The inaugural issue of Recreational Mathematics is out, including Robin Wilson (Oxford): Lewis Carroll in Numberland. Matias Slavov (Jyvaskyla): Hume's Fork and Mixed Mathematics. Michael Segre (Chieti): The Limits of Rationality in Mathematics: Some Historical Salient Points. Axel Gelfert (NUS): Applicability, Indispensability, and Underdetermination: Puzzling Over Wigner’s “Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”. Is the universe made of math? An excerpt from Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality by Max Tegmark. Some philosophers think maths exists in a mysterious other realm; they’re wrong — look around, you can see it. The first chapter from Everyday Calculus: Discovering the Hidden Math All around Us by Oscar E. Fernandez. We cannot help but react to numbers, but why are odds masculine and evens feminine, and why were Levi's 501s and WD-40 given those names? Alex Bellos on why we all love numbers. Why do Americans stink at math? Elizabeth Green on how the Common Core should finally improve math education — the problem is that no one has taught the teachers how to teach it. The National Museum of Mathematics is antidote to math phobia. Mark Elliott on how DJs use math to mix the perfect beat. Pawel Rochman on what mathematics can tell theology. Mathematicians urge colleagues to refuse to work for the NSA. The hidden power of math: Sarah Gray interviews Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be Wrong (and more and more). Jonathan Kujawa on math, the extension of common sense by other means. Alex Bellos, author of The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, was surprised at the detail with which people personify their favourite numbers — obviously, four is the best (and more).
