The Resident Mathematician answers all!

Lots of questions! I feel popular :P
So lets get to it!

In keeping with the misconceptions trend on youtube at the moment: As a professional mathketeer (that’s the term, right?) what common math misconception (right?) annoys you the most (math?)?

There are far too many to choose from, so I'm going to pick my top 3 misconception:

1. Math.  I'm sorry but I may be about to go terribly British on you, but math annoys me. The word you are looking for is maths. Maths (the shortened version of mathematics) is a broad name for a group of subjects, hence the s. You cover a very wide range of subjects, from algebra, to calculus, operational research to statistics ( my personal favourite). So are we clear mathS.
2. Dividing by zero.
   This is not okay. Not by any measure. Just to clear this up once and for all, dividing by zero does not give you 1, the original number, zero, or infinity (usually). It is just wrong. It makes my skin crawl. My moto is, every time you divide by zero, God kills a kitten. Do you want that on your conscience? No, I thought not.
3. Every infinity is the same. To anybody who "thinks maths", this will seem obviously wrong. There are many different types of infinity. The infinite counting numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6....), infinite rational numbers (1, 1/2, 1/3, ... 2, 2 1/2...) the infinite irrational numbers ( such as Pi and square root 2) to name but a few.

What are the differences between math in school and math in university? What did you learn in university, that you didn't already cover in school?

I'm going to have to give you the British version of this, as I'm certain school maths varies from country to country. Okay so the major difference of school maths and University maths is that it becomes more abstract and also more applied at the same time. We have several modules at Uni that are entirely abstract, in the sense that you can't apply them to every day life. I struggle with these as I don't like being able to use them practically, but at the same time, they provide the foundation of everything we need to get anywhere. For the applied things, we have several things that are similar to physics, and also we cover statistics and operational research, the latter being very interesting. Do you ever wonder how sat-navs know the shortest route? It's all down to operational research.

What do you think of Vi Hart?

Good question. I've only recently started following her on youtube, so I don't really feel qualified to say much, but I'll give it my best shot. As someone who wants to go on to teach mathematics, I think it's really great that she gets people that aren't normally passionate about maths interested and thinking about the subject. That being said, as someone who works with and reads about maths daily, I have yet to find something she explains that I've not heard yet. So she's good, but I'm looking forward to the day when she explains something I've not yet come across.

I love you Ali <3 xxxxxxxxxxxxx (+1)

Just to clear this up for everybody, this isn't a secret love confession by a stranger. Or a question about maths. My boyfriend James follows the blog and decided to contribute. Thank you James, I love you too.

However, the (+1) has confused me slightly. This was added on afterwards. So the question is, is this meant to mean that it was my "+1" who wrote this, or has someone else confessed their love for me too?

Are you a mathmagician? You study maths and you're british.... DON'T LIE TO US!!

Yes. Yes I am. I don't have a cape of a magic wand, but I do have a bad sense of fashion and a scientific calculator, and I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!!!

On another note, whoever asked this, I love you forever!

So that's the end of this very long list of questions. I hope I have answered them satisfactorily :) Feel free to ask me more questions in the comments if you so wish.

Peace out