Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026First (proper) day of the new academic year / View from the office window 050
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I wondered if recent advances in AI maths would lead to a proof of the Courtade–Kumar “most informative Boolean function” conjecture. And here we are: 1. arxiv.org/abs/2609.24184 (36 pages; a bit scary but I’ll try to find time to take a proper look) 2. arxiv.org/abs/2609.24931 (251 pages; lol) 110
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Bought a second-hand book off the internet. Should I be displeased, because it was advertised as having the dust jacket and it does not, or pleased, because it’s signed by the author which was not mentioned in the listing? 021
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I agree with quite-a-bit-but-not-all of this of this essay.¹ proofsandprompts.com/2026/09/14/a... The attached image is of a very good bit. ¹ Also: the use of multiple footnotes in a blogpost is a bad format that is irritating to read. 020
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeGro-Tsen @gro-tsen.bsky.social · 13/09/20262026 mathematician grading student papers and doing admin paperwork while ChatGPT enjoys proving beautiful theorems: 1264
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Since Yuja Wang is playing at the Last Night of the Proms on TV at the moment, I can take this opportunity to (again) recommend Janet Malcolm’s profile from 2016. www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...newyorker.comYuja Wang and the Art of PerformanceFrom 2016: Janet Malcolm on the piano prodigy known for the brilliance of her playing and for her dramatic outfits. 082
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Quite the flex for all 25 signatories of your open letter to have Fields medals. mathandai.orgmathandai.orgDeclaration — Math and AIRead the declaration and add your name. 010
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 08/09/2026I suppose this is going to be the big maths discussion for the next few days (or forever): An announcement: mathstodon.xyz/@tristanbuck... An accompanying statement not really about the maths: cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st... More on the actual maths: terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/f... 121
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeJamie Douglass @jamesldouglass.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Just don't get a penguin to do your due diligence. Expert swimmers, atrocious fact-checkers 18864156
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Finally went to see The Odyssey at the cinema. When I got back to my front door, I realised I’d left my housekey in my office, so had to go back there. In total, took me almost two hours to get home; I am basically Odysseus. 070
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 25/08/2026www.youtube.com/watch?v=doz1...youtube.comJolene at 33 rpmYouTube video by Tom Berry 000
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeAnoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Amazing interview with Heston Blumenthal in our summer issue - by top interviewer Kate Mossman: www.newstatesman.com/culture/food... 02411
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeKatie Mack @astrokatie.com · 14/10/2023🌓🌎🌞 <-- lunar eclipse 🌎🌓🌞 <-- solar eclipse 🌎🌞🌗 <-- apocalypse 7454631754
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Was too disorganised to buy any of the special glasses, but here’s a piece of an old cardboard folder with some pinholes poked through it. 030
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 12/08/2026www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHrT...youtube.com"Staring at the Sun" by TV on the RadioYouTube video by Touch and Go Records 020
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 08/08/2026This years women’s Tour de France is already an all-time banger. Final stage tomorrow (a proper stage, not like the last stage in the men’s) and there’s currently 8 seconds in it. 010
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Most things that look like “education problems” or “skills problems” are actually economic problems. www.ft.com/content/1c4a...ft.comTo fix education, fix the economy firstWeak educational outcomes often owe more to economic performance than education policy 010
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 04/08/2026What is this wet stuff coming out of the sky? 121
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Roger Ebert on La Dolce Vita (esp. the last two paragraphs): www.rogerebert.com/reviews/grea... Geoff Dyer's book about Stalker (a film I don't like). Dana Stevens on watching films with her daughter: slate.com/culture/2015... Anthony Lane on Revenge of the Sith: www.newyorker.com/magazine/200... 131
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 29/07/2026The University of Leeds rabbits have an Instagram account. www.instagram.com/campusrabbits 272
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Take n independent nonnegative random variables, each with mean at most 1, and try to maximise the probability that their sum is at least n+1. The solution to this problem is Feige's conjecture, stated in 2005, and proved twice (largely by ChatGPT) on Monday. mpaldridge.github.io/blog/feiges-...mpaldridge.github.ioFeige’s conjectureLet $X_1, X_2, \dots, X_n$ be independent random variables, each with mean at most 1. We want to maximise the probability that their sum $S = \sum_{i=1}^n X_i$ is at least $n + \delta$ for some $\delt... 230
