Math Monday: Dec 15, 2014

Here are three Twitter feeds about math which are so worth following:

• MAA
  @maanow
  MAA is the Mathematical Association of America. I'm enjoying the @jamestanton videos they're tweeting, which brings me to the next tweeter ...
   
• James Tanton
  @jamestanton
  James Tanton lives in DC and came by way of Australia. His and the MAA's recent tweets about their Youtube video, Some Algebra, posits the following algebraic problem:

  Let a, b, and c be real numbers such that a - 7b + 8c = 4 and 8a + 4b - c  = 7. What is a² - b² + c²?

  The video is 5:48 min long as he wends his way to a solution while writing backwards on plexiglass. Can you solve the problem in less time (with or without writing backwards)?

• Probability Fact
  @ProbFact
  If the algebra problem above was too easy for you and you're looking for a challenge, head on over to @ProbFact. It's run by @JohnDCook and his most recent tweet as I write this piece is the following: "Random inequalities IV: Cauchy distributions bit.ly/7MZWuK". yay!

Now here's the round-up of news about math.

• Robot Swarm! NYC Exhibit Uses Bots to Teach Math
  Live Science
  Dec 12, 2014
   
• New Math Standards a Hurdle for Some Texas Students and Teachers
  The New York Times
  Dec 11, 2014
   
• There’s More Than One Way to Be Good at Math
  Pacific Standard
  Dec 11, 2014
   
• ​It Doesn’t Add Up: People Who Say They Are Good at Math, But Aren’t
  The Ohio State University
  Dec 9, 2014
   
• Math for Drones, Self-Driving Cars Wins Top Student Science Award
  Live Science
  Dec 9, 2014
   
• Mickey and Math? Disney Launches Education Apps
  ABC News
  Dec 4, 2014
   
• The mathematician who proved why hipsters all look alike
  The Washington Post
  Nov 11, 2014
   
• A Million Business Cards Present a Math Challenge
  The Huffington Post
  Nov 10, 2014
   
• Approach to Fractions Seen as Key Shift in Common Standards
  Education Week
  Nov 10, 2014
   
• Joan Clarke, woman who cracked Enigma cyphers with Alan Turing
  BBC News
  Nov 9, 2014
   
• The perfect equation: Artist combines math and art
  Fox News
  Nov 7, 2014
   
• A comedian stands up for sums
  New Scientist
  Nov 4, 2014
   
• Common Core math can be a mystery, and parents are going to school to understand it
  The Washington Post
  Nov 1, 2014
   
• Pumpkin geometry: stunning shadow sculptures that illuminate an ancient mathematical technique
  The Guardian
  Oct 30, 2014
   
• The hipster effect: When anticonformists all look the same
  arXiv
  Oct 30, 2014
   
• Black Man in the Lab: Why do so few black men earn STEM degrees? The reasons, and the remedies, go beyond numbers.
  The Chronicle of Higher Education
  Oct 27, 2014

Happy Math Monday!