How I stared MathsRant
Sometime during the 2025 June half-term of my A-Level exams, I was supposed to be revising for my Maths exam. Instead I was rewatching Sherlock on iPlayer for what was probably the third time, and somewhere between episodes I had two thoughts: I want to start a maths blog, and I want to learn the violin1
The name came from my first ever personal statement draft for university. The document was called “Maths PS Rant.” Take out the PS, and there you go!
The day before I left for a holiday in the Lakes, I created a WordPress account, grabbed the domain, and posted the first post. The whole thing was an impulse response, and I’m glad I wrote it down.
Posts here tend to arrive in bursts rather than on any schedule, and that’s fine. Some are about maths, some are about the experience of doing maths, and some are about neither. I’ve stopped apologising for that.
Things I’m planning to write about at some point.. no promises on when, or whether:
- Why there’s no formula for solving polynomials of degree 5 and beyond
- Solving a Rubik’s cube blindfolded: a mathematician’s take
- Why are green screens green?
- How do time zones work?
- How are postcodes/ phone number, ZIP codes etc assigned?
- Applications of complex numbers in cryptography
- Knight and knave puzzles, with a codebreaking twist
- Why does broccoli look like a fractal
- Patterns in e
- 90% of gamblers quit before they win: always bet on red
- The violin is still pending ↩︎
Maths Rant 