i “NLMS_493” — 2021/3/9 — 12:09 — page 1 — #1 i i i NEWSLETTER Issue: 493 - March 2021 MATHEMATICS OF RANDOM MARRIAGES, FLOATING-POINT LATTICES COUPLES, ARITHMETIC IN THE WILD MATHS CAREERS i i i i i “NLMS_493” — 2021/3/9 — 12:09 — page 2 — #2 i i i EDITOR-IN-CHIEF COPYRIGHT NOTICE Eleanor Lingham (Sheeld Hallam University) News items and notices in the Newsletter may [email protected] be freely used elsewhere unless otherwise stated, although attribution is requested when EDITORIAL BOARD reproducing whole articles. Contributions to the Newsletter are made under a non-exclusive June Barrow-Green (Open University) licence; please contact the author or David Chillingworth (University of Southampton) photographer for the rights to reproduce. Jessica Enright (University of Glasgow) The LMS cannot accept responsibility for the Jonathan Fraser (University of St Andrews) accuracy of information in the Newsletter. Views Jelena Grbic´ (University of Southampton) expressed do not necessarily represent the Cathy Hobbs (UWE) views or policy of the Editorial Team or London Christopher Hollings (Oxford) Mathematical Society. Robb McDonald (University College London) Adam Johansen (University of Warwick) Susan Oakes (London Mathematical Society) ISSN: 2516-3841 (Print) Andrew Wade (Durham University) ISSN: 2516-385X (Online) Mike Whittaker (University of Glasgow) DOI: 10.1112/NLMS Andrew Wilson (University of Glasgow) Early Career Content Editor: Jelena Grbic´ NEWSLETTER WEBSITE News Editor: Susan Oakes Reviews Editor: Christopher Hollings The Newsletter is freely available electronically at lms.ac.uk/publications/lms-newsletter. CORRESPONDENTS AND STAFF MEMBERSHIP LMS/EMS Correspondent: David Chillingworth Policy Digest: John Johnston Joining the LMS is a straightforward process. For Production: Katherine Wright membership details see lms.ac.uk/membership. Printing: Holbrooks Printers Ltd EDITORIAL OFFICE SUBMISSIONS London Mathematical Society The Newsletter welcomes submissions of De Morgan House feature content, including mathematical articles, 57–58 Russell Square career related articles, and microtheses from London WC1B 4HS members and non-members. Submission [email protected] guidelines and LaTeX templates can be found at lms.ac.uk/publications/submit-to-the-lms-newsletter. Charity registration number: 252660 Feature content should be submitted to the editor-in-chief at [email protected]. COVER IMAGE News items should be sent to One step in a Monte-Carlo simulation using [email protected]. Visualyse Professional software. See page 24 for further details. Notices of events should be prepared using the template at lms.ac.uk/publications/lms-newsletter Do you have an image of mathematical interest and sent to [email protected]. that may be included on the front cover of a future issue? Email [email protected] for For advertising rates and guidelines see details. lms.ac.uk/publications/advertise-in-the-lms-newsletter. i i i i i “NLMS_493” — 2021/3/9 — 12:09 — page 3 — #3 i i i CONTENTS NEWS The latest from the LMS and elsewhere 4 LMS BUSINESS Reports from the LMS 11 FEATURES Joining the De Morgan House Team — One Year On 22 Cover Image: Monte Carlo Simulation 24 Notes of a Numerical Analyst 25 Mathematics News Flash 26 Penrose’s Incompleteness Theorem 27 The Mathematics of Floating-Point Arithmetic 35 Random Lattices in the Wild: from Pólya’s Orchard to Quantum Oscillators 42 Marriages, Couples, and the Making of Mathematical Careers 50 EARLY CAREER The Mathematician’s Academic Journey 55 Microthesis: A Novel Algorithm for Solving Fredholm Integral Equations 57 REVIEWS From the bookshelf 59 OBITUARIES In memoriam 65 EVENTS Latest announcements 69 CALENDAR All forthcoming events 71 i i i i i “NLMS_493” — 2021/3/9 — 12:09 — page 4 — #4 i i i 4 NEWS LMS NEWS Annual Elections to LMS Council The LMS Newsletter has several purposes. It aims to provide a sense of identity, community, and The LMS Nominating Committee is responsible for connection for the Society’s members. It is a proposing slates of candidates for vacancies on channel for communicating the power, beauty and Council and vacancies on Nominating Committee itself. value of mathematics and mathematical research The Nominating Committee welcomes suggestions by disseminating new mathematical ideas and from the membership. information. It also seeks to make transparent the Society and its workings. Anyone who wishes to suggest someone for a position as an Officer of the Society or as a The main duties of the Editor-in-Chief, who is Member-at-Large of Council (now or in the future) ultimately responsible to the Society’s Council, are: is invited to send their suggestions to Professor Kenneth Falconer, the current Chair of Nominating • overseeing the commissioning of content for the Committee ([email protected]). Please provide mathematical features section the name and institution (if applicable) of the • overseeing the sourcing of material for other suggested nominee, their mathematical specialism(s), sections