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benjamin dickman

@benjamindickman.bsky.social

1.4K followers 410 following 2.6K posts

K-12 math educator 🪄♾️ Brookline to Nanjing to NYC Amherst College BA Fulbright Program x2 (🇨🇳+🇵🇭) Teachers College, Columbia University PhD past BU Wheelock (postdoc, Math Edu) cocreated original word game: #FiddleBrix http://tinyurl.com/bmdmaths

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 18d

my favorite #sensemaking excerpt

from:
Kegan, Robert. The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Harvard University Press, 1982.

preview in google books:
books.google.com/books?id=SP3...

not overtly about 'mathematics' per se but w/e
#iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮

screenshot of text beginning "these days my daughter" and ending with "parenthood, friendship, and love"

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 3h

s a m e Thursday #2solve

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 4h

here are the inductive steps (abbreviated):

factor:
4^(n+1) + 2 = 4(4^n) + 2 = (3+1)4^n + 2
= 3(4^n) + (4^n + 2)

substitute:
2^(n+3) + 3^(2n+3) = 2(2^(n+2)) + 9(3^(2n+1))
= 2(7m - 3^(2n+1)) + 9(3^(2n+1))
= 7(2m + 3^(2n+1))

multiply:
5^n - 1 = 4m
5^(n+1) - 5 = 20m
5^(n+1) - 1 = 20m+4 = 4(5m+1)

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 6h

bonus note if you read this far:

I miswrote the second proposition (I lost a 2!) so ... good luck proving it as posted lol

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 6h

For all n ≥ 1, the following propositions are true:

1) 4^n + 2 is div. by 3
2) 2^(n+2) + 3^(2n+1) is div. by 7
3) 5^n - 1 is div. by 4
4) 2^n ≥ n+1

The first three were proved using methods referred to with the verbs: factor, substitute, and multiply; the last was proved by combining inequalities!

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 6h

in #MathsToday: four different propositions, each proved by induction.

Fascinatingly, the first three (divisibility statements) were all proved using different but interchangeable methods.

The full statements from the image can be found below 👇🏻

see next post or tweet or whatever for the content of this image

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Reposted by benjamin dickman

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 10h

cc #iTeachMath ♾️!

Dave Kung @dtkung.bsky.social · 19h

Always fun to see the amazing people who win. Congrats to mathematician Lauren Williams on winning a MacArther genius grant!

www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Lauren K. Williams

Uncovering transformative connections between algebraic combinatorics and problems in other areas of math and physics.

www.macfound.org

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 10h

cc #iTeachMath ♾️!

Dave Kung @dtkung.bsky.social · 19h

Always fun to see the amazing people who win. Congrats to mathematician Lauren Williams on winning a MacArther genius grant!

www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Lauren K. Williams

Uncovering transformative connections between algebraic combinatorics and problems in other areas of math and physics.

www.macfound.org

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 20h

twinning w Wed #2solve

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 20h

my headers are cabin, body gentium book basic

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 20h

tbh this is worth it

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 20h

uncommon

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 1d

i read Who's Afraid of Gender (previous school year) and it was hard reading in multiple ways (sadly prescient; dense and overly fond of the word phantasm)

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 1d

day 2 of LinkedOut games:
still playing them when I first wake up instead of when I'm fully awake; still xcl on phone

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 1d

as the good lord intended!!

yes, my initials are a nickname I sometimes use

and, correspondingly re: anagrams,

nickname BD = Ben Dickman

(capitalization held constant!)

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 1d

great #2solve pairing today for this Tue solve!

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 2d

totally agreed, xcl gotta be on ⌨️ and Zip Tango Queens on 📱

mixed on Sudoku, which isn't my strong suit

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 2d

LinkedOut games dropping a public leaderboard [for connections] is going to shift my playing style from wake up [first thing in the morning, still half asleep] to blitz [wait until later, play fully awake]. not sure if this is an improvement!

PS: play #FiddleBrix for true 🔡 joy!!
www.fiddlebrix.com

screenshot of fiddlebrix.com landing page; a 5x5 board contains the letters in play, beneath it are the tiles ("brix") spelling out FiddleBrix; beneath that is the phrase "A colorful daily word puzzle"; at the bottom are two buttons to download (one for Apple and one for Android)

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 3d

minimal #2solve for Monday 6 Oct 2025:

01001111 01010110 01000101 01010010 01000110 01001001 01010100 01010011 00100000 01010011 01001000 01000001 01010111 01001100

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 3d

see also the account written up by Terry Tao on Mathstodon:
mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1153167...

Terence Tao (@[email protected])

An update on my previous post https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/115306424727150237 regarding how I was able to use modern AI to help solve a MathOverflow problem. Superficially, this story favors the "you ...

mathstodon.xyz

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 3d

🤨

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 4d

And that latter example is included in a Jan 2013 MathOverflow answer of mine:
mathoverflow.net/a/118023/22971

Elementary examples of the Weil conjectures

I'm looking for examples of the Weil conjectures---specifically rationality of the zeta function---that can be appreciated with minimal background in algebraic geometry. Are there varieties for wh...

mathoverflow.net

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 4d

idk what the norm is but I feel like they look pretty similar 🤔 and that a 2016 Master's Thesis would've surely included googling that would find my 2008 Undergrad Thesis ... 🧐

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 4d

others have assigned that in the past; not a bad idea for next summer's assignment !

benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 4d

Koblitz did, which is the book that we both used... But the latter is one exercise among many

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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 4d

this got me to google Dwork's Theorem since my undergrad thesis was un/acceptably called: On a Theorem of Dwork

I found another person wrote a Master's thesis about the same theorem 8 years after me; how similar do the examples look in these screenshots? 🤔

Screenshot of two examples related to Dwork's Theorem

Screenshot of text with three examples of Dwork's Theorem; compared the first and last here to the other image

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