In this month’s episode of Wrong, But Useful, @reflectivemaths1 and I are joined by consultant and lapsed mathematician @freezingsheep2.
We discuss:
- Mel’s career trajectory into ‘maths-enabled type things that are not actually maths’, although she gets to wave her hands a lot.
- What you can do with a maths degree, the dangers of ’this can lead you anywhere’, and the shift from one perfect answer to something good enough.
- Construction-based metaheuristics for personnel scheduling problems, and what any of those words mean.
- Number of the podcast: 15,339,878.
- Euclidea, revisited, and measuring my dad’s banister
- Dave has a joke.
- Short bits:
- Mathstodon (via @christianp3 )
- SumMaths meetup at Bletchley Park, August 27th (via @mathsjem4 )
- Talking Maths In Public at University of Bath, September 1st-2nd (via @stecks5 and @sparksmaths6 ).
- Things you don’t appreciate until later, and common sense
- I am currently reading Yes, But Why, by @solvemymaths7
- Eurovision voting - with mentions to AV, graded voting, and the D’Hondt method.
- Puzzle feedback: five possible answers to the previous puzzle: (8,3,3), (5,4,3), (15,4,2), (9,5,2) and (7,6,2) Gold stars for @alephthought8, our loyal Australian ambassador Sam Steele, @dragon_dodo9 @chrishazell7210.
- Dave thinks you shouldn’t buy any of my books.
- Suppose you have a stack of twelve numbered pancakes in an arbitrary order. Insert your spatula below one of the pancakes and flip all of the pancakes above it upside down. What is the most efficient way to get them in order?