<story><title>The Art of Mathematics in Chalk</title><url>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-art-of-mathematics-in-chalk/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jstrieb</author><text>This article really resonated with me. I&amp;#x27;m an undergraduate math major, and classes being all-remote this past year have unfortunately reduced chalkboard use among both professors and students. Particularly, I have been unable to go into lecture halls after hours and do homework on chalkboards like I used to.&lt;p&gt;I much prefer to do work standing up at a board where I can physically step back to get a literally different perspective on what I have written. The ephemerality of a chalkboard also far surpasses paper, which means there is less commitment for writing anything down – it thus feels more conducive to proper scratch work where ideas are tested and perhaps backtracked. Plus, as the article covers, there is definitely a feeling of having created something artistic when the problem is solved and the board is covered top to bottom in symbols. (Though I haven&amp;#x27;t had occasion to draw any interesting, abstract topology in my studies.)&lt;p&gt;To make up for the lack of access to chalk boards on campus during the pandemic, I built one in my room, along with an automated system for scanning flattened images of it. It took about a weekend to set up, and I&amp;#x27;ve used it every day since. Some technical details for anyone who may be curious:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=26872168&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=26872168&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Art of Mathematics in Chalk</title><url>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-art-of-mathematics-in-chalk/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>varjag</author><text>An old Soviet joke.&lt;p&gt;Professor in a math class calls out a student to draw a circle on the blackboard. The student makes a perfect one; the Platonic ideal of a circle in one swift, generous motion. The professor is impressed and inquiries, how come?&lt;p&gt;- See, all I did in my two years of military service was operating a meat grinder.</text></comment>