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2013-06-09 08:58:06 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Free Coursera course on Optimisation! Check it out.

2013-06-08 20:33:07 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

A #caturday  post with a difference for a change!...

Percy Shaw, inventor of the cat’s eyes

I only came to hear the story of Percy recently and amazed to hear how a chance encounter with a feline led to a device that has since saved uncountable numbers of lives on our roads.  Thought I’d share the awesome story!

In 1933, Percy Shaw was driving home from his local pub, the Old Dolphin, in Yorkshire, England.  The story goes that it was a foggy night and Percy, having had a few drinks (this of course was perfectly legal in those day) was struggling to drive safely with the poor visibility.  He was on the verge of veering off the road when his headlights caught the gaze of a cat sitting by the side of the road.  The reflection from the cat’s eyes helped save his life by helping him to avoid driving off the road and dropping 1,000 feet down anembankment... more »

2013-06-08 13:16:48 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Students seem to get that they need to find their best tool for the job :)

Just written this 3rd post reflecting on my teaching of a new class on +SAS Software and #R . This post is very similar to the previous 2 looking at student choices and preferences between the languages.

#mathed  

2013-06-08 10:08:21 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 4 +1s)

Head of Airport Performance, Dubai Airport

A good buddy of mine with whom I studied Mathematics together as an undergraduate and was my best man at my wedding, now holds a senior position at Dubai Airport (SVP for Strategy & Development).  He is looking to hire a head of airport performance (skills in mathematical modelling/operations research).  Please do circulate to anyone who might be interested.  
#orms   #mathematics   #dubai  

2013-06-07 18:46:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

My friend +Christopher Lee, who works in genomics at UCLA, has set up some software for a selected papers network.  This could help us with two big problems in the current system: overly expensive journals, and ineffective peer review.    I'll start by analyzing the problems, here:

http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/the-selected-papers-network-part-1/

Later I'll explain how the selected papers network actually works, and invite you all to try it!

2013-06-07 16:30:27 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Last night at 2am I finished the first version of realtime project collaboration for https://cloud.sagemath.com.   Try it out.  Share something with me :-)  (William Stein). 

2013-06-07 06:26:24 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

I've made another video! :-) This one explains how to use +writeLaTeX for education -- how to create & share assignments as a teacher, and how to submit assignments as a student...

2013-06-06 18:27:14 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Awesome video of ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" launching into orbit!
http://www.universetoday.com/102707/first-ever-video-of-an-atv-vehicle-into-orbit/

2013-06-06 15:11:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

MSc Class of 2013
Today we held a project briefing day for our +Cardiff Maths MSc OR/Stats students - this is the last time they will be together before they head out to various places for their 3 month summer projects based in industry.  We wish them all the best of luck for some excellent projects :)
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/maths/masters/index.html
#orms   #mathematics  

2013-06-05 19:33:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The latest installment from Math Ed Matters: "If You Aren't Having Fun..." by +Angie Hodge.

Check out the Gangnam style parody video that Angie's calculus students made about l'Hôpital’s rule!  Enjoy.

#mathed   #IBLMath  

2013-06-05 16:14:51 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 21 +1s)

Math examiners aren't mean; they're above average is what my awesome new mug says, very kindly given to me by +Izabela Komenda as a way of thanking me for being her internal examiner for her PhD (really very kind Iza - absolutely no need!).  And I love +Vincent Knight's t-shirt that he got from Iza too (http://goo.gl/3QDmq) :)

2013-06-05 07:49:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Sicherman Dice
Is it possible to label two dice in a different (non-standard) way so that the distribution of their totals follows the same pattern?

2013-06-05 12:31:32 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Good morning Scotland (greetings from Wales)! This was the view on my journey to work and thought immediately of +Cod Codliness and all our Scottish G+ pals!

2013-06-01 12:42:38 (2 comments, 7 reshares, 37 +1s)

Me at queueing. Every time. Everywhere.

2013-05-31 09:01:57 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Celebrating the inventor of the petri dish

There is a special interactive  #GoogleDoodle  on google.co.uk today, marking the life of German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri. The inventor of the Petri dish would have been 160 years old today. You can read more about Petri in this article from +The Guardian : http://goo.gl/Xrn5F 

You can also see more  #Doodles  in this gallery: http://goo.gl/ssiYX

2013-05-30 18:45:51 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

Mathematical Modelling for Healthcare

Recently we kind of 'officially' opened the hmc2 (health modelling centre cymru - hmc2.org) modelling lab in the School of Mathematics,  +Cardiff University.  This great space / resource will be also home for 4 of the post-docs (+Izabela Komenda, +Julie Vile, Penny Holborn and Tracey England) who are all funded by the Aneurin Bevan local health board.  Really nice to see this vision turn to reality.  Our plans are to sustain and expand the mathematical modelling unit, undertaking applied research making an impact in the health service alongside the underpinning mathematical/OR theory. 

