Double Maths First Thing: Issue 57

Double Maths First Thing has Youri Tielemans in swaps Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and delight of figuring stuff out. I’ve been thinking a lot about MathsJam and Parkrun and similar activities, where the point is just showing up and doing the thing – very few people care who finishes their Parkrun first, and the volunteers actively encourage people to walk if they want to. If there’s any competition, it’s about improving your own abilities. MathsJam too, it’s not a competition, it’s about sharing a problem and the struggle with other people who like that sort of thing, maybe learning something new. There’s a certain sort of blowhard that likes to bang on about participation, but participation is how you get people to enjoy things, isn’t it? Links Email readers may have missed the exact timing of Ayliean’s stickerbook contribution to the BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast show, which aired at 6:26am (so if you scroll to 26 minutes in, you…