(Technical) We’re going to take Liouville structures and move them into 3 dimensions, to obtain contact structures.
From Liouville geometry to contact geometry
Lovely Liouville geometry
(Technical) I’d like to show you some very nice geometry, involving some vector fields and differential forms.
Emmy had a theorem (mathematical nursery rhyme #2)
In the spirit of previous work in abstract algebra, I have, erm, adapted another nursery rhyme. To the tune of “Mary had a little lamb”, a discussion of Noether’s theorem.
Golay Golay Golay (Top of the autocorrelation world)
In 1949, Marcel Golay was thinking about spectrometry. Here’s what happened next…
The “Australia day” category error
I don’t believe in any patriotic holidays. But a patriotic holiday on such a terrible date needs to be moved, rebuilt, or abolished.
Topological entropy: information in the limit of perfect eyesight
Entropy means many different things in different contexts, but there is a wonderful notion of entropy which is purely topological. It only requires a space, and a map on it. It is independent of geometry, or any other arbitrary features — it is a purely intrinsic concept. This notion is known as topological entropy.
Abstract algebra nursery rhyme
In the spirit of hilariously advanced baby books like Chris Ferrie’s Quantum Physics for Babies, I have taken to incorporating absurdly sophisticated concepts into nursery rhymes.
The last resort of scoundrels
Patriotism, at least in its usual sense of love of one’s country over others, veneration of the virtue of its people over others, and adoration of its flag, is awful, irrational nonsense.
Limitless as that space too narrow for its inspirations
In which I recall, via neurologist Oliver Sacks, some musings of Sylvester from 1877 on the limitlessness of mathematics.
The Doors of Crime Perception
Crime is uniquely susceptible to the manipulation of perceptions.