Richard Elwes
@richardelwes.bsky.social
Mathematician and Writer in UK. Forthcoming book: The Story of Huge Numbers (working title).
www.richardelwes.co.uk
www.richardelwes.co.uk
Four may not be a particularly impressive score on Wordle, but it's certainly my fastest ever four. Wordle 1,610 4/6
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November 15, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Four may not be a particularly impressive score on Wordle, but it's certainly my fastest ever four. Wordle 1,610 4/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
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Reposted by Richard Elwes
Though not universally true, in the vast majority of cases, causing offense in those listening in good faith isn't the inevitable cost of being a brave truthteller but the casual cruelty of a lazy or unempathic communicator.
There were ways to say the same thing without being an asshole, mate.
There were ways to say the same thing without being an asshole, mate.
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 15, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Though not universally true, in the vast majority of cases, causing offense in those listening in good faith isn't the inevitable cost of being a brave truthteller but the casual cruelty of a lazy or unempathic communicator.
There were ways to say the same thing without being an asshole, mate.
There were ways to say the same thing without being an asshole, mate.
Reposted by Richard Elwes
🗣️ EMS Magazine No. 137 (Sept 2025) is out! 📖
Abel Interview 2025 (Masaki Kashiwara), modelling light in the eye, art & maths, mental health in mathematics, and more.
Open Access: euromathsoc.org/magazine/iss...
Abel Interview 2025 (Masaki Kashiwara), modelling light in the eye, art & maths, mental health in mathematics, and more.
Open Access: euromathsoc.org/magazine/iss...
November 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
🗣️ EMS Magazine No. 137 (Sept 2025) is out! 📖
Abel Interview 2025 (Masaki Kashiwara), modelling light in the eye, art & maths, mental health in mathematics, and more.
Open Access: euromathsoc.org/magazine/iss...
Abel Interview 2025 (Masaki Kashiwara), modelling light in the eye, art & maths, mental health in mathematics, and more.
Open Access: euromathsoc.org/magazine/iss...
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Read this. Please.
I wrote a piece about Movember and how I'm not a mental health advocate.
www.threeredkings.com/when-novembe...
www.threeredkings.com/when-novembe...
When November Ends – Three Red Kings
www.threeredkings.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Read this. Please.
Thoroughly enjoyable family night out to see Matilda the Musical at the Alhambra in Bradford. Joyous performances by all the young members of the cast and a show-stealing turn by Richard Hurst as a malign & menacing Miss Trunchbull.
www.rsc.org.uk/news/cast-ma...
www.rsc.org.uk/news/cast-ma...
Cast announced for Matilda The Musical UK and Ireland Tour | Royal Shakespeare Company
Writer and composer Tim Minchin went to meet the new class of 2025-26 for the upcoming tour of Matilda The Musical.
www.rsc.org.uk
November 5, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Thoroughly enjoyable family night out to see Matilda the Musical at the Alhambra in Bradford. Joyous performances by all the young members of the cast and a show-stealing turn by Richard Hurst as a malign & menacing Miss Trunchbull.
www.rsc.org.uk/news/cast-ma...
www.rsc.org.uk/news/cast-ma...
Reposted by Richard Elwes
AI sitcom accidentally a Lynchian fever dream. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and insane lament.
October 29, 2025 at 9:47 PM
AI sitcom accidentally a Lynchian fever dream. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and insane lament.
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Pour one out for @wikipedia.org in my latest for @mcsweeneys.net
Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology
“Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for the dum...
www.mcsweeneys.net
October 27, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Pour one out for @wikipedia.org in my latest for @mcsweeneys.net
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Saw a partially assembled leg being transported thru Shetland a couple of years back. You don’t appreciate how big they are until you are up close and personal.
October 26, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Saw a partially assembled leg being transported thru Shetland a couple of years back. You don’t appreciate how big they are until you are up close and personal.
We have been looking around the royal yacht HMS Britannia in Edinburgh but my sons were completely distracted by what they thought were parts of a space-rocket being transported by cargo ship. I thought it was unlikely but didn’t have any brighter ideas - any suggestions?
October 26, 2025 at 5:23 PM
We have been looking around the royal yacht HMS Britannia in Edinburgh but my sons were completely distracted by what they thought were parts of a space-rocket being transported by cargo ship. I thought it was unlikely but didn’t have any brighter ideas - any suggestions?
Pub quiz: Where is the only place in the world which has Japanese as a legally official language?
Answer in next message…
Answer in next message…
October 22, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Pub quiz: Where is the only place in the world which has Japanese as a legally official language?
Answer in next message…
Answer in next message…
Enjoyed my chat with this chap I met at the Art of the Brick in Leeds.
October 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Enjoyed my chat with this chap I met at the Art of the Brick in Leeds.
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Python 3.14 is released today.
Happy πthon Day everyone!
Happy πthon Day everyone!
October 7, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Python 3.14 is released today.
Happy πthon Day everyone!
Happy πthon Day everyone!
One Cut of the Dead (or カメラを止めるな - “don’t stop the camera”) - I haven’t had so much fun watching a film for a long time. Clever, hilarious, and brilliant.
Love the fact that it was made for $25,000 and grossed $30 million.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Cut...
Love the fact that it was made for $25,000 and grossed $30 million.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Cut...
One Cut of the Dead - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
October 5, 2025 at 11:10 AM
One Cut of the Dead (or カメラを止めるな - “don’t stop the camera”) - I haven’t had so much fun watching a film for a long time. Clever, hilarious, and brilliant.
