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Robert Low

@robjlow.bsky.social

190 followers 140 following 1K posts

Ex maths lecturer. Now classics postgrad (MA) @ClassicsWarwick. Also @[email protected], mostly maths there. Mostly lurking for the moment, haven't yet given up on Twitter completely.

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Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 1d

Keep pushing! Things must be due to get better again: in my state school (the local comprehensive) Latin was available as a matter of course, and Ancient Greek by special request (which, to be fair, was not common). But things changed a lot in the half century since then :-(

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 1d

It's all part of the Brexti bonus.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 4d

The (unfortunate) fact that it also means 'date-palm' has, on occasion, caused me considerable confusion. (Always clear from the context, indeed :-()

Reposted by Robert Low

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 6d

So much this (the "but" part).

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 11d

New analysis of a 1-million yr old fossil skull captured worldwide media attention this week, with many headlines saying it requires a complete rewrite/rethink of human evolution. This is an intriguing study & it's brilliant to see so much public enthusiasm for deciphering our origins, but....1/n 🧪

Image shows just two example headlines from prominent media outlets earlier this week, heralding a newly published discovery that supposedly "rewrites human evolution". Left side, from the BBC: "Million-year-old skull rewrites human evolution, scientists claim"; right side, from the New York Post: "1M-year-old skull discovery could change everything we know about human evolution".

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 6d

...the sort of nonsense up with which one should refuse to put.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 6d

Finally, a real use for those addition formulae :-)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 8d

Ok the other hand, maybe if he thinks about it hard enough he'll have the genius idea of reclassifying some fraction of universities as polytechnics. (As it happens I think that dissolving the binary divide was really harmful to HE.)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 8d

This is nice: a real grind (probably need a computer to do the arithmetic), or a flash of insight that makes it doable without even pencil and paper.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 11d

Somebody took seriously the injunction to "let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth" (and maybe also took it a tiny bit out of context).

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 12d

Pretty sure i remember when "everybody knew"* that prehistoric society was matriarchal and they all worshipped the Great Mother Goddess.

*They didn't really know that.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 12d

Born then, but came of age in 1908 with Minkowski's Space and Time lecture (even though Einstein was initially dismissive).

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 12d

Uncomfortably similar to natural intelligence, then...

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 12d

Woohoo, a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band reference!

Gone, but not (entirely) forgotten.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 12d

Though for some reason we still get annoyed when they don't do something they promised they would do, or do do something they promised they wouldn't do. (Mumble lib dem mumble student fees mumble.)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 13d

I've seen the (inappropriate) use of mathematics in the social sciences called 'physics envy'. Economics probably has it worst.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 13d

Whether it's a bug or a feature, I think one difference between Bluesky and ex-twitter is that it's easier for stuff to penetrate your bubble on ex-twitter. (Mostly, I suspect, a function of the sheer number of people on ex-twitter.)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 14d

You no laica?

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 14d

The only thing that puzzles experts about this kind of thing is why so many people are so quick to think it's time travel/aliens/lost ancient civilizations.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 14d

That should work excellently, since Lithuanian is basically Latin anyway. 😈

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 14d

There are more Latin readers for beginners than you can shake a stick at on the archive: lots of free reading material, as long as you don't mind reading on screen. (I'm a big believer in high volume low effort reading, especially at the early stages.)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 14d

Antigone.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 15d

I used to do it by proving the product rule, and the rather easy result that the derivative of x -> x is 1. (OK, so there might have been a bit of induction involved, but you probably needed that for the binomial theorem anyway.)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 15d

If it isn't Katharine Hepburn, it isn't Eleanor of Aquitaine. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 15d

Your last paragraph may just be a more workable alternative to the current student loan system: free tuition, but a lifetime tithe to the institution. (More seriously, I hope nobody from the government is reading this, it might give them ideas.)

Robert Low @robjlow.bsky.social · 15d

Yes, I knew he worked in number theory - if anything that makes the specific choice of equation on the cover stranger. Of course, maybe the cover designer just wanted something everybody would recognize. (Are we yet at the point of blaming any weird design choice on AI?)