benjamin dickman
@benjamindickman.bsky.social
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
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
Pinned
(PDF) Curriculum. Creativity in the Mathematics Classroom
PDF | This chapter investigates the emergent creativity of a single mathematics project carried out across multiple years and contexts with students... | Find, read and cite all the research you need ...
www.researchgate.net
an academicky update:
i finally got a preprint ("UNCORRECTED PROOF") for a chapter i wrote!
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
this is Chapter 5 (Curriculum. Creativity in the Mathematics Classroom) from:
Creative Contexts: Our Worlds as Actors in the Dynamics of Change
(ISBN: 978-3-032-12282-7)
i finally got a preprint ("UNCORRECTED PROOF") for a chapter i wrote!
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
this is Chapter 5 (Curriculum. Creativity in the Mathematics Classroom) from:
Creative Contexts: Our Worlds as Actors in the Dynamics of Change
(ISBN: 978-3-032-12282-7)
wow a Matthew Emerton answer on MathOverflow (after not signing in for 11 years)
mathoverflow.net/a/506569/22971
2026 off to an auspicious start‽
mathoverflow.net/a/506569/22971
2026 off to an auspicious start‽
Approaches to non-abelian class field theory before Langlands
What are some examples of approaches to non-abelian class field theory that existed before the Langlands program?
mathoverflow.net
January 2, 2026 at 2:20 AM
wow a Matthew Emerton answer on MathOverflow (after not signing in for 11 years)
mathoverflow.net/a/506569/22971
2026 off to an auspicious start‽
mathoverflow.net/a/506569/22971
2026 off to an auspicious start‽
My favorite of the year was
pershmail.substack.com/p/who-gets-c...
Many are calling it a "modern day classic" that is somehow "even truer than reality (whatever that means)"
I'm not sure what Venn diagrams have *interest in this story* at their intersection, but you can find me there!
pershmail.substack.com/p/who-gets-c...
Many are calling it a "modern day classic" that is somehow "even truer than reality (whatever that means)"
I'm not sure what Venn diagrams have *interest in this story* at their intersection, but you can find me there!
December 31, 2025 at 6:14 PM
My favorite of the year was
pershmail.substack.com/p/who-gets-c...
Many are calling it a "modern day classic" that is somehow "even truer than reality (whatever that means)"
I'm not sure what Venn diagrams have *interest in this story* at their intersection, but you can find me there!
pershmail.substack.com/p/who-gets-c...
Many are calling it a "modern day classic" that is somehow "even truer than reality (whatever that means)"
I'm not sure what Venn diagrams have *interest in this story* at their intersection, but you can find me there!
Closing out the year with a final LetterBoxed #2solve!
Happy/Healthy Incoming 2026 ✨
01010011 01010000 01000001 01010010 01001011 01001100 01000101 01010011 00100000 01010011 01010100 01001111 01000100 01000111 01011001 00100000
Happy/Healthy Incoming 2026 ✨
01010011 01010000 01000001 01010010 01001011 01001100 01000101 01010011 00100000 01010011 01010100 01001111 01000100 01000111 01011001 00100000
December 31, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Closing out the year with a final LetterBoxed #2solve!
Happy/Healthy Incoming 2026 ✨
01010011 01010000 01000001 01010010 01001011 01001100 01000101 01010011 00100000 01010011 01010100 01001111 01000100 01000111 01011001 00100000
Happy/Healthy Incoming 2026 ✨
01010011 01010000 01000001 01010010 01001011 01001100 01000101 01010011 00100000 01010011 01010100 01001111 01000100 01000111 01011001 00100000
There is a job posting for a mathematics staff writer at @quantamagazine.bsky.social:
simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/simons...
Maybe this is good for you or somebody you know!
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/simons...
Maybe this is good for you or somebody you know!
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
Staff Writer (Mathematics), Quanta Magazine
POSITION SUMMARY Quanta Magazine is seeking a first-rate reporter and writer to identify and cover newsworthy developments in mathematics. The ideal candidate will have tireless appetite for exploring...
simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:31 PM
There is a job posting for a mathematics staff writer at @quantamagazine.bsky.social:
simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/simons...
