Category Archives: Uncategorized

Firstly, the results for the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad have been published. Consequently, the preliminary UK IMO squad is now larger than ever before, comprising ten people (six team members and four reserves, in some indeterminate order). You are probably aware of … Continue reading →

A most delightful way to procrastinate is to attempt the unsolved problems on MathOverflow. Especially rewarding is when you actually end up solving such a problem, or when you learn something in the process, or both. Last night I learnt … Continue reading →

Whilst submerged beneath several blankets in my morning hypnopompia, I was awakened by the Today programme on Radio 4. Specifically, I heard news that the Pet Shop Boys are due to perform an orchestral biography of the mathematician and cryptanalyst … Continue reading →

In the 1994 proceedings of the Mathematical Association of America, there is a truly wonderful article by Jonathan King. Entitled Three Problems in Search of a Measure, it provides three very different examples of problems that can be solved using elementary … Continue reading →

I overheard mention of a particular problem on a recent British Mathematical Olympiad, namely the following: A number written in base 10 is a string of 3^2013 digit 3s. No other digit appears. Find the highest power of 3 which … Continue reading →

Firstly, I have a few late items of news to discuss: Maria Holdcroft (former UK EGMO team member) and I survived our skydive on Wednesday, and have so far raised in excess of £886.77 (a large portion of which is from … Continue reading →

Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, whom you may recognise from having discovered Cardano’s solution to the general cubic equation, also discovered a generalisation of Heron’s formula to compute the volume of a tetrahedron: As you may expect, this can be generalised to … Continue reading →

Until very recently, the densest known packing of pound coins in the plane was the hexagonal lattice packing of circles, which achieves a density of π/√12 ≈ 0.9069. This was proved by Axel Thue to be the densest arrangement of … Continue reading →

Firstly, a major announcement: Maria Holdcroft (whom you may remember from the cipher solvers page) and I will be performing a charity skydive on the 2nd April! If you wish to sponsor us, please specify the amount you intend to donate by commenting … Continue reading →

One of the most miraculous phenomena in the universe is, unarguably, the existence of biological life. Whilst evolution nicely accounts for the gradual progression from the earliest archaeobacteria to the vast array of multicellular creatures capable of astounding feats of … Continue reading →