The Christmas Present Problem: It’s Hard – NP-Hard
December 7, 2014
This post first appeared at Graham-Kendall.com. For previous posts about Christmas, see here. As Christmas approaches, many of us are faced with the annual problem of who to buy presents for, how much to spend, what presents to buy and how to be fair to everybody. Is this a tough problem to solve? Perhaps some …
Pack Santa’s Sleigh and share a prize pool of $10,000
December 27, 2013
It’s a little late to help Santa this year, but as this competition does not close until the 26th January 2014, I guess the man in red is already looking towards next year! The competition, arranged by Kaggle, asks you to pack Santa’a sleigh in the most efficient way possible. It is actually an abstraction …
Christmas posts from around the University
December 26, 2013
We thought it might be nice to see what other University of Nottingham blogs have been saying during this festive season. A Christmas message: Bacon and turkey not necessarily a recipe for continuing success (from Entrepreneurship, Enterprise and Innovation blog) Advent Calendar from Nottingham’s Massive Open Online Courses‘ blog I’ll be home for Christmas! (from …
Can Santa deliver all those presents in 24 hours? TheConversation discusses the science
December 24, 2013
In a few hours Santa will begin his annual tour of the world, dropping down chimney’s and delivering presents to all the children who have behaved themselves this year. It is amazing that he can deliver all these presents in a single night, even if we account for the fact that time differences gives him …
The 12 days of Pascal’s triangular Christmas
December 23, 2013
“One of the most magical aspects of mathematics is the ability for complex and intricate structures to emerge from the simplest of rules. Few mathematical objects are simpler to create – and few weave such a variety of intricate patterns – as Pascal’s marvellous triangle….” So starts this very nice article about this fabulous mathematical …
About Life Fantastic: Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2013
In a previous post, we mentioned the Royal Institution Christmas lectures. It seems timely to mention them again. The 2013 lectures will be given by Dr Alison Woollard from the University of Oxford. She will “explore the frontiers of developmental biology and uncovers the remarkable transformation of a single cell into a complex organism.” More …
Women in Leadership – A Research-Based Christmas Wish List
December 20, 2013
Following on from the launch of WinSET (Women in Science, Engineering and Technology) and because it’s Christmas, it seemed a good time to bring this video to your attention.
Can Santa travel faster than the speed of light?
December 12, 2013
We recently asked for research stories about Christmas (and see the broder Christmas category). This piece was published in the Radio Times and combines Santa and time travel!
British Malaysia Chamber of Commerce Christmas Lunch
December 11, 2013
As you may know UNMC (University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus) is a member of BMCC (British Malaysia Chamber of Commerce). This is a partnership that we greatly value and you might recall that we worked with them recently on the JPA/BMCC programme. This year we were fortunate enough to have a table for their Christmas …
What route will Santa take this Christmas?
December 6, 2013
Earlier this week, I asked for ideas that featured research with a Christmas theme (and also see the broader Christmas category) I was fortunate to get an email from a very good friend of mine (Dr Neil Urquhart, from Napier University) who sent me details of a very nice application he, and his colleagues, have …
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