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Andrew Stacey

@mathforge.org

1.6K followers 440 following 2.3K posts

Mathematician: formerly academic (differential topology), currently educational (Head of Department in a UK secondary school). Side interests in Maths & Programming & Art. Website: https://loopspace.mathforge.org

loopspace.mathforge.org

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Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 3h

There's a paragraph later where they waffle about "maybe not all x" (eg ln(1+x) ), but the implication is still that it converges for some non-trivial interval.

Whereas the only guarantee is that it converges when x=0

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 15h

Totally possible.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 16h

The Oxgordshire Youth Maths Conference was fantastic - but then I would say that, so here's Helen saying it so you can believe it!

#MathsToday #UKMathsChat

PS if you're in a secondary school in Oxfordshire, let me know if you're interested in attending next year.

Headington Helen @headingtonhelen.bsky.social · 17h

Huge thanks to @mathforge.org for organising the inaugural Oxfordshire Youth Maths Conference this week. Our 6 students who participated loved it and my colleague who took them said it was just right-- superb presentations by the students, not too long and the right number of breaks. Congrats!

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 16h

Just mistyped:

"encouragement al9ng"

It got underlined, with the suggested improvement:

"encouragement, al9ng"

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 16h

Thank you for sending them! And for all your encouragement along the way.

I really enjoyed the day and it seemed like all the participants did too.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 16h

Thanks for this. I'll read back through that thread.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 16h

I think so!

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 1d

Oh dear!

#ALevelMaths #UKMathsChat #ITeachMaths #mathsky

Text from an a level textbook defining the Maclaurin series of a function f(x) and saying that the series is valid provided that all derivatives have finite values at 0. The claim is that this converges to f(x).

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 1d

Gotta love it when Catriona plans my next lesson!

Catriona Agg @catrionaagg.bsky.social · 1d

I thought Y7 might need a warm up to the task in the first picture, so I modelled a couple and got them to try their own numbers on MWB. Brilliantly, someone happened to get 23, 24 and 23. After such a near miss they were all very motivated to try and get a perfect triplet! #MathsToday

Try different values of a and b.
For each set, can you make the values of the expressions the same?

1)
3a + 5
4(b + 1)
8a - 5b

2)
a + 3b+2
2a + b
a + b + 10

3)
5b - 3a
2b + 5a
11a - b + 6

Modelled substitution for the first set of three.
First row: a=5, b=2
Second row: a=10, b=1
Third row: a=6, b=5, which gives values of 23,24,23

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 1d

Anyone got any funky applications of the method of differences? (Further maths alevel)

Asking for a friend

#UKMathsChat #MathsToday #mathsky #ITeachMaths

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 3d

Gets my vote for the worst (ie best) pun

Christian Lawson-Perfect @christianp.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Asked my pal from Somerset if he knew anyone capable of taking the square root of -𝑟².
"I are!" he said.
That's a proof by country diction.

Reposted by Andrew Stacey

Peter Rowlett @peterrowlett.net · 7d

The call for peer reviewers is very real - if you teach maths at the upper end of school through to early university and are interested in maths content useful to people like you, please get in touch via [email protected] - thanks!

#MathsToday #UKMathsChat #ALevelMaths #MathToday #MathSky

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 7d

Good question!

My first thoughts are that limit blindness is a bit of a gotcha in this topic, but this might actually help with that as it forces them to properly engage with the limits.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 8d

Further Maths today: used the method of differences to prove the summation of squares formula, thus also foreshadowing MoD as a more general technique.

Unfortunately, only left myself 3 minutes to do the sum of cubes.

Did it in 2.

#MathsToday #UKMathsChat #ALevelMaths

Reposted by Andrew Stacey

CantabKitty @cantabkitty.bsky.social · 11d

Recommendations for where/how to get audiobooks that are not Amazon? (or whatever other company we have decided to cancel this week)

Yes I'm aware of my library but they don't have everything.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 11d

Pretty much whoever sells ebooks also sells audiobooks, so Kobo, Google, Barnes and Noble, Apple.

Seconding LibriVox.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 11d

(Audible is amazon)

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 12d

Surely it's "x-nought"

Reposted by Andrew Stacey

MrCFMaths @mrcfmaths.bsky.social · 13d

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 14d

#TikZfun

A blue path and a red path, both sine waves and slightly offset horizontally. The paths a split so that the appear to twist around each other. They are rendered with a pen effect so that the line thickness varies as if drawn with a calligraphic pen.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 14d

Perfect tribute today

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 14d

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

A few days after this cartoon was published, my syndicate received a very indignant letter from someone representing the Jane Goodall Institute.
Not only did my syndicate and I both get read the Riot Act, there was a vague implication that litigation over this cartoon might be around the corner.
I was horrified. Not so much from a fear of being sued (I just couldn't see how this cartoon could be construed as anything but silly, but because of my deep respect for Jane Goodall and her well-known contributions to pri-matology. The last thing in the world I would have intentionally done was offend Dr. Goodall in any way.
Before I had a chance to write my apology, another complication arose.
The National Geographic Society contacted my syndicate and expressed a

desire to reprint the cartoon in a special centennial issue of their magazine. My editor, aware of what had just occurred, declined, explaining why.
Apparently, whoever it was that sent the inquiry from National Geographic was shocked. They told my editor that "that doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know." They did some checking themselves, and an interesting fact was eventually discovered: Jane Goodall loved the cartoon. Furthermore, she was totally unaware that any of this "stuff" was going on. Some phone calls were made, and the cartoon was not only reprinted in the centennial issue of National Geographic, but was also used by her Institute on a T-shirt for fund-raising purposes.
I've since had an opportunity to visit Dr. Goodall at her research facility in Gombe. It's a wonderful place (sort of like right out of National Geographic).
"To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable even by a self-described 'loony' as Larson. The cartoon was incredibly offensive and in such poor taste that readers might well question the editorial judgment of running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to be supplying news to persons with a better than average intelligence. The cartoon and its message were absolutely stupid." —Excerpt from the above-mentioned letter that started the ruckus

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 14d

Respect.

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 14d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 14d

#MathsToday

Michael Pershan @mpershan.bsky.social · 27d

Gonna keep a thread of classroom things from this year until it gets boring, starting with this worked example I asked kids to analyze today. I wasn't sure about that first question -- is there constant slope? -- but a few kids said (incorretly) 'yes' and I think that gets at the heart of things.

Andrew Stacey @mathforge.org · 15d

Craig Barton's experiments with genAI are interesting ... not that they will get me to start using it, but that they are more likely to mean I stop listening to what he has to say.

Which would be a shame.

(Though there's a certain irony in genAI being a gateway drug for LaTeX!)

#UKMathsChat

Reposted by Andrew Stacey

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 19d

yeah we're into LLMs (Large Lamb-bridge Models)

A herd of sheep move across a marshy bridge.