Took these photos for a work based project (practical leadership course) I'm undertaking (don't ask!...) and +Vincent Knight kindly took some of me too with the team ( and became annimated thanks to #autoawesome !) 

#mathem... more »

2013-05-30 12:12:14 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Sweet. Bland Shire (Australia) to team
up with the towns of Dull (Scotland) and Boring (US).

2013-05-30 11:00:20 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

An Oxford Professor of English has implored “the grammar police” and spelling pedants to be a bit more relaxed about changing standards of written English. “Is the apostrophe so crucial to the preservation of our society?” he asked.

" To gasps of shock from an audience at the Hay Festival... Simon Horobin, said it was not sacrilegious to suggest that “they’re”, “their”, “there” could be spelt in the same way, he also indicated that “thru” or “lite” might not be such a sin."

(I imagine +Vincent Knight might like to hear this - suddenly my life got less busy! ;-) )

2013-05-28 14:36:27 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

This morning—sequences and cutting Möbius bands in my daughter's kindergarten classroom. It was similar to my visit to my son's kindergarten class 4 years ago (see my 2009 blog post).

2013-05-28 12:32:09 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Yay, have my hands on the hottest tickets in town! The Harper family is really looking forward to +Zoe Prytherch and +Vincent Knight's big bash! Thanks for the invite guys :)
(Edit: to clarify that's 'bash' as in slang for a party and nothing to do with GNU... knowing Vince though anything is possible on the day.. :) )

2013-05-27 20:35:20 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

Cream Teas Tease

A UK bank holiday investigation of the 'maths' of the perfect cream scone!

Dr Cheng said: "Building a good scone is like building a good sandcastle - you need a wider base, and then it needs to get narrower as it goes up so that it doesn't collapse or drip. The study was commissioned by Rodda's Cornish Clotted Cream.

2013-05-27 15:43:55 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

How long would it take to count to one Googol?

This was precisely the question that my 6-year old daughter asked over breakfast. Naturally, as a mathematician, I was delighted to hear her ask such a question; certainly I was much more in my comfort zone than having the usual questions I try to deal with such as how babies are made and which hole they come out of...

If not familiar with a googol, it is 1 followed by a hundred zeros: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

I asked my daughter to make an initial estimate and she guessed around one month. So then for a little while, we timed how long it took to count and estimated on average 2 numbers every second [needless to say, and we discussed this, that it’s much quicker to count aloud 1 to 100 than say nine hundreda... more »

2013-05-27 09:29:55 (1 comments, 22 reshares, 33 +1s)

How long would it take to count to one Googol?

This was precisely the question that my 6-year old daughter asked over breakfast. Naturally, as a mathematician, I was delighted to hear her ask such a question; certainly I was much more in my comfort zone than having the usual questions I try to deal with such as how babies are made and which hole they come out of...

If not familiar with a googol, it is 1 followed by a hundred zeros: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

I asked my daughter to make an initial estimate and she guessed around one month. So then for a little while, we timed how long it took to count and estimated on average 2 numbers every second [needless to say, and we discussed this, that it’s much quicker to count aloud 1 to 100 than say nine hundreda... more »

2013-05-26 15:57:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Anthony Damico has created quite an impressive set of examples, with lots of explanation and code.  I love how he uses R to make downloading and merging the files easy too, not just analyzing them.

Of course this is great for actual research, but also nice for anyone trying to learn or play around with methods who wants to test something out using real data.  No more need to just use some tiny book dataset, use a free public survey!

#statistics   #R  

2013-05-24 10:23:39 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Just been glancing at the program for EURO2013 conference (for the Operations Research community) in Rome (which is set to be one of the largest EURO's with 3185 presentations).  My joint talk with +Vincent Knight and +Louise Orpin in the OR education stream is sandwiched between "Developing OR application skills with +AIMMS: a bridge in OR education (Ovidiu Listes) (thought you'd be pleased to hear that +Guido Diepen!) and what looks really fun: "Production and Operations Management in the LegoFactory" (Evelyn Richards).  OR and Lego Factory - cool!

2013-05-24 08:10:25 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

Socially awkward photography with Google Glass. This would be me
File this one under humor

2013-05-23 21:22:54 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

Jane Austen, Game Theorist
UCLA's Michael Chwe argues that Jane Austen's novels are game theory textbooks: in many cases, by making tough choices and predicting how others will respond, Austen’s young (often financially deprived) heroines triumph over seemingly stronger forces.
“Recognizing Austen as a game theorist helps us see how game theory has more diverse and subversive historical roots. Austen and African American folktellers speak as outsiders: women dependent on men, and slaves struggling for autonomy. They build a theory of strategic thinking not to better chase a Soviet submarine but to survive. The powerful can of course use game theory, but game theory develops distinctively among the subordinate and oppressed, people for whom making exactly the right strategic move in the right situation can have enormous consequences: women who might gain husbands, and slaves who mightgai... more »

2013-05-21 22:16:18 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Enjoyed a great day 2 at the Welsh Mathematical Colloquium. +Elizabeth Rowse (in the photo) gave a very nice talk on "Set Partitioning Methods for Robust Scheduling: Application to Operating Theatres", which was well received. I very much enjoyed a plenary by Prof Brian Davies, FRS (Kings College London) on the Scientific Revolution. I find the history of science and mathematics fascinating but ashame I never had an opportunity to formally study this as a student myself. And the Gregynog micro-climate never fails to deliver some Welsh sunshine :)

2013-05-20 14:16:14 (0 comments, 6 reshares, 16 +1s)

On April 17, a paper arrived in the inbox of the Annals of Mathematics. Written by a mathematician virtually unknown to the experts in his field — a 50-something lecturer at the University of New Hampshire named Yitang Zhang — the paper claimed to have taken a huge step forward in understanding one of mathematics’ oldest problems, the twin primes conjecture.  And it had!  Rumors swept through the mathematics community that a great advance had been made by a researcher no one seemed to know — someone whose talents had been so overlooked after he earned his doctorate in 1992 that he had found it difficult to get an academic job, working for several years as an accountant and even in a Subway sandwich shop.

For the whole story read this:

https://simonsfoundation.org/features/science-news/unheralded-mathematician-bridges-the-prime-gap/

Thanks to +Ian Agol forpointing ... more »

2013-05-20 13:09:41 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Saying yes to academic responsabilities

I just read this cool post by +Adriana Salerno about the need to learn how to say "no" every now and then in academia (http://goo.gl/znq5h)

I thought I'd put a blog post together  in which I attempt an xkcd style graph showing the probability of saying "Yes" to academic responsibilities based on career stage. You can find it here: http://goo.gl/D6c4F.

I made use of the XKCDify (for matplotlib + +Python) code here: http://goo.gl/1xX2O

#xkcd  

2013-05-20 13:04:02 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Arrived at Gregynog (mid Wales) for 3 days of the Welsh Mathematical Colloquium.  This is one of my favourite annual meetings, given the beautiful location, peacefulness and opportunity to listen to talks across a wide range of mathematical topics.  

Got here nice and early so I can carry on reading +Izabela Komenda's thesis in the beauty library; it is thus probably a good thing that +Vincent Knight hasn't come this year to distract with organising sports games on the lawn for all of us! (although I will miss that this year).   The bedrooms aren't your usual sort here either and all rather different and odd in their own way.  This year I think I'm in my favourite room so far however, with fantastic views and three beds to chose between!  
(And Vince, just been for a quick run and they now gravelled that path through the woods - see picture - spoilsports!!)

2013-05-18 18:54:11 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The future of cancer research requires mathematical modelling and this community is the place to find out about the latest research.

2013-05-18 17:42:41 (3 comments, 5 reshares, 22 +1s)

Best animated gif...EVAR! #space  

2013-05-18 07:47:21 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 27 +1s)

Congratulations to +Leanne Smith, no sorry, Dr Leanne Smith :D
Leanne has just successfully defended her thesis on "Modelling Emergency Medical Services" which employed location theory, optimisation methods and computer simulations, working with the Welsh Ambulance Service, supervised by myself, +Vincent Knight and +Janet Williams.  I can't begin to describe how proud I am of Leanne.  She has overcome various issues to get to this point.  It's been a real blessing to have played a role in her supervision.  She was absolutely awesome in the viva.  Now Leanne is off to Boston for a post-doc and we wish her all the best in this new venture :D  

2013-05-17 13:09:22 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The science behind the Dambusters raid - 70th anniversary of Operation Chastity

May 16 marked 70 years since the daring Dambusters raid of World War II, in which RAF pilots used bouncing bomb to breach two German dams.  This has been recreated by a Cambridge-led team (Dr Hugh Hunt et al) to demonstrate how the amazing feat was achieved.   

Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (1887-1979). Wallis was the engineer and inventor behind the science of the bouncing bombs (http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/)
 
Cambridge Research:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bombs-away-the-dambusters-bounce-back

http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/

Source of video at: http://goo.gl/hNbgy

2013-05-17 09:57:10 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

The science behind the Dambusters raid - 70th anniversary of Operation Chastity

May 16 marked 70 years since the daring Dambusters raid of World War II, in which RAF pilots used bouncing bomb to breach two German dams.  This has been recreated by a Cambridge-led team (Dr Hugh Hunt et al) to demonstrate how the amazing feat was achieved.   

Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (1887-1979). Wallis was the engineer and inventor behind the science of the bouncing bombs (http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/)
 
Cambridge Research:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bombs-away-the-dambusters-bounce-back

http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/

Source of video at: http://goo.gl/hNbgy

2013-05-17 08:52:31 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 14 +1s)

This video won first place in the inaugural Math-O-Vision contest, which invites high school students to make math-themed videos.  A great contest, and a great video!