Moonlighting agony uncle Professor Dirichlet answers your personal problems. Want the Prof’s help? Send your problems to deardirichlet@chalkdustmagazine.com.
My wife and I are having difficulty with her shift times as a Northern line tube driver. We’re always tired when we see each other and I just feel that every point in our relationship ends up leading to an argument. Can you help?
— Complexified, High Barnet
This issue, Top Ten features the top ten mathematical symbols for use in algebra!
A new entry at 10, everyone’s least favourite axis… y!
At 9, allegedly resembling the British Rail logo… the not equals symbol!
Pythonfrom jokes import jokes_about_python print(jokes_about_python)
FortranWe don’t use punch cards any more. Why are you still using a language designed for them?!
This is Fortran. We’re not kidding. (Source)
If there are two things that typify an English summer, they are cricket and rainy days. Unfortunately, the two very often come together, which makes it very difficult to decide who should win a limited overs cricket match when rain stops play.
In these cases, a statistical model known as the Duckworth–Lewis method, devised by statistician Frank Duckworth and mathematician Tony Lewis, settles the issue (and provokes copious debate amongst Lord’s Long
Room members as they sip their champagne).
Our original £100 prize crossnumber is featured on pages 44 and 45 of Issue 02.
Correction: There is an error in clue 4D. The 13th digit is actually larger than the 14th.
Clarification: In 40A ‘divisible’ should read ‘properly divisible’. The answer is not 2.
Clarification: In 9A ‘proper factors’ should be taken to mean factors not equal to the number. 1 should be included.
These puzzles appeared in Issue 02 of the magazine.
