Weekly links for March 11

Why 24/192 music downloads make no sense (sampling theory).

Numbers API, an API for interesting facts about numbers.

“Numeracy crisis” threatens first world economies

Learning by doing. “Imagine the impact on the arts if we required every aspiring instrumentalist to complete 12 years of theory and careful study of the masters before being allowed to pick up an instrument and play.” The article is saying that science education has this effect, and describes how to bring undergraduate students into the lab. What about in mathematics?

Cinderella plots for March Madness, and March Mathness from Princeton. (In case you’re wondering: I went to MIT for undergrad and Penn for grad school, so it pains me to say this, but I’m rooting for Harvard.)

Bayes’ Theorem illustrated.

The College Mathematics Journal has an entire issue dedicated to Martin Gardner. This appears to be freely available online.

The Berlin Numeracy Test and a paper about its development. I’m proud to report that “Technically, relative to the general population, [I am] among the most statistically literate in the world.”

Risk: what’s your perspective?, a guide for healthcare professionals.

Cross Validated has a list of the most interesting statistical paradoxes.

Frank Morgan, Can math survive without the bees?, on the ancient conjecture that hexagonal (honeycomb) tiling is the most efficient way to partition the plane.

Cathy O’Neil asks what a group of quants working for the people (as opposed to for big corporations) would do.

There’s more to weight loss than counting calories.

From McSweeney’s: Hipster Logic Problems and Mathematical Translations of Popular Refrains.

Mathematical origami exhibit at UC Santa Cruz, opening April 8.