Author Archives: Persiflage

En Passant V

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Persiflage

(warning: today’s persiflage comes with possible extra snark due to sleep deprivation) The Ramanujan Machine: I learnt from John Baez on twitter about The Ramanujan Machine, a project designed to “help reveal [the] underlying structure” of the “fundamental constants” of … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Rant | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The stable cohomology of SL(F_p)

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Persiflage

Back by popular demand: an actual mathematics post! Today’s problem is the following: compute the cohomology of \(\mathrm{SL}(\mathbf{F}_p)\) for a (mod-p) algebraic representation. Step 0 is to say what this problem actually is. It makes sense to talk about certain … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Harris versus Buzzard

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Persiflage

Michael Harris has a new article at quanta. The piece is (uncharacteristically?) coy, referring to the laments of two logicians without divulging either their names or their precise objections, making oblique references to a cabal of 10 mathematicians meeting at … Continue reading →

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Choices

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Persiflage

Who is your preferred next prime minister? I guess it depends on what variety of politician you prefer.  

Posted in Politics, Waffle | 1 Comment

Referee Requests

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Persiflage

################################################### From: Mathematics Editorial Office Subject: [Mathematics] Review Request Date: December 26, 2018 at 7:43:31 AM CST Dear Professor Calegari, Happy new year. We have received the following manuscript to be considered for publication in Mathematics (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematics/) and kindly invite … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Rant, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The Journal of Number Theory experiment

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Persiflage

The Journal of Number Theory has been (for some time) the standard “specialist” journal for number theory papers. By that, I mean it was a home for reasonably good number theory papers which were not (necessarily) good enough for some … Continue reading →

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Dembélé on Abelian Surfaces with good reduction everywhere

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Persiflage

New paper by Dembélé (friend of the blog) on abelian surfaces with good reduction everywhere (or rather, the lack of them for many real quadratic fields of small discriminant). I have nothing profound to say about the question of which … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Levi L. Conant Prize

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Persiflage

Nominations for the 2020 Levi L. Conant Prize are now open! To quote directly from the relevant blurb, This prize was established in 2000 in honor of Levi L. Conant to recognize the best expository paper published in either the … Continue reading →

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Jean-Marc Fontaine, 1944-2019

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Persiflage

The results which generate the most buzz in mathematics are usually those which can be expressed in an elementary (or at least pithy) way to a general mathematical audience. It is certainly true that such results may be profound (see … Continue reading →

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The classics

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Persiflage

I now have the complete collection from of light satirical music of the ’50s and ’60s from the two masters of the form from either side of the pond: They are both similar and very different at the same time … Continue reading →

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