The following symbol
has been associated
with the date
December 1:
Click on the symbol
for details.
That date is connected
to today’s date since
Dec. 1 is the feast—
i.e., the deathday– of
a saint of mathematics:
G. H. Hardy, author of