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 26/07/2026More on maths and AI: I also didn’t sign the Leiden declaration (leidendeclaration.ai) for similar reasons to those Timothy Gowers outlines here. gowers.wordpress.com/2026/07/26/t... (In rough agreement with most of the basic principles, but would want to be nit-picky about some particulars.)gowers.wordpress.comThoughts about the Leiden DeclarationLast September I went to a workshop at the Lorentz Centre in Leiden to discuss mathematics and AI with historians, philosophers, computer scientists, AI researchers, and mathematicians of several d… 100
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Last 12km of this year’s Tour de France were very good, imho. 000
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Interesting slides from Terence Tao’s talk at the ICM about AI and mathematics. teorth.github.io/tao-web/slid... 110
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 21/07/2026“Thousands of litres of water” seems like … not very much water? A swimming pool is tens or hundreds of thousands of litres. A data centre that, on hot days, uses a tenth of a swimming pool of water seems fine to me. 010
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Some good pieces I read over the weekend: – On Italy's privatised beaches www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... – A journalist reads her own AI-slop biography and meets a writer of them www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/t... – Some not-very-good Burnham announcements takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/is-andy-bu... 010
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 17/07/2026I understand why novelists/musicians/artists feel differently, but I *do* want the LLMs to hoover up my academic mathematical work – although, in return, they need to get better at crediting the work they build on. (Thought inspired by, but not directly responding to, cacm.acm.org/opinion/now-...)cacm.acm.orgNow Is the Time to Give LLMs Access to the ACM Digital Library – Communications of the ACM 020
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeClément Canonne @ccanonne.github.io · 14/07/2026Herman Chernoff, of Chernoff bound fame, passed away a few days ago at age 103. He was, truly, an outlier, and someone who left a deep mark in the field. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_...en.wikipedia.orgHerman Chernoff - Wikipedia 04012
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeNANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller June 04,1956 231556280
Reposted by Matthew Aldridgeturgut keskintürk @tkeskinturk.bsky.social · 06/07/2026data visualization is my passion. 491173942140
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 05/07/2026Big victory for Mexico over England in the Tour. 020
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Take a triangle. For each edge, trisect the edge and connect the two trisection points to the opposite corner. This forms a hexagon in the middle of the triangle. Marion’s theorem says the area of the central hexagon is one tenth the area of the original triangle. [1/2] 142
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeTom Francis @pentadact.com · 29/06/2026The humble bar graph taking a bold step into 3D here, while never losing sight of its passion: clearly showing which numbers are bigger. 1551279
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 26/06/2026I got "Ezra Klein" on the thing, in case anyone's wondering. 000
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeRos @hurricaneros.bsky.social · 24/06/2026During an idle online search, I've stumbled upon what might be the greatest job title of all time. www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...jobs.manchester.ac.ukResearch Associate in Learning to do Math with Vampires and Spiders:Oxford Road 84327
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 24/06/2026An interesting article about Channel 4 sort-of-but-not-really moving its "headquarters" to Leeds. theexchange.news/channel-4s-m...theexchange.newsChannel 4’s move to Leeds was meant to be a “game changer”. Has it worked out that way?‘It just seems to me the worst kind of TV window dressing’ 000
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeAndrew Martin @andrewmartin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Political ideology is the strongest predictor of Messi-Ronaldo preference. Authoritarians who like short-form video are more likely to think Ronaldo is the GOAT. 721567370
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeErich w/ an h @erichwanh.bsky.social · 22/06/2026It's like eBay's policy on selling souls: www.businessinsider.com/soul-listing... 434748
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeTerence Eden @edent.tel · 31/05/2024New blog post: Here's what happened to *that* podium! shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/heres-what… This is a retropost. Written in January 2023 but published long after I left the Civil Service. One of the weird things about working in Westminster is how terrifyingly …shkspr.mobiHere's what happened to *that* podium! 4126
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeConor Houghton @conjh.bsky.social · 21/06/2026Roses are red Algae is green If you were a reflecting pool I'd pretend you were clean 011
Matthew Aldridge @mpaldridge.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Sitting at home waiting for boiler repair man to come. I never thought I’d say this, but I’d actually like *more* emergency post-Makerfield podcasts to listen to. 110
Reposted by Matthew AldridgeHildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 03/06/2026IMPORTANT UPDATE: The person who originally saw this broadcast and took the pictures of the TV is currently the Icelandic Ambassador to the US. 291917440
Reposted by Matthew Aldridgethe mangosphere @mangmangmang.bsky.social · 30/05/2026This is dismissive of the proud human tradition of @secondmentions.com 081
