Relatively Prime: Stories from the Mathematical Domain

Welcome to the third episode of the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we are covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew.

In this this episode we bring to you a tour of where mathematics articles go after they are published so that they may be found, Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet. Samuel is shown the path a paper follows through the Mathematical Reviews by Managing Editor Norm Richert, with stops to talk to many department heads along the way.

Stayed tuned for next month's final entry in the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series which will feature mathematics which was directly inspired by the work featured in the first episode of the mini-series.

Welcome to the second episode of the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we are covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew.

In this this episode we bring to you the story of the hidden labor of mathematical research, that of the editors and the peer review referees. In order to do this Samuel spoke with Rachel Kuske, then of the University of British Columbia and now the Chair of Mathematics at Georgia Tech, and W. Ted Mahavier of Lamar University. They spoke about how an editor manages a peer review process, the three things a peer review referee needs to check, and why there is so little time for peer reviewing.

Stayed tuned for next month's entry in the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series which will feature a behind the scenes tour of one of the most important buildings in mathematics.

Welcome to the new Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we will be covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew.

In this first episode we bring to you the story of the ground breaking small-world network research of Duncan Watts and Steven Strogatz which spawned the mathematical discipline of network theory. This work was published in Nature in 1998 in a paper title Collective dynamics of 'small-world' networks. In order to tell this tale Samuel spoke with Duncan themself to get the inside story on where the idea came from, the process of the research, and why Duncan had to bring extra calling cards on a trip to Catalonia.

Stayed tuned for next month's entry in the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series which will be all about the behind the scenes of mathematical publication.

As this is being written there is around 18 hours left in the final match of the Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off between Matt Parker and Dr. Nira Chamberlin. In honor of the final Samuel got on the phone and talked with the creator of the Math Off Christian Lawson-Perfect about where the idea came from and what it has been like to run. Samuel also got a hold of Dr. Nira Chamberlin who was kind enough to take carve out some time from a busy schedule at a new job to take a call from Samuel to discuss what it has been like to take part and make it to the final of the Math Off.

UPDATE!

After the episode originally went out Samuel was able to get in touch with Matt Parker for a discussion of Matt's unique strategy in the competition and why breaking voting systems can be fun.

Please enjoy this episode, and make sure to hurry up and vote in the final match of the Big Internet Math Off.

Music:

lowercase n

As this is being written there is around 18 hours left in the final match of the Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off between Matt Parker and Dr. Nira Chamberlin. In honor of the final Samuel got on the phone and talked with the creator of the Math Off Christian Lawson-Perfect about where the idea came from and what it has been like to run. Samuel also got a hold of Dr. Nira Chamberlin who was kind enough to take carve out some time from a busy schedule at a new job to take a call from Samuel to discuss what it has been like to take part and make it to the final of the Math Off. Many attempts were made to include Matt Parker, but travel and time zones got in the way.

Please enjoy this episode, and make sure to hurry up and vote in the final match of the Big Internet Math Off.

Music:

lowercase n

Sadly Samuel did not make it to the final round of The Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off, but lucky for y'all in a fit of profound arrogance, as well as trying to deal with some potential scheduling issues which could have accompanied victory, they had already made all of their entries. Instead of letting them languish in the dust bin of mathematical communication history Samuel has decided to release them anyway.

This would-be semi-final entry is all about checkers, well checkers and AI and hubris and death and rivalry and the devil's work. In fact this is really a re-airing of the Series 1 episode Chinook which Samuel will happily tell you is the greatest story they have ever had the story to tell.

Music and Effects:

Ken MacLeod

tim.kahn

dr_skitz

DickBlox

misjoc

Here is the description from the originally episode's post:

You may not think of checkers as an important game intellectually. It certainly has never had the cachet of chess. That did not stop it from becoming the obsession of the University of Alberta computer science professor for nearly two decades and the center of one of the most ambitious Artificial Intelligence projects ever undertaken. This is their story.

Jonathan Schaeffer is a Computer Science Professor at the University of Alberta where he is also the current Dean of the Faculty of Science.

Download the Uncut Jonathan Schaeffer Interview

Chinook is the greatest checkers player in the world, in fact it is impossible to beat. The product of an 18 year project in computer artificial intelligence, Chinook represents one of the greatest breakthroughs in computer game playing and was the first machine to ever hold a human world championship.

Music:

sr_cafe

Mgen

Joe Nathan 007

sciencectn (2) (3)

xlcntr

marcalexandre

thedeadsoul

amethystdeceiver

_Oce_

Sadly Samuel did not make it to the semi-final round of The Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off, but lucky for y'all in a fit of profound arrogance, as well as trying to deal with some potential scheduling issues which could have accompanied victory, they had already made all of their entries. Instead of letting them languish in the dust bin of mathematical communication history Samuel has decided to release them anyway.

This would-be semi-final entry is all about Gerrymandering. It features interviews taken from two different episodes, Mathematistan from the second season and Re District from the third. Check out those episodes to find out more about the guests and their work.

Music and Effects:

Ken MacLeod

tim.kahn

dr_skitz

DickBlox

misjoc

Sadly Samuel did not make it to the second round of The Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off, but lucky for y'all in a fit of profound arrogance, as well as trying to deal with some potential scheduling issues which could have accompanied victory, they had already made all of their entries. Instead of letting them languish in the dust bin of mathematical communication history Samuel has decided to release them anyway.

This would-be second round entry is all about William Rowan Hamilton, quaternions, and the walk in their honor. It includes a beautiful song by Jess Charlton.You can hear the PRX STEM Story Project funded piece some of the tape was originally gathered for here.

Don't forget to vote in the second round of The Big Internet Math Off even though Samuel is not in it.

All the apologies to Lin-Manuel.

It is time for the first round of the 1st ever Aperiodical.com Big Internet Math Off!

In the first round Samuel is facing off against Paul Taylor, and they need y'all's help to win. Head over to the match page and vote for Samuel so they can tell y'all about what an Irish bridge, graffiti, and the letters i, j, and k have to do with getting to the moon in the second round.

For their first round entry Samuel shares with you the story of why your, well not you wise, beautiful listener but definitely for everyone you know, their friends have more friends than they do and how this paradox can help fight epidemics. If after listening you want to find out more about why your friends have more friends than you do you can read Scott's paper and check out Nicholas's work or you can listen below to the season one RelPrime episode a longer version of this story was in. Samuel also wrote an expository piece about the friendship paradox for Second-Rate minds you might want to check out.

Music and Effects:

Ken MacLeod

tim.kahn

dr_skitz

DickBlox

misjoc

On this month's episode of Relatively Prime we are excited to bring to you the story of Girls Talk Math. Girls Talk Math is a 2 week mathematics camp for high school women, as well as a podcast made by the campers about women from the history of mathematics. Samuel spoke with the founders Francesca Bernardi and Katrina Morgan about where the idea came from, why they decided to include podcasting as part of the camp, and the ways they reached out beyond the typical women you would expect to want to attend a summer mathematics camp. You can see how you can get involved here.

Don't forget to support Relatively Prime on Patreon and help Samuel survive the month!

Girls Talk Math Episodes Featured:

Grace Hopper

Suchitra Sebastian

Joan Birman

Music:

The Ants Go Jumping by ScienceCTN