Maybe this is good for you or somebody you know!
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/simons...
Maybe this is good for you or somebody you know!
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
people talk about Christmas on 1225 and about the current year being a perfect square but who is going to tell you that 1225 is a perfect square???
... i am. and i leave it to the reader to find the square root (not a trick!)
🎁² = 🎄
🎁 = ?
... i am. and i leave it to the reader to find the square root (not a trick!)
🎁² = 🎄
🎁 = ?
December 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM
people talk about Christmas on 1225 and about the current year being a perfect square but who is going to tell you that 1225 is a perfect square???
... i am. and i leave it to the reader to find the square root (not a trick!)
🎁² = 🎄
🎁 = ?
... i am. and i leave it to the reader to find the square root (not a trick!)
🎁² = 🎄
🎁 = ?
since there are only 7 Clay Millennium Prize Problems (one of which has already been solved) ... this must be paradigm-shifting work, excited to see AI naysayers proved wrong!!
December 23, 2025 at 6:45 PM
since there are only 7 Clay Millennium Prize Problems (one of which has already been solved) ... this must be paradigm-shifting work, excited to see AI naysayers proved wrong!!
a lot of people are aware that you can factor
2025 = 45²
i'm honored to announce the factorization
2026 = (45-i)(45+i)
2025 = 45²
i'm honored to announce the factorization
2026 = (45-i)(45+i)
December 21, 2025 at 2:20 AM
a lot of people are aware that you can factor
2025 = 45²
i'm honored to announce the factorization
2026 = (45-i)(45+i)
2025 = 45²
i'm honored to announce the factorization
2026 = (45-i)(45+i)
have you seen this result?
www.desmos.com/calculator/8...
if not... can you prove it? #iTeachTrig 📐
RESULT
for A, B, C that sum to 180° (e.g. interior angles of a triangle):
sin²(A) =
sin²(B) + sin²(C) - 2cos(A)sin(B)sin(C)
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
www.desmos.com/calculator/8...
if not... can you prove it? #iTeachTrig 📐
RESULT
for A, B, C that sum to 180° (e.g. interior angles of a triangle):
sin²(A) =
sin²(B) + sin²(C) - 2cos(A)sin(B)sin(C)
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
Desmos | Graphing Calculator
www.desmos.com
December 21, 2025 at 1:17 AM
have you seen this result?
www.desmos.com/calculator/8...
if not... can you prove it? #iTeachTrig 📐
RESULT
for A, B, C that sum to 180° (e.g. interior angles of a triangle):
sin²(A) =
sin²(B) + sin²(C) - 2cos(A)sin(B)sin(C)
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
www.desmos.com/calculator/8...
if not... can you prove it? #iTeachTrig 📐
RESULT
for A, B, C that sum to 180° (e.g. interior angles of a triangle):
sin²(A) =
sin²(B) + sin²(C) - 2cos(A)sin(B)sin(C)
#MathSky 🧮 #iTeachMath ♾️
MathUnderflow:
"Do mathematicians have an ethical role to play, regarding the AI bubble?"
mathoverflow.net/questions/50...
"Do mathematicians have an ethical role to play, regarding the AI bubble?"
mathoverflow.net/questions/50...
Do mathematicians have an ethical role to play, regarding the AI bubble?
In the 2007 bubble, economists but even mathematicians had their reputations stained somewhat, especially "financial mathematicians". Because they knew what was going on, and they didn't ...
mathoverflow.net
December 20, 2025 at 4:32 PM
MathUnderflow:
"Do mathematicians have an ethical role to play, regarding the AI bubble?"
mathoverflow.net/questions/50...
"Do mathematicians have an ethical role to play, regarding the AI bubble?"
mathoverflow.net/questions/50...
seconded... ❗
This looks interesting.
"The Incubator is intended to help start in-person, not-for-profit summer programs (residential or non-residential), at which participants do intensive mathematics with a focus on enrichment rather than remediation or acceleration"
summermathprograms.org/incubator#in...