and a brief statement to explain what they could bring • signing off on the content and layout for each to Council/Nominating Committee. bi-monthly issue It is to the benefit of the Society that Council is • chairing, leading and coordinating support from the balanced and represents the full breadth of the Newsletter Editorial Board. mathematics community; to this end, Nominating Committee aims for a balance in gender, subject area In addition to the Newsletter Editorial Board, the and geographical location in its list of prospective Editor-in-Chief also works closely with, and is further nominees. supported by, members of the Society’s staff. Nominations should be received by 16 April 2021 in This role is unremunerated, although reasonable order to be considered by the Nominating Committee. expenses will be paid. The role requires a time commitment of approximately one day a week on In addition to the above, members may make average, year round. direct nominations for election to Council or Nominating Committee. Direct nominations must Back issues of the Newsletter are available on the be sent to the Executive Secretary’s office Society’s website at bit.ly/36h6iUL. ([email protected]) before noon on 1 September 2021. For details on making a direct nomination, see For further information about this role, including lms.ac.uk/about/council/lms-elections. attributes sought and how to apply, please contact the Executive Secretary Caroline Wallace at The slate as proposed by Nominating Committee, [email protected]. Applications will close on together with any direct nominations received up to 1 April 2021. that time, will be posted on the LMS website in early August. Plan S Update In September 2018 several research funders formed New Editor-in-Chief sought for an international consortium, cOAlition S, to launch LMS Newsletter the Plan S initiative. The intention of Plan S is to require that scientific publications arising The LMS seeks someone with broad mathematical from research supported by consortium members interests, who is passionate about communicating must be published immediately open access in mathematics and supporting the Society, to become compliant journals or platforms. The timeline for Editor-in Chief of the LMS Newsletter, starting in implementation of these requirements varies by May 2021. funder (see bit.ly/2MuZ1d5), but in general only grants i i i i i “NLMS_493” — 2021/3/9 — 12:09 — page 5 — #5 i i i NEWS 5 awarded by members of cOAlition S beginning after fifth of the articles published online in 2020 in the 1 January 2021 will include these requirements. It Bulletin, Journal, Proceedings and Journal of Topology should be noted that UKRI will not be publishing their were open access. open access policy until Spring 2021. It should be noted that the amount of content For those subject to Plan S requirements the three supported by APCs is taken into account in setting main ways compliance can be achieved are: subscription prices (see bit.ly/2MrLbrX). The Society also publishes a fully open access journal, • Publication of the final typeset version of record the Transactions. Through the appointment of a new (VoR) with a CC BY licence in an open access journal Editorial Board (as described in the January LMS or platform registered in the Directory of Open Newsletter) the Society intends to offer authors Access Journals (DOAJ). a high-quality publication venue for those whose • Open access publication of the VoR with a funders support open access publishing. CC BY licence in a hybrid journal covered The publications landscape is changing rapidly. by a transformative arrangement approved by The Society is looking to adapt to the changing cOAlition S (only until the end of 2024). requirements of authors and funders in a way that • Publication of the VoR with restricted access in a allows its publication activities to continue on a subscription journal but at the same time depositing sustainable basis while enabling the Society to return the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) with a CC all surplus income to support mathematicians and BY licence in an institutional or subject repository, mathematics research. with immediate open access. The AAM is the final author-created version of the manuscript as John Hunton accepted for publication by the journal, including LMS Publications Secretary any changes made during peer review. The use of a CC BY licence is to permit others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon an article, even commercially, De Morgan Donations and as long as they credit the original author(s). Other Gifts If the costs of publication of the VoR open access are Launched in 2019, De Morgan Donations are gifts to the supported through an article processing charge (APC) Society of £1,865 or more. Named after the Society’s then funders will only pay this if the journal is fully first President in 1865, Augustus De Morgan, these open access or denoted a ‘transformative journal’.