Hopefully obvious that there are huge caveats and a vast array of messy assumptions baked into this, including the fact that "Alan"'s supporting reaction force is perpendicular to the ladder (probably only true if ladder is a 'smooth board')
Mathematical derivation of Rob's suggested situation.
An attempt.
This would be a fun and useful feature for 'power' users, or, as you say, for recreating a journey of increasingly available construction tools.
For what it's worth the downloaded version (classic 5) of GeoGebra seems to let you save custom tools like this in the 'Manage Tools' option.
Which is:
"Is 18th April 2026 in the future or the past?"
The cover of Chalkdust issue 23. It features 9 pieces: one tetromino (the T block from Tetris), five pentominoes and three hexominoes. The art is done to look like a retro video game.
Issue 23 of @chalkdustmag.bsky.social comes out on Monday. I did the maths for what's on the cover and I'm very excited about it being released.
Without the back cover, it's not obvious what the pieces on the front are for. Any guesses?
![Comic. One... two... THREE! [text in red] X Deprecated [line break] One... two... three... GO! [text in red] Deprecated [red curly bracket around top two lines] Too easy to mix up [line break] Three... two... one... GO! [text in green] [check mark] ISO Standard [caption] If I were in charge of ISO, the first thing I’d do would be to standardize the way people count out loud before doing something in sync.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigrejwbg64jtzv6hvauqkucxefcn7cn33kyuar44f6jz5degv6nma)
Comic. One... two... THREE! [text in red] X Deprecated [line break] One... two... three... GO! [text in red] Deprecated [red curly bracket around top two lines] Too easy to mix up [line break] Three... two... one... GO! [text in green] [check mark] ISO Standard [caption] If I were in charge of ISO, the first thing I’d do would be to standardize the way people count out loud before doing something in sync.
Countdown Standard
xkcd.com/3232/
For example, how to make a mathematically correct histogram, with frequency densities, and with different class/bar widths...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxGI...
Years ago I helped @meimaths.bsky.social & Integral resources make a series of demo videos for working with data in Excel & @geogebra.org. (Initially for working with the Large Data Set - LDS). Still relevant for our data-driven world!
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Registration is now open for this year's Maths Communication Workshops
@steckl.es and @sparksmaths will teach you the skills and techniques required to communicate maths effectively, sharing their expertise in delivering interactive and engaging sessions
➡️ www.lms.ac.uk/events/maths...
Apart from your last 6 words, I think I agree.
And I'd rather they ask someone like @kityates.bsky.social than some other options they might have had.
This year's MEGA Grant project is Beach Spectres, which will take place on the weekend of 6-7 June, on the beach at Whitley Bay (near Newcastle). Information about the project, latest updates and how you can get involved is on the project website: beachspectres.com
You can do this calculus problem with just any random book 😱
"Trigonometry is circles not triangles?" Person behind them says: "Always has been"
MEI Conference 2026 2-3 July Keele University Register today!
The MEI Conference 2026 is open for registrations, and we'd love to see you there!
2-3 July | Keele University
Early Career and Trainee funding still available.
Register now: buff.ly/MRFTgoG #MEIConf26
#MEIConf26 #MathsConference #ProfessionalDevelopment
I don't use an iPhone but happy to see what you've done (and happy that the old Numberphile vid is still appreciated)...
A presenter at a conference in front of a screen.
Exciting news - we're looking for someone to join the @meimaths.bsky.social team to work on our 'Maths into AI' courses for teachers and students from September. We're especially keen to hear from teachers with experience of teaching A level Computer Science.
mei.livevacancies.co.uk#/job/details...
Still a week left to enter the Think Maths Pi Representation Competition - if you're a teacher, get your students creating a beautiful visualisation or representation of π and win prizes! think-maths.co.uk/pi-comp/
Poster: Beach Spectres, we want to make the largest aperiodic tiling ever! What's an aperiodic tiling? It's when you cover a flat surface with copies of a shape like the one above, without any repeating patterns. The Spectre monotile was only discovered in 2023, and mathematicians are really excited about it! What are you doing? We're going to use large “cookie cutter” tools in the shape of the Spectre to cover the beach with the aperiodic tiling. You can help: come to the beach and we'll show you what to do. Where and when? Whitley Bay beach, 7th June 2026. Come and join in, just watch, or talk to some very enthusiastic mathematicians! beachspectres.com
I'm enormously happy to finally be able to announce the date of the #BeachSpectres project: 7th June, 2026. #WhitleyBay beach, UK.
If you can make it to the beach and join in with the tiling effort, I'll be very happy to see you and glad of the help!
Lots […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
On 28th/29th March as part of national Shakespeare Week I'll be doing four public talks on 'The Maths of Shakespeare's London' at MathsWorld (near Tate Modern). Details here: mathsworld.com/events/Shake...
A data scientist pointing at a screen.
We're running the AMSP 'Bringing the Maths of Data Science and AI into the #ALevelMaths Classroom' course for teachers again next term
Two different formats:
- Online only
- Blended (online with a face-to-face study day)
You can sign up now amsp.org.uk/maths-into-ai/
Yes. Sigh.
This whole debate does kindof disappear when asking what sort of comparison you might use a boxplot for...
(and whether a fraction of a difference in the quartile positions is going to make any difference in that context)
Do you play the 'solitaire' game or the 'take turns' game?
Years ago @davidb52s.bsky.social and I worked this up into a little routine.
Here's the theme tune
drive.google.com/file/d/12KtE...
This is related to:
What type of arguments do trig functions take? (Are they necessarily angles?)
What arguments do hyperbolic functions take?
I'm not sure I am convinced what my answers would be either... But if there are answers then the inverse functions should output those things?
True enough, although if we're allowing 'related to' we have a *lot* of other options too.
Perhaps we should simply rebrand arcsin (or inverse sin etc) as 'angsin', since we use it mainly to give an *angle* (at least at school level).
Excellent, thanks @tombutton.bsky.social
We should also celebrate that arsinh and arcosh translate to actual *areas* too (not arc lengths this time, hence the 'ar' rather than 'arc')
Not in a position to immediately make a dynamic illustration but I'm certain someone can find one soon enough!
Ha. Same search occurred here.