"The Incubator is intended to help start in-person, not-for-profit summer programs (residential or non-residential), at which participants do intensive mathematics with a focus on enrichment rather than remediation or acceleration"
summermathprograms.org/incubator#in...
Summer Mathematics Programs Consortium
summermathprograms.org
December 19, 2025 at 10:57 PM
seconded... ❗
Interesting call
Evidence points me toward a main culprit - and it's not what's being discussed in many of the stories about UCSD.
Read my latest Math Values post: Students are Struggling. Why? 2/2
maa.org/math-values/...
Read my latest Math Values post: Students are Struggling. Why? 2/2
maa.org/math-values/...
Mathematical Association of America – Advancing the understanding of mathematics and its impact on our world
maa.org
December 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Interesting call
how do I translate a polar coordinate graph in Desmos? like if I graph
r = cos(4 theta)
is there a way to move it around in Desmos? say, 3 to the right and 4 up?
r = cos(4 theta)
is there a way to move it around in Desmos? say, 3 to the right and 4 up?
December 14, 2025 at 11:42 PM
how do I translate a polar coordinate graph in Desmos? like if I graph
r = cos(4 theta)
is there a way to move it around in Desmos? say, 3 to the right and 4 up?
r = cos(4 theta)
is there a way to move it around in Desmos? say, 3 to the right and 4 up?
ayyy a second edition! if i could read, this would be a necessary acquisition
cc #iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
cc #iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
🔥 Hot off the press! 📘 A must-have for classroom discourse in the elementary math classroom! Check up the updates in the second edition here. ➡️ spr.ly/633227CTho
Intentional Talk and Listening: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions
Math teachers know the first step to meaningful mathematics discussions is to ask students to share how they solved a problem and make their thinking visible; however, knowing where to go next can be a daunting task.
In Intentional Talk and Listening: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions, Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz provide teachers with a practical framework for planning and facilitating purposeful math talks that move group discussions to the next level while achiev
spr.ly
December 9, 2025 at 11:10 PM
ayyy a second edition! if i could read, this would be a necessary acquisition
cc #iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
cc #iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
Good read! Note that the full position paper is linked *at* the link, and is quite specific with its analysis of some "SoM" claims.
Here is a direct link to save a click:
www.mathedleadership.org/wp-content/u...
#iTeachMath ♾️
Here is a direct link to save a click:
www.mathedleadership.org/wp-content/u...
#iTeachMath ♾️
December 7, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Good read! Note that the full position paper is linked *at* the link, and is quite specific with its analysis of some "SoM" claims.
Here is a direct link to save a click:
www.mathedleadership.org/wp-content/u...
#iTeachMath ♾️
Here is a direct link to save a click:
www.mathedleadership.org/wp-content/u...
#iTeachMath ♾️
in the other direction, are there capital numbers, like capital letters. also a good [gosh darn] question
scholar.google.com/scholar?clus...
Brizuela, Barbara. "Inventions and conventions: A story about capital numbers." For the learning of Mathematics 17.1 (1997): 2-6.
scholar.google.com/scholar?clus...
Brizuela, Barbara. "Inventions and conventions: A story about capital numbers." For the learning of Mathematics 17.1 (1997): 2-6.
December 5, 2025 at 4:03 AM
in the other direction, are there capital numbers, like capital letters. also a good [gosh darn] question
scholar.google.com/scholar?clus...
Brizuela, Barbara. "Inventions and conventions: A story about capital numbers." For the learning of Mathematics 17.1 (1997): 2-6.
scholar.google.com/scholar?clus...
Brizuela, Barbara. "Inventions and conventions: A story about capital numbers." For the learning of Mathematics 17.1 (1997): 2-6.
Find an 8 digit calculator word (rotate 180° and read the digits as letters) whose middle four digits (without rotation) are consecutive integers.
I believe there is a unique solution and/but would be happy to be proved wrong!
#iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
I believe there is a unique solution and/but would be happy to be proved wrong!
#iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
December 4, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Find an 8 digit calculator word (rotate 180° and read the digits as letters) whose middle four digits (without rotation) are consecutive integers.
