The Renewal Equation

One of the things I need to avoid in this new phase of my project is the feeling that, since I’m posting less frequently, every post I do make has to be really good. In service of that, here’s a middling one.

Lately, I’ve been watching lectures on The Great Courses Plus, that company’s streaming service. I started with a free trial and found that I really enjoyed the offerings, so last week I sprang for a three-month subscription. There are quite a few exciting lecture series about math available there, but the one I’m watching at the moment is The Joy of Math, taught by Arthur T. Benjamin. Besides his academic work, Dr. Benjamin is known in math circles for his mathematical magic shows, and he has written several books on what he calls “mathemagics.” In reading about those things, I discovered that he also co-edited a book with the unusual title Biscuits of Number Theory.

Biscuits of Number Theory is something between a popular and a specialist math book: an anthology of particularly good papers in number theory that are accessible to someone with introductory knowledge of the subject. It sounds right up my alley, and I may try to get a copy at some point. Right now, though, I’m just enchanted by the title. I haven’t encountered many food metaphors used to describe the experience of doing math, but some part of me must vibe with them, because the phrase “eat more math” has been kicking around in my brain for years as good advice for living. I guess biscuits of number theory are on the menu of more math you can eat. Along with noodles of probability.