Featured Site: Numberphile

4937775 - Numberphile

Numberphile is a website containing short videos (approx. 5-10 min.) about numbers and stuff. Mathematicians and physicists play around with the tools of their trade and explain things in simple, clear language. Learn things you didn't know you were interested in! Find out why 493-7775 is a pretty cool phone number! What's the significance of 42, anyway? What the heck is a vampire number? Why does Pac-Man have only 255 screens?

Suitable for viewing by everyone from intelligent and curious middle-schoolers to math-impaired adults. They also have a fantastic YouTube channel.

Science: Visualizing Prime Numbers

Visualizing Prime Numbers

Jason Davies has created a way to visualize prime numbers as periodic curves (curves that repeat every n points). Wherever only two curves intersect (for 1 and the number), that’s a prime. Play with the interactive, zoomable version here.

Lecture: Measurement

Paul Lockhart, author of the famous Mathematician's Lament, has a new book coming out called Measurement, which tries to discuss mathematics "as an artful way of thinking and living". Lockhart discusses his passion for math and motives for writing the book in this video.

Science: World’s Largest Sierpenski Triangle

The World’s Largest Sierpenski Triangle

In Eudora, Kansas, you dont give your money to charity until you’ve done something fuggin rad with it first. Raising over $700 in pennies, they set out to beat the world record for world’s largest Sierpenski triangle. Nine hours and over 60,000 pennies later, the massive copper Triforce was complete. Time to make a wish, guys! I sincerely hope there isn't evil in your hearts.

Video Distraction: Vi Hart's Pi Day Play

Are Shakespeare's Plays Encoded within Pi?

Video Distraction: Kid Recites 50 Digits of PI

Happy Pi Day! Here’s a four-year-old reciting Pi to the 50th digit in 10 seconds flat.

Infographic: The Personal Analytics of My Life

Steven Wolfram: The Personal Analytics of My Life:

One day I’m sure everyone will routinely collect all sorts of data about themselves. But because I’ve been interested in data for a very long time, I started doing this long ago. I actually assumed lots of other people were doing it too, but apparently they were not. And so now I have what is probably one of the world’s largest collections of personal data.

Every day—in an effort at “self awareness”—I have automated systems send me a few emails about the day before. But even though I’ve been accumulating data for years—and always meant to analyze it—I’ve never actually gotten around to doing it. But with Mathematica and the automated data analysis capabilities we just released in Wolfram|Alpha Pro, I thought now would be a good time to finally try taking a look—and to use myself as an experimental subject for studying what one might call “personal analytics”.

Source: Steven Wolfram Blog

Link Round-Up: Pi Day

For Pi Day, Shannon at a periodic table has created the apple Pi, a wonderfully clever apple pie where the fruit and crust adornments are cut into numbers. Via: A Periodic Table

I think it’s safe to say this may be the geekiest baking project I’ve done to date. And that’s saying something, as I am prone to geeking out in the kitchen a wee little bit. I mean, it’s a pie made entirely of apple numbers. And then topped with more numbers, this time of the crust variety. Oh, and not only numbers, you see, but the numbers of that beloved symbol of Nerdland (and I mean that in a good way), Pi.

Lecture: Wau

Can you figure out what number it is that she's talking about?

Lesson: Spirals and Slug-cats

"Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant" from Vi Hart

Just a little math for the holidays, with part two promised soon. ViHart schools us on the mysterious mathematical properties of nature.

Quick Pic: Batman Graph

Redditor i_luv_ur_mom is learning some important things in math class, like how to summon Batman. This would be unusual in most places, but Batmath is actually a graduation requirement at all Gotham City high schools.