F#

I'm learning F#, Microsoft's latest functional programming language for the .NET family. Very nice and interesting. I recommend buying these books on it: F# for Scientists, Foundations of F#, and Expert F#.

Proof of the Existence of God

Click here for the explanation.

Lucy Pringle's Crop Circle Photograph Library

Latest crop circle found in England. Original article here.

XKCD Cartoon - Purity

WorldWide Telescope

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

Processing

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.

There's also a Javascript version of the code.

OpenVisuals

OpenVisual is a visualization that is created using Processing and OpenVisuals API, which makes it possible to use with any datasets on this website. Visualization artists can use these datasets to build a visualization. Once they upload the visualization to this website, it can also be used to visualize any other dataset on this website through OpenVisuals API.

Glimpses Of A New Mathematical World

A new mathematical object was revealed yesterday during a lecture at the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM). Two researchers from the University of Bristol exhibited the first example of a third degree transcendental L-function. These L-functions encode deep underlying connections between many different areas of mathematics.

Click here for more information.

Building a 5-ton mechanical calculator... from 19th-century plans

Starting in May, many will have the opportunity to see for themselves how they did computing the old-fashioned way: with lots of gears, a big crank and some muscle.

The Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, Calif., will unveil a new construction, the first in the United States, of the 19th century British mathematician Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2, an improved version of his earlier mechanical digital calculator.

Click here for more information.

Rubik’s Cube Proof Cut to 25 Moves

Last year, a couple of fellas at Northeastern University with a bit of spare time on their hands proved that any configuration of a Rubik’s cube could be solved in a maximum of 26 moves.

Now Tomas Rokicki, a Stanford-trained mathematician, has gone one better. He’s shown that there are no configurations that can be solved in 26 moves, thereby lowering the limit to 25.

Full article here.

Pi Day

Happy Pi Day (3/14).

Slabacus (Slide Rule & Abacus Simulator)

The slide rule & abacus simulators teach you how to use these two tools.

The Sheet-Based Calculator (Part II)

After finding the Sheet-Based Calculator link and source code, I decided to download it and improve it for my Java learning experience and also because it's neat. :-)

Here's a link to the JAR file if you're interested.

Geometry Constructions->LaTeX Converter (GCLC)

GCLC (from "Geometry Constructions->LaTeX converter") is a tool for visualizing and teaching geometry, and for producing mathematical illustrations. Its basic purpose is converting descriptions of mathematical objects (written in the GCL language) into digital figures. GCLC provides easy-to-use support for many geometrical constructions, isometric transformations, conics, and parametric curves. The basic idea behind GCLC is that constructions are formal procedures, rather than drawings. Thus, in GCLC, producing mathematical illustrations is based on "describing figures" rather than of "drawing figures".

The Sheet-Based Calculator

The Sheet-Based Calculator allows you to enter normal mathematical expressions in a word-processor-like environment, but then to execute them as well. Its algorithm is implemented by using compiler concepts and parser grammar rules. It can be used in most operating systems because it is written in Java.

Visual Mathematics Dictionary

An interesting site with plenty of visual definitions for all school grades.

History's Greatest Gadgets

It's not all about circuits, silicon and stock options: mankind's been making technology since the dawn of time. Here is ten of the most wonderful gadgets from centuries—and millenia—past.

Running the Numbers

An interesting set of pictures by Chris Jordan that shows the sizes of various U.S. consumptions.

New Smartpen And Paper To Help Teach Blind College Students

A new smartpen and paper technology that works with touch and records classroom audio aims to bring these subjects to life for blind students.

The History of the Earth in a Toilet Paper Roll

The earth is over 5 billion years old. Life first originated in the oceans 3.4 billion years ago. The dinosaurs died out 65 million years in the past. Human recorded history stretches back 10,000 years in time.

These numbers are too large to visualize, and difficult to compare. Here's an easy way to put time in perspective, and actually visualize different eras in the earth's history. You'll need a roll of toilet paper, a long hallway, and some sticky notes.

Click here for more information.