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Ben Syversen

My newsletter featuring math history and other odds and ends

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New video about the evolution of exponents!

My latest video, about the evolution of exponent notation is out! There’s quite a bit in here that people don’t talk much about these days, so I hope that you learn as much from it as I learned while making it. I created a poster-style image for this video (with the help of designer Sam Baskin) which chronicles an abridged evolution of the notation. Originally I planned to set up a “pay what you want” for the digital file, so that people could either download it for free or opt to chip in a...

Diophantus's exponent notation

I have a reading recommendation for you. It’s not about math, but you'll probably see the implicit analogy. Utopian for Beginners, a 2012 article from The New Yorker, is one of my favorite pieces of long form journalism/narrative nonfiction. It’s been rattling around in the back of my mind ever since I first read it many years ago. The premise is this: A man named John Quijada develops an invented language called Ithkuil during his off hours from his job at the California DMV. The language is...

Here is another solution to the cube doubling problem, which didn't make it into my recent video. It uses origami, which means that six-year-old me would have been thrilled: First, fold a piece of paper into three equal sections (this can be done with a precise algorithm). Unfold, then bring the bottom left corner to the other side, such that the corner lies on the right edge and the left endpoint of the lower fold lies on the upper fold. The corner splits the right edge into two lengths. The...

You're getting this because you either previously joined my mailing list or you entered your email address when you filled out my recent survey from my video about the cube doubling problem. If you're NOT interested in receiving emails from me about 2 - 4 times per month, no worries. There's an unsubscribe link at the bottom. About that survey…. You are a highly educated group! I closed the survey after a week and the trends were clear As somebody who aspires to make videos that can speak to...