinking about all of these points helped me to realize that Math-Blog is capable of becoming an important reference point, a place that is essentially a world of “math for the rest of us”. This is the direction that I’d like to give to Math-Blog, and while I’m aware of the fact that it’ll require more frequent posting on my part and also the creation of introductory material (which I intend to prepare/do from now on), I’m happy to produce such a mathematical environment out of this site. And for those readers who may actually be studying to become, or currently are, a mathematician, or if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and are a high school student, don’t worry, just hang in there and I assure that there’ll be plenty of mathematical fun to be had by all.


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Nov

27

Rejecta Mathematica

By Antonio Cangiano. Filed under Math News, Math Websites | 7 Comments 

Tired of getting shot down when submitting mathematical articles to peer reviewed journals? Rejecta Mathematica comes to the rescue. This new site, which currently has a call for papers, is self-described as follows:

Rejecta Mathematica is a new, open access, online journal that publishes only papers that have been rejected from peer-reviewed journals (or conferences with comparable review standards) in the mathematical sciences. We are currently seeking submissions for our inaugural issue.

Considering that there will be very little editorial control (no peer reviews) of the published articles, it will be interesting to see how it’ll evolve. Will it be full of under-appreciated pearls of genius or will it become the domain of math cranks? I can’t help but hope that it will be a mix of both, if nothing else, for the entertainment value. We’ll see where it goes… and let us know if you intend to submit any papers to them. By the way, if you are shot down by Rejecta Mathematica too, chances are that your paper sucks. But if you really believe that there is merit to it, consider Math-Blog as your Rejecta Rejecta Mathematica. ;-)


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Oct

18

I’m reading a fantastic mathematical novel

By Antonio Cangiano. Filed under Suggested reading | 3 Comments 


While I’m very busy at work and in my daily life, I’ve managed to start reading a new mathematical novel. It’s called A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel and is published by the Princeton University Press. I’ve read only a few chapters but I must say that I’m really intrigued by this unusual and very interesting book. Besides being an easy read and an enjoyable page turner, this work of fiction manages to spark both interest in the illustration of thought-provoking mathematical concepts and at the same time, a genuine curiosity and interest towards the protagonist’s character.

It’s the kind of book that a mathematically inclined person would absolutely love, and in fact I’m having a hard time putting it down myself. On the other hand, anyone interested in an all around intelligent book, will be fascinated by its compelling narrative and the rather accessible mathematical insights, no matter what background they’re coming from.

A Certain Ambiguity is definitely a mathematical novel, but it’s not limited to that, because it’s a good philosophical novel to start with, so it can be appreciated when approached from different angles and mathematical skill levels. I plan to provide an in depth review as soon as I finish the book. Meanwhile it gets my positive recommendation; pick up a copy of this book to keep you company as “sweater weather” and a return to more time spent pursuing actives indoors arrives. The official page describes the book in the following terms:

“While taking a class on infinity at Stanford in the late 1980s, Ravi Kapoor discovers that he is confronting the same mathematical and philosophical dilemmas that his mathematician grandfather had faced many decades earlier–and that had landed him in jail. Charged under an obscure blasphemy law in a small New Jersey town in 1919, Vijay Sahni is challenged by a skeptical judge to defend his belief that the certainty of mathematics can be extended to all human knowledge–including religion. Together, the two men discover the power–and the fallibility–of what has long been considered the pinnacle of human certainty, Euclidean geometry.

As grandfather and grandson struggle with the question of whether there can ever be absolute certainty in mathematics or life, they are forced to reconsider their fundamental beliefs and choices. Their stories hinge on their explorations of parallel developments in the study of geometry and infinity–and the mathematics throughout is as rigorous and fascinating as the narrative and characters are compelling and complex. Moving and enlightening, A Certain Ambiguity is a story about what it means to face the extent–and the limits–of human knowledge.”

You can also download the first chapter here to whet your appetite.


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