Love the fact that it was made for $25,000 and grossed $30 million.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Cut...
Love the fact that it was made for $25,000 and grossed $30 million.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Cut...
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
September 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
The @auroraorchestra.bsky.social often play from memory, without sheet music. That’s why they’re widely regarded as the Napalm Death of classical music.
September 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
The @auroraorchestra.bsky.social often play from memory, without sheet music. That’s why they’re widely regarded as the Napalm Death of classical music.
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Beaded Archimedean Solids!!!
I had lots of fun over the past two weeks making these for the pigeonholes at the TMiP conference.
[Each n-regular graph has an n-colouring and there's a pair of colours on each one which form a Hamiltonian cycle.]
#TMiP25 #MathsArt #MathArt #Polyhedra
I had lots of fun over the past two weeks making these for the pigeonholes at the TMiP conference.
[Each n-regular graph has an n-colouring and there's a pair of colours on each one which form a Hamiltonian cycle.]
#TMiP25 #MathsArt #MathArt #Polyhedra
August 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Beaded Archimedean Solids!!!
I had lots of fun over the past two weeks making these for the pigeonholes at the TMiP conference.
[Each n-regular graph has an n-colouring and there's a pair of colours on each one which form a Hamiltonian cycle.]
#TMiP25 #MathsArt #MathArt #Polyhedra
I had lots of fun over the past two weeks making these for the pigeonholes at the TMiP conference.
[Each n-regular graph has an n-colouring and there's a pair of colours on each one which form a Hamiltonian cycle.]
#TMiP25 #MathsArt #MathArt #Polyhedra
Reposted by Richard Elwes
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a very nice new Numberphile video in which @richardelwes explains subcubic graph numbers – heavily featuring the work of my friend and sometime collaborator Adam P Goucher.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eXjTH6Mq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eXjTH6Mq4
August 21, 2025 at 9:23 PM
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a very nice new Numberphile video in which @richardelwes explains subcubic graph numbers – heavily featuring the work of my friend and sometime collaborator Adam P Goucher.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eXjTH6Mq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eXjTH6Mq4
More of me on Numberphile! This time talking about some seriously enormous numbers: the mighty subcubic graph numbers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eX...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eX...
Immense Subcubic Graphic Numbers - Numberphile
YouTube video by Numberphile
www.youtube.com
August 22, 2025 at 10:35 AM
More of me on Numberphile! This time talking about some seriously enormous numbers: the mighty subcubic graph numbers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eX...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eX...
Reposted by Richard Elwes
George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and FDR were all cheerleaders, bafflingly.
www.flocheer.com/articles/506...
www.flocheer.com/articles/506...
4 U.S. Presidents You Didn't Know Were Cheerleaders - FloCheer
There were four U.S. presidents who were cheerleaders. Check out which ones were a part of the cheer world before becoming president!
www.flocheer.com
August 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and FDR were all cheerleaders, bafflingly.
www.flocheer.com/articles/506...
www.flocheer.com/articles/506...
Well that's a compliment I am delighted to take:
"Geometry at this level, and presented this well, is like getting a school lunch made by Heston Blumenthal."
www.youtube.com/live/BhSlqIe...
"Geometry at this level, and presented this well, is like getting a school lunch made by Heston Blumenthal."
www.youtube.com/live/BhSlqIe...
The Holey Monster (with 934 faces) - Numberphile
YouTube video by Numberphile
www.youtube.com
August 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Well that's a compliment I am delighted to take:
"Geometry at this level, and presented this well, is like getting a school lunch made by Heston Blumenthal."
www.youtube.com/live/BhSlqIe...
"Geometry at this level, and presented this well, is like getting a school lunch made by Heston Blumenthal."
www.youtube.com/live/BhSlqIe...
The Holey Monster (with 934 faces) - Numberphile
YouTube video by Numberphile
youtu.be
July 31, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Farewell to the great Tom Lehrer - mathematician by day, and by night a songwriter with a magnificently dark sense of humour.
youtu.be/I9C2v1oLXQo?...
youtu.be/I9C2v1oLXQo?...
Tom Lehrer - I Hold Your Hand In Mine - LIVE FILM from Copenhagen in 1967
YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel
youtu.be
July 27, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Farewell to the great Tom Lehrer - mathematician by day, and by night a songwriter with a magnificently dark sense of humour.
youtu.be/I9C2v1oLXQo?...
youtu.be/I9C2v1oLXQo?...
Reposted by Richard Elwes
Lucy Bronze on how she decided to blast her penalty down the middle (and score).
“Statistically it’s risky for the goal keeper to stand still… so yeah, I love maths”.
“Statistically it’s risky for the goal keeper to stand still… so yeah, I love maths”.
July 17, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Lucy Bronze on how she decided to blast her penalty down the middle (and score).
“Statistically it’s risky for the goal keeper to stand still… so yeah, I love maths”.
“Statistically it’s risky for the goal keeper to stand still… so yeah, I love maths”.
Robbed of my Gold medal! Steeled myself to enter the dreaded Dads' Race at the kids' school sports day, in the "45 and older" category. Was pleased to sneak into second place at the line, only to discover later that the so-called winner was aged 36. Outrageous.
July 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Robbed of my Gold medal! Steeled myself to enter the dreaded Dads' Race at the kids' school sports day, in the "45 and older" category. Was pleased to sneak into second place at the line, only to discover later that the so-called winner was aged 36. Outrageous.
Reposted by Richard Elwes
What a great chance to use this meme
July 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM
What a great chance to use this meme