I believe there is a unique solution and/but would be happy to be proved wrong!
#iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
I believe there is a unique solution and/but would be happy to be proved wrong!
#iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
2️⃣2️⃣ for 2️⃣sday
A reminder that I cocreated "the 🐐 word game" (many people are saying this!) and it is
🆓 to download
🆓 to play and
🆓 of ads
—
🎻🧱 #FiddleBrix
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
0:22 (no hints!)
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟦🟦🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟨
fiddlebrix.com
A reminder that I cocreated "the 🐐 word game" (many people are saying this!) and it is
🆓 to download
🆓 to play and
🆓 of ads
—
🎻🧱 #FiddleBrix
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
0:22 (no hints!)
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟦🟦🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟨
fiddlebrix.com
fiddlebrix.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:28 AM
2️⃣2️⃣ for 2️⃣sday
A reminder that I cocreated "the 🐐 word game" (many people are saying this!) and it is
🆓 to download
🆓 to play and
🆓 of ads
—
🎻🧱 #FiddleBrix
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
0:22 (no hints!)
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟦🟦🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟨
fiddlebrix.com
A reminder that I cocreated "the 🐐 word game" (many people are saying this!) and it is
🆓 to download
🆓 to play and
🆓 of ads
—
🎻🧱 #FiddleBrix
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
0:22 (no hints!)
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟦🟦🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟨
fiddlebrix.com
Is the point of mathematical research to know *what* is true or to know *why* it's true? Emily Riehl lays out a strong argument - and what it has to do with AI - along great advice for the field in @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Mathematics is hard for mathematicians to understand too
At a recent conference on mathematics in the age of automated proofs, mathematician and Fields Medalist Akshay Venkatesh presented “How do we talk to our students about AI?'' He quoted an email he'd r...
www.science.org
December 1, 2025 at 9:53 PM
some of y'all will claim 2 pi = 1 tau 🤨
but i'm out here looking at 2 tau like
ττ
but i'm out here looking at 2 tau like
ττ
November 30, 2025 at 1:36 AM
some of y'all will claim 2 pi = 1 tau 🤨
but i'm out here looking at 2 tau like
ττ
but i'm out here looking at 2 tau like
ττ
math classes emphasize sum and difference formulae for sine i.e. sin(x+y), sin(x-y) yet rarely broach the multiple angle formulae for products e.g. sin(xy). not sure if this is just a sign of the times.
November 30, 2025 at 1:35 AM
math classes emphasize sum and difference formulae for sine i.e. sin(x+y), sin(x-y) yet rarely broach the multiple angle formulae for products e.g. sin(xy). not sure if this is just a sign of the times.
lotta math classes teach about completing the square without ever asking why the square felt incomplete in the first place 😔
November 30, 2025 at 1:34 AM
lotta math classes teach about completing the square without ever asking why the square felt incomplete in the first place 😔
Armchair Education Experts (AEE): US 🇺🇲 students have fallen behind in mathematics & need to be better prepared for the as-yet-unknown jobs/needs of the future 🔮🧮🔢✨
me: so we should teach math differently now
AEE: no
me:
AEE:
me: so we should teach math differently now
AEE: no
me:
AEE:
November 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Armchair Education Experts (AEE): US 🇺🇲 students have fallen behind in mathematics & need to be better prepared for the as-yet-unknown jobs/needs of the future 🔮🧮🔢✨
me: so we should teach math differently now
AEE: no
me:
AEE:
me: so we should teach math differently now
AEE: no
me:
AEE:
"A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into [gatekeeping, opportunity hoarding, anxiety & trauma, scarcity mindsets, ...]"
November 30, 2025 at 1:32 AM
"A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into [gatekeeping, opportunity hoarding, anxiety & trauma, scarcity mindsets, ...]"
non-Euclidean geometry proofs where the two columns eventually meet 💡
November 30, 2025 at 1:31 AM
non-Euclidean geometry proofs where the two columns eventually meet 💡
P adic! At The Disco
November 30, 2025 at 1:29 AM
P adic! At The Disco