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One of the reasons I’m writing the Dictionary of Mathematical Eponymy is to introduce myself to new ideas, and to mathematicians I didn’t know about. To things I wish I knew more about. Elliptic curves are pretty high on that list. What is the Lutz-Nagell theorem? It’s sometimes - reasonably,

A puzzle via @CmonMattTHINK (Matt Enlow): There is a line that is tangent to the curve y = x^4 - x^3 at two distinct points. What is its equation? (Can you find it without calculus?) #iteachmath #math #maths #mathchat #mathschat — Matt Enlow (@CmonMattTHINK) December 21, 2018 (I think we

“A ninety-seventh.” The student scratched her head. “I’d call that 0.01.” A moment more’s thought. “0.0103? Probably good enough.” For the Mathematical Ninja, this was about as good as could be expected. They sighed all the same and wrote down: $0. \dot 01\, 03\, 09\, 27\, 83\, 50\, 51 \\

This is based on a puzzle I heard from @colinthemathmo, who wrote it up here; he heard it from @DavidB52s, and there the trail goes cold. The Mathematical Ninja lay awake, toes itching. This generally meant that a mission was in the offing. Awake or dreaming? Unclear. But the thought

Dear Uncle Colin, Why are there only five platonic solids? - Pentagons Look Awful. Try Octagons! Hi, PLATO, and thanks for your message! A platonic solid is a three-dimensional shape with the following rules: Each face is the same regular polygon The same number of edges meet at every vertex

I recently had a flurry of correspondence with translators of The Maths Behind (available wherever etc., but also soon in Swedish and Korean): embarrassingly, they had caught several mistakes in the book. These things happen; we try to put them right and move on. However, it got me wondering: can