Colin Beveridge
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icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Colin Beveridge
@icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
140 followers 3 following 490 posts
A mathematician with nothing to prove.

[bridged from https://mathstodon.xyz/@icecolbeveridge on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
*through gritted teeth* What do you notice? What do you wonder?

(The chart is a few years old, but the punchline is still valid.)
List of longest unbeaten streaks in international rugby union at a specified ground. Top are New Zealand at Eden Park, Auckland (49, ongoing); second England at Twickenham (22); third Georgia at the Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi (21). Joint fourth with 19, ongoing, are Ireland at the Aviva in Dublin and... New Zealand at Murrayfield, Edinburgh.
November 7, 2025 at 11:05 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[uspol]

That is NOT what I will remember Dick Cheney for.
"Cheney, who served under presidents from Nixon to George W Bush, will be remembered for key role after 9/11"
November 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[Answer]

And here is Bill's geogebra work.
On a train, a child's hand hovers above an iPad screen showing geogebra - a square and a circle as described earlier in the thread. A geogebra showing Bill's construction - a diameter of the circle, its intersection points with the square, and the points midway between the circle and the square. The same thing, with the circle and square removed.
November 2, 2025 at 8:27 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[Answer]

*I* was expecting circular arcs. But nope!
The actual curve -- r = 1 + sec(theta)/2 -- is in two branches, one vaguely normal-distribution shaped and the other with a funny loop-the-loop through the origin.
November 1, 2025 at 7:26 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Interesting question from 11yo Young Bill: what's the 'average' of a circle and a square? After a couple of questions, he clarified that he meant in terms of distance from their common centre, and he (quite impressively, imo) built the thing in Geogebra. I've […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
A Desmos plot of a red square with vertices at (+-1, +-1) and a red circle of radius 2 centred on the origin. The "average" plot consists of a set of four blue arcs in between, and a black sort of shamrock shape inside the square.
November 1, 2025 at 7:23 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
What Abbotsbury Road needs in that empty unit is a restaurant selling burgers, kebabs and pizza IN THAT ORDER.
October 27, 2025 at 8:44 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Proper vanishing point! (Don't worry, I checked carefully for trains.)
A straight single track railway. Photo taken from between the rails, showing the vanishing point in the distance. Overgrown trees, bushes and grass flank the track.
October 19, 2025 at 9:42 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
I've just retrieved my ca. 1985 ZX Spectrum+ from the mathemattic cupboard and realised that my watch isn't just 20,000 times more powerful, it also has a better screen resolution and (adjusted for inflation) cost half as much.
A dusty black keyboard with "Sinclair ZX Spectrum" at top left. Beside it is a grey cassette recorder and a "Mined-Out" cassette.
October 6, 2025 at 3:12 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Dogs are allowed back on the beach. Pete is delighted!
Silhouette of a goofy Patterdale terrier, a small chocolate-brown dog, kicking up the sand as he runs around the beach. There is calm sea in the background and distant cliffs. The sky is clear except for a few high clouds.
October 5, 2025 at 10:19 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Prescient, Douglas. Prescient.
The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation is the primary manufacturer and supplier of androids, robots and autonomic assistants for the known universe. They are known for their catchy jingles and catchphrases, which are supplied by their Marketing Department. The corporation is not known for the quality of their products, and almost all of their known inventions are faulty. Their primary claim to fame seems to be constructing just about everything with (unstable) advanced robotics and software. From doors to lifts, to toaster ovens, drinks machines, vacuum cleaners, and "personal massage units"—everything has been built with a full GPP or Genuine People Personality. This means that even a set of airlock doors has emotions, hopes, dreams, intelligence, and worse of all, the capacity for boredom. It should come as no surprise then, that the majority of these devices have a neurotic streak a mile wide. The company motto is "Share and Enjoy." This is widely adaptable, from synthesised drinks to the company of a robot, or "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with", as their robots are described as by the aforementioned Marketing Department. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy describes the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as: "A bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes." (Text in previous picture)
October 5, 2025 at 8:01 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Shout-out to the teenage girls I passed while running for shouting encouragement to "the little doggy". Pete was spurred on and is now worn out.
September 30, 2025 at 9:19 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[A pun some readers may find distressing.]

Inspired by a discussion with @alisonkiddle
Four pictures. On the top line, a fern, a baby, a fern. Below, a map showing Tesco in Brno.
September 28, 2025 at 8:51 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Never change, Bill Gosper, never change.
The treatment will be informal with few, if any, proofs.
September 24, 2025 at 8:25 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
FFS, Euler.
Snapshot of paragraph from a paper saying: "where Euler uses, instead of A, B and C, the astrological symbols, (h-like squiggle), (4-like squiggle) and (circle with a north-east pointing arrow), which are the symbols for Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, respectively."
September 21, 2025 at 1:32 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
No, you had a silly idea watching the Finite Group livestream on catch-up.
A red dragon curve on a background of green and white, echoing the flag of Wales.
September 16, 2025 at 10:09 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[Crimes against dataviz]

Good grief.
August 30, 2025 at 11:03 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[Crimes against dataviz]

I'm going to go and have a little cry.
August 30, 2025 at 10:27 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
*facepalm*
Screen capture of Dorset Echo headlines, one promoting a candle festival, the other bemoaning a fire.
August 24, 2025 at 7:22 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
After an offhand comment in @standupmaths's "Love Triangle" (which is available wherever etc.), my kids are now *thrilled* whenever they see a steep hill sign with a colon in it.

Today we found one on the way into Bourton-on-the-Hill.
A streetview of a rural road with "A44" written on it. There is a faded street sign stating that there's a 1:11 gradient ahead, and low gear for 1/2 mile.
August 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
This is the model village inside Bourton on the Water's model village. Under the plastic canopy is its own model village, within which you can just about make out another. A lovely detail.
A 1:81 scale model village with a plastic canopy in the foreground. Beneath that is a 1:243 scale model village, containing a 1:729 scale village.
August 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Oof, smashing it! Seven significant figures (nearly 8) from a 10,000,000 loop Monte Carlo method.

It wouldn't be Monte Carlo if it wasn't slightly rigged, but still, happy with that.
Pi estimate: 3.141592758882688
June 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
@mooseallain.bsky.social Of course, there's the famous picture from Bowie's wedding of the happy couple with Bono, Ono and Eno.
Picture from David and Iman Bowie's wedding with Bono (far left), Yoko Ono (centre left), the couple (centre) and Brian Eno (right).
June 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Thanks, but I have no immediate plans to microwave my USB stick.
A USB stick package with a yellow label saying "Security protected, remove before microwaving."
June 18, 2025 at 7:51 AM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Hm.
"Welsh transcription of your video has been published." I'm fairly certain I wasn't talking in Welsh.
June 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM
icecolbeveridge.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
[Solution]

@PercyButtons3 @DailyEpsilon Essentially the same method (with a tighter bound, I think.)
June 11, 2025 at 11:18 AM