David K Butler
@davidkbutler.bsky.social
1.7K followers 650 following 5.4K posts
Lecturer at Maths Learning Centre, Uni Adelaide (my views here). Grad Dip Ed & PhD Finite Geom. Love maths and helping people learn. he/him
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davidkbutler.bsky.social
Hello those drifing through BlueSky.
I mostly post about these:
* My experiences with students in the Maths Learning Centre
* Maths and maths teaching thoughts I have, including live problem-solving
* Books I read (mainly childrens fiction)
* Observations and photos of things I see in the world
Reposted by David K Butler
davidkbutler.bsky.social
One year ago, I started posting observations on BlueSky, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey. I've put all 196 observations from the last year into a little book called "What I noticed along the way". I hope you enjoy it. drive.google.com/file/d/1w0zL...
davidkbutler.bsky.social
The other day we played Digit Disguises with the integers -4, …, 4 and the strategies were QUITE different!
Reposted by David K Butler
davidkbutler.bsky.social
I had a go using only subtractions. These ten results were enough to figure which digit 0 to 9 had which emoji disguise.
Fruit and Vegetables Emoji calculations

Avocado minus watermelon = cross
Watermelon minus carrot = watermelon
Watermelon minus orange = mushroom
Avocado minus eggplant = cross
Eggplant minus corn = cross
Corn minus grapes = watermelon
Corn minus banana = orange
Corn minus apple = mushroom
Banana minus orange = cross
Watermelon minus grapes = grapes
davidkbutler.bsky.social
I had a go using only subtractions. These ten results were enough to figure which digit 0 to 9 had which emoji disguise.
Fruit and Vegetables Emoji calculations

Avocado minus watermelon = cross
Watermelon minus carrot = watermelon
Watermelon minus orange = mushroom
Avocado minus eggplant = cross
Eggplant minus corn = cross
Corn minus grapes = watermelon
Corn minus banana = orange
Corn minus apple = mushroom
Banana minus orange = cross
Watermelon minus grapes = grapes
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Cool! This is very similar to the vibe of the original puzzle that came before Digit Disguises, where the numbers were at a fancy dress party.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Flowers continue even more.
Two bright yellow irises touching each other. Each has six petals in pairs top and bottom forming a little tunnel between them. The bottom petals are very big and have black and brown stripes leading into the tunnel. Between the tree tunnel pairs, tiny pale yellow petals curve upwards. A third flower hasn’t opened yet and is bright yellow spike. The leaves in the background are long and straight and pointy. Further below is a tangle of old dead leaves. Several little flowers each with five teardrop-shaped petals that only touch in the very centre where there are several very short yellow-tipped stamens. The flowers range from solid warm yellow to a pale yellow that’s almost white. They grow from stems that also have many shiny green leaves. A red brick wall is in the background. A single bright red flower hangs downwards from a stem with several oval-shaped leaves except for a sharp tip. The flower is a funnel shape made of five overlapping petals. Two little white flowers grow among green leaves with yellow splotches. The flowers have five petals that curl behind with white stamens and a yellow stigma in the middle.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Wordle 1,576 5/6.

1: b b b b b …
2: b b Y G b …
3: b G b G b …
4: b G G G G …
5: G G G G G …

There were three words left after Guess 4, so there was a good chance I wouldn’t get there, but I guessed the right one first.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Aha what you’ve discovered is that I don’t choose my opening guesses to maximise the chances of finding letters!
Reposted by David K Butler
davidkbutler.bsky.social
A man leans backwards against a parked car and eats a sandwich, periodically reaching down to let his small son take a bite. Between bites, the boy plays the car door with his hands like a set of bongos.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
A man leans backwards against a parked car and eats a sandwich, periodically reaching down to let his small son take a bite. Between bites, the boy plays the car door with his hands like a set of bongos.
Reposted by David K Butler
coreybrickley.bsky.social
5 ways YOU can use the torment nexus to maximize your workflow
davidkbutler.bsky.social
I guess. I was happy with the Z-modules, though! No need for anything special there. :-)
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Wait. Are all ableian groups modules over the integers?
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Isn’t it weird that vectors get to be called vectors not because of their own properties but the properties of the scalars?
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Wordle 1,575 4/6.

1: b b b b b …
2: b b b b b …
3: b Y b Y Y …
4: G G G G G …

I do love a game with two all blanks to start.
Reposted by David K Butler
davidkbutler.bsky.social
A man stands with his hands on his hips rolling his eyes while he waits for his son to take a photo of a poster on a shop window featuring a dalmatian wearing sunglasses.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
A man stands with his hands on his hips rolling his eyes while he waits for his son to take a photo of a poster on a shop window featuring a dalmatian wearing sunglasses.
Reposted by David K Butler
dcrescitelli.bsky.social
Q4: What mathematics do you see in this beautiful textile art? #ElemMathChat
Refugees from Ukraine, embroidering on a red dress during the “Traces of Sisterhood’ exhibition at Galeriia Salon Akademii in Warsaw, Poland, 2022 Close-up of a section of the dress titled Birds of Peace
Reposted by David K Butler
davidkbutler.bsky.social
A cyclist whooshes past me on the riverbank path, his Australian flag cape billowing.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
A cyclist whooshes past me on the riverbank path, his Australian flag cape billowing.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
Oh, and because I am who I am, here is a graph:
A scatterplot. 

Title: What I noticed along the way. Observation length across 2025.

Horizontal axis is labelled with dates 1/10/2024, 1/11/2024, ... , 1/09/2025, and a vertical gridline is visible at each of these dates.

Vertical axis is labelled Number of characters, and a horizontal gridline is drawn at the numbers 0, 50, 100, ..., 350.

Blue dots scatter across the graph between and on the gridlines, ranging between about 60 and about 300.
davidkbutler.bsky.social
One year ago, I started posting observations on BlueSky, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey. I've put all 196 observations from the last year into a little book called "What I noticed along the way". I hope you enjoy it. drive.google.com/file/d/1w0zL...