\(9 \times 2 = 18\) and \(9^2 = 81\)

Notice that 18 is 81 in reverse.

Question: Are there any other pairs of numbers (besides 9 and 2) that you can do this with? What about in a different base? What if you allow leading 0s?

Happy Math Awareness Week!

The Curious Case of Whatever is Going On Here

— Anurag Katyal {I like math, puzzles, games, photography, telling (long rambling) stories}

• You don't need to know any (advanced) math nor will I teach you any. Maybe just a little.

• You only need:

  • a healthy dose of curiousity,

  • a willingness to guess incorrectly in public,

  • and a high tolerance for zoomed-in images of things that might look cool, weird, alarming or satisfying, sometimes all at the same time. 

Disclaimer

Rules of the Game
(is it a game...?)

Let's Practice

What do you think this is?

How about
now?

Might be
obvious at this
stage.

(An unsolved problem)

I still don't know how I got her to marry me :) 

Who Cares?

(about math)

When will we ever use factoring this?

– Valery R., Int. Alg.

(Hi Val! 👋)

It's useful/necessary in field < x > so you can do your job < y > better than person < z >.
< Something about real world applications. >

– Most MAW Presenters
(Including me this morning)

Jaime
Escalante

1930 - 2010

Bertrand Russell

1872 - 1970

Important!

Fall in love with the problem.

Back to the game

1

2

Adventure time!

If something has to get somewhere, math starts showing up.

Zooming in removes context. Mathematics is one of the tools we use to get context back.

Nothing is ever...

When growth has constraints, patterns start showing up in interesting ways.

Back to the game

If you had to design a structure to move something efficiently, would you rather copy a tree, a river, or a subway map?

Sir D'Arcy Thompson (1860 - 1948)

Back to the game

There is a long history of mathematicians and physicists staring at bubbles and insisting this is a serious use of their time.

• bubbles minimize surface energy

• geometry emerges from physical constraints

Sometimes nature is doing math.

Sometimes humans copy nature's homework. 

Sometimes our brains are desperate for order. 

At what point do we stop discovering structure and start imposing it?

Mathematics is not just the study of patterns. It is the study of which patterns deserve our trust.

Back to the game

Alan Turing (1912 - 1954)

Back to the game

Symmetry is often our first clue that something has structure.

Mathematics likes exactness. Nature likes the vibe of exactness.

Nature/Design/Nonsense?

What does mathematics look like when it isn't trying to look mathematical?

Where is the math?

Why should I bother learning it?

Repetition

Repetition

Bilateral Symmetry

Bilateral Symmetry

Radial Symmetry

Growth

Growth

Packing

Packing

Spirals

Vertical Lines

Balance

Optimize

Optimize

Always look for the rainbow! Especially when it is raining.

\(9 \times 2 = 18\) and \(9^2 = 81\)

Notice that 18 is 81 in reverse.

Question: Are there any other pairs of numbers (besides 9 and 2) that you can do this with? What about in a different base? What if you allow leading 0s?

Fall in love with an unsolvable problem :)