As noted in Gamma (page 65), mathematician meant astrologer in context. Still, what a terrific quote.

When I researching for my series of posts on conditional convergence, especially examples related to the constant $\gamma$ , the reference Gamma: Exploring Euler’s Constant by Julian Havil kept popping up. Finally, I decided to splurge for the book, expecting a decent popular account of this number. After all, I’m a professional mathematician, and I took a graduate level class in analytic number theory. In short, I don’t expect to learn a whole lot when reading a popular science book other than perhaps some new pedagogical insights.

Boy, was I wrong. As I turned every page, it seemed I hit a new factoid that I had not known before.

In this series, I’d like to compile some of my favorites — while giving the book a very high recommendation.

Proportion in Grammar

Source: https://www.facebook.com/analyticalgrammar/photos/a.167941616890.130074.131324516890/10153609226726891/?type=3

Report Cards for Famous Mathematicians

From Math With Bad Drawings:

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Additionally, my favorites from the comments:

Evariste Galois gets an A+ in math and gets a D in behavior. Evariste is a very creative mathematician with potential for greatness. But he needs to get along better with others. Getting into fights is not the way to succeed.

Gödel is excellent at logic but his work is often incomplete.

I am missing Heisenberg’s report card here. “Werner refuses to give an exact answer and seems to be proud of his uncertainty.”

Benoit Mandelbrot C+, great at drawing designs but keeps going on and on and on about perimeters. Next time he should work on calculating areas as his answers were always zero…

Look at my tan line

Source: https://onsizzle.com/i/look-at-my-tan-line-me-irl-653242

Sine of madness

Abbott and Costello and subtraction

For more on Abbott and Costello and mathematics, here’s the classic routine “Two Tens for a Five.” (On my first job as a teenager, my boss successfully pulled this joke on me using two dimes and a nickel.)

Calculus and Abbott and Costello

Although $n + 30 > n$ for all $n$ , it’s also true that

$\displaystyle \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n+30}{n} = 1$ .

That’s the subtle mathematical premise behind this classic comedy routine from Abbott and Costello. (This routine was the basis of a recent article in The College Mathematics Journal.)

Abbott and Costello and division

See also the similar post by Ma and Pa Kettle.

One Day More: Back to School version

Where I live, public schools reopen to students next week… which means innumerable back-to-school organizational meetings for our teachers. Last year, the good folks of West Des Moines put together this flash mob at their district-wide back-to-school meeting. After the superintendent’s deliberately dry introductory remarks are cut off, the fun begins at the 1:20 mark. (Be sure to turn on closed captioning to see the lyrics.)

Category: Humor

Linus Pauling and the Golden Rule

What I Learned from Reading “Gamma: Exploring Euler’s Constant” by Julian Havil: Part 6