Category Archives: Mathematics

The Fair Exchange Rate

Posted on 2023-06-25

In ‘What Makes Human Unique?’, I thought about the role exchange could have played as a significant driving force in human evolution. While I was thinking about this, and in particular how calculation skills may be relevant to exchange, it became natural to ask whether calculation could ever have been useful for determining the fair exchange rate? And more generally, is it even possible to calculate the fair exchange rate? Continue reading →

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GCSE Maths Takeaway – Simultaneous Equation Word Problems

Posted on 2020-02-02

If I had to choose one thing you should have as a takeaway from GCSE maths i.e. one ‘poster’ topic to represent GCSE maths, I think it should be simultaneous equations – in particular word problems leading to simultaneous equations 1. Continue reading →

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Tragedy of the Commons – Part 1

Posted on 2019-05-22

‘Tragedy of the commons’, and it’s special two player case which is known as ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’, is a game (or class of game) in game theory; which is interesting, both in it’s own right as a mathematical concept because it is so simple and yet has a surprising – even paradoxical feeling – result, but also because it is such a useful and natural model in evolution, economics and ethics, for understanding the limits of cooperation.1 Continue reading →

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The Real Numbers

Posted on 2018-01-23

The real numbers are often introduced as an extension of the natural numbers. While this is how they developed historically, and is often how they are formally constructed, it is not possible to seamlessly extend the concept of a natural number into the concept of a real number – they are used for different purposes. Continue reading →

Posted in Category Theory, Education, Mathematics, Philosophy | 1 Comment