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In what flipping dimension is a square peg in a round hole just as good as a...
In what flipping dimension is a square peg in a round hole just as good as a round peg in a square hole? Let’s start at the beginning. My Plus magazine puzzle from March asks “Which gives a tighter...
View ArticleLike everybody else, you too can be unique. Just keep shuffling
The first take-home lesson of this note is that you too can be unique. You’ll have to keep shuffling to get there, but it is an attainable goal. Several years ago it dawned on me that the number of...
View ArticleThe mathematics examinations faced by school leavers in the Republic of Ireland
This Friday, close to 13,000 students in the Republic of Ireland are set to take higher level maths in the Leaving Certificate, the state exams for 17-18 year old school leavers. That’s the highest...
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Who wants to host a Celebration of Mind? There’s still time
This Sunday, 21st October 2012, marks what would have been the 98th birthday of Martin Gardner, American man of letters and numbers, as well as logic, puzzles, magic and scepticism. I had the good...
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Happy birthday, Évariste Galois
Happy birthday, Évariste Galois (25 Oct 1811- 31 May 1832) “Liberté Toujours” [Image conceived by Card Colm Mulcahy, realized by Dan Bascelli] 201 years old now, but you don’t look a day over 20. One...
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All Squared, Number 7: Card Magic (Colm Mulcahy part 1)
Colm Mulcahy is an original Aperiodical contributor (Aperiodicontributor?) and friend of the site. He’s spent the last year and a bit writing his new book, Mathematical Card Magic: Fifty-Two New...
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All Squared, Number 8: Martin Gardner (Colm Mulcahy part 2)
This is the second and final part of our interview with Colm Mulcahy. Last week we talked about card magic; in this part we moved on to the subject of Martin Gardner and the gatherings of interesting...
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Eight Easy Pieces (you can touch but don’t look)
Here’s a bar bet you can’t lose. Actually, it’s more of a kitchen bet, being a quiche cutting conundrum. You’ve just bought a lovely fresh haggis quiche at your local Minus 4 shop and are planning to...
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MacTutor History of Mathematics website creators honoured by LMS
Edmund Robertson & John O’Connor of the University of St. Andrews have been honoured by the London Mathematical Society for their pioneering MacTutor History of Mathematics website hosted at St....
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Given any Delta, there exists Epsilon
At the end of an overnight flight from San Francisco to New York is hardly the ideal time to play “I Spy Mathematics” on a packed airplane. We were all grumpy and groggy from four scant hours of...
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