Math in the Media: Homer vs. Pierre?

I just had the pleasure of watching a neat 8 minute video detailing some of the mathematics injected in to the Simpsons animations.  Apparently, there are mathematicians among the creative staff who cannot help themselves throwing in a little math humor into the background every so often. 

The video, listed here on YouTube by Numberphile is titled

Homer Simpson vs Pierre de Fermat

 Do give it a watch.  It is always good to know where the subliminal messages about how cool math really is are lurking, no?

Math in the Media: TEDx and me....

Late last year, I was asked to give a TEDx talk (the 'x' means locally organized) for the inaugural TEDx event here at Hopkins (called TEDxJohnsHopkinsUniversity).  I gladly accepted, seeing it as a chance to say something I've been wanting to say for a while:  I wanted to give a talk on what mathematics means to me and why I chose it as a lifestyle.  On February 22, 2014, here on campus, I gave the talk, entitled "Why Mathematics?".

Here it is in full:

Why Mathematics?

It was a great experience, and the organizers did an excellent job.  I hope you find the talk interesting.

I'll be on Cogito.org next week....

I will be hosting a discussion forum on the website www.cogito.org for the next couple of weeks. Cogito is a math and science website and online community for talented youth, and part of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) family here at Hopkins. I'll be taking questions and offering advice on whatever I can (involving mathematics, I suspect).

It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I'll post my thoughts here in the interim.

Math Blog from the Other Coast

An excellent mathematics-based blog has come across my (virtual) desk:

What's new

The diarist, Terence Tao, a professor in the Mathematics Department at UCLA, explores mostly his research and related issues, so some of the posts may be stratospheric and out of the reach of many math enthusiasts. But there are also posts with good air-pressure, and some excellent advice on math-related careers and writing techniques, as well as mathematical constructs and such. For instance, his latest post on the nature of "proof-by-contradiction" makes for excellent reading. Give it a try!

More Virtual Math!

Here is a current update of an earlier post here:

For the last few years, the Mathematics Department have been running online versions some of our freshman and sophomore level service courses (110.108-9 Calculus I-II, 110.201 Linear Algebra, 110.202 Calculus III and 110.302 Differential Equations). Designed and implemented inhouse, these course run for seven weeks in the summer, co-instructed by two of our graduate students each, and are identical in every other way to the in-class versions we run during the regular semesters. This year's version start this next week, on June 15th.

The design philosophies of these courses center around two fundamental principles:

1. The courses sacrifice nothing, both in content and in implementation, from the standard in-class, lecture-based version of the course (which ran concurrently in the summer).


2. The courses feature live, online lecturing, as well as live recitation sessions, as a core part of the instruction (currently we are the only implementation of online education using fully interactive and live lecturing, I believe; Tell me if I am mistaken. It's hard to keep up).

The implementation of this endeavor is facilitated by a software package called Elluminate Live! (ELive!), a virtual classroom environment that features (screen shot at right):

• an online virtual whiteboard which acts like a chalkboard.


• streaming audio,


• Powerpoint-style slides that can be superimposed on the whiteboard and written over,


• Classroom attendance moderation,


• full student interaction including notification of a "raised hand", side chatroom (fully monitored by the instructor, voice and/or whiteboard enabling for each students or students,


• full recording of live sessions for asynchronous reviewing later, with time stamps for accompanying notes.

Course document management is handled via the WebCT course management software. Homework is done the old fashioned way, but submitted via fax and/or email and graded electronically, and exams are proctored locally. For more details, see the Math Department's webpage.

Past results have been excellent, and this summer we are offering four of our courses in this format (all of the above with the exception of 110.108 Calculus I). I can provide tons more information is anyone is interested.

Thought I would throw this out there again. Cheers....

Virtual Mathematics - Online JHU Summer Courses

Last year, the Mathematics Department designed and implemented an online version of our first semester freshman Calculus course (110.108 Calculus I). This was a collaborative effort of a group of us in the department, and funded in part by a mini-grant from the Center for Educational Resources here on campus. Administered by two of our graduate students, Siddique Khan and Brian MacDonald, the course ran for 8 weeks to 10 students.

The philosophy of the course offering centered around two fundamental principles:

1. The course shall sacrifice nothing, both in content and in implementation, from the standard in-class, lecture-based version of the course (which ran concurrently).


2. The course will feature live, online lecturing, as well as live recitation sessions, as a core part of the instruction.

The implementation of such an endeavor was facilitated by a software package called Elluminate Live! (ELive!), a virtual classroom environment that features (screen shot at right):

• an online virtual whiteboard which acts like a chalkboard.


• streamin audio,


• powerpoint-style slides that can be superimposed on the shiteboard and written over,


• Classroom attendence moderation,


• full student interaction including notification of a "raised hand", side chatroom (fully monitored by the instructor, voice and/or whiteboard enabling for each students or students,


• full recording of live sessions for post lecture viewing/reviewing, with time stamps for accompanying notes.

The results were excellent, and this summer we are offering four of our courses in this format (as well as accompanying in-class versions). I can provide tons more information is anyone is interested.

Thought I would throw this out there. Cheers....