The Flying Colours Maths blog has been running posts twice weekly since 2012, covering maths from the basics to… well, the most advanced stuff I have a clue about.
Here they all are, sorted by date. Some day, other ways to filter them will be possible.
Got something that’s bugging you about maths? Post it below for a no-names-no-packdrill reply. It doesn’t matter how silly. If you’ve forgotten what number comes after two, I’ll help.
Oh lookit! Another rant a-coming! As always, let me be clear: when I attack maths education, it is absolutely not an attack on teachers. I’m not a teacher because it’s a ludicrously difficult job and I don’t fancy it. When I attack maths education, it’s entirely about the …
When I was a mathematician, I used to look down on… well, non-mathematicians in general, but especially astronomers. Astronomers in particular got in the neck because their margins of error were so wide – if two different models disagreed by a factor of 100 (it was said), they’d …
Got something that’s bugging you about maths? Post it below for a no-names-no-packdrill reply. It doesn’t matter how silly. If you’ve forgotten what number comes after two, I’ll help.
From time to time, I come across a problem that has me scratching my head. In a good way. I like brain-teasers. Sometimes I solve them, sometimes I don’t. This is one that I haven’t solved – but I wanted to share the thought process that goes into modelling the situation so that …
In the previous two parts (Part I and Part II), I showed you how to square three-digit numbers by splitting them up into hundreds and differences, and combining them in your head. So far so easy. But, you need to know your squares up to 50, and be happy multiplying - for instance $18 \times 49$ in …
Got something that’s bugging you about maths? Post it below for a no-names-no-packdrill reply. It doesn’t matter how silly. If you’ve forgotten what number comes after two, I’ll help.
A student asked me, the other day, but it could have been any day, ‘when will I ever use this?’ Later, I had an epiphany while reading the excellent Cal Newport’s Study Hacks blog. (Seriously, if you’re reading this in the hope of becoming a better student, you’re in …
In part I, I showed you how to square a three-digit number in your head by squaring the first digit, adding double the cross-product (the first digit times by the other two digits) and adding the square of the final digits, with appropriate shifting. Now, what about something like $798^2$? You …
Got something that’s bugging you about maths? Post it below for a no-names-no-packdrill reply. It doesn’t matter how silly. If you’ve forgotten what number comes after two, I’ll help.
I’ve ranted before - frequently - about the need to replace exams with a less stressful assessment system that better reflects the realities of work beyond school - either in work or in further study. Just to flog the dead horse for a second, here are some of the problems with exams: In most …
OK, I’ll admit that this one is difficult: I’m still trying to get good at it myself. Inspired by this TED talk by Art Benjamin, I wondered: could I do that? The answer is, probably. With a bit of practice. There’s no particular trick to squaring three-digit numbers, except maybe a …
OK! It’s the last Free for all Friday of the academic year! One last chance to ask all of those burning questions that have been on your mind. Well, what can I help you with this week? Just drop me a comment below and I’ll do what I can to answer it.
“I’m taking life one day at a time. At least, today I am” - Will McKiver
I’ve always been good at exams. From a pretty early age, I was into quiz books and puzzles, and got used to reading the question and getting a good idea of what an answer would look like. I was even good at programming exams: in my first year at St Andrews, the only marks I dropped in CS1002 …
The true mathematical ninja gets immense satisfaction from one thing above all others: showing off. And so, when you can eyeball a messy fraction and say ’that’s about…’ and get it right to two decimal places or so… well, you earn the baffled respect of everyone …
It’s midsummer, which of course means the start of summer. Happy solstice, if you’re so inclined. Well, what can I help you with this week? Just drop me a comment below and I’ll do what I can to answer it.
-or- If we’re going to teach a dead language, let’s make it BASIC. If there’s one complaint industry leaders have about modern school leavers, it’s that there are just too few of them who speak Latin and Greek well. There is widespread concern about the UK slipping down the …
You’ve seen Pascal’s triangle before: 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 3 1 1 4 6 4 1 1 5 10 10 5 1 You get the number in each row by adding its two ‘parents’ - for instance, each 10 in the row that starts with 1 then 5 comes from adding the 4 and 6 above it. (Somewhat oddly, that’s …
Ooops! Almost forgot about this week. Well, what can I help you with this week? Just drop me a comment below and I’ll do what I can to answer it.
$. “Wait wait wait”, he says, “how do you know to do a substitution?” The honest answer is, I just do. I’ve done integration sum after integration sum for the last 20 years and it comes naturally. However, I know …
The Code of the Mathematical Ninja has been developed over many centuries1, and is considered by most serious mathematicians to be one of the Far East’s greatest contributions to maths. Its very existence was - until now - a closely guarded secret, known only by the inner circle of …
Only a few weeks to the summer break now! Got anything nice planned? Well, what can I help you with this week? Just drop me a comment below and I’ll do what I can to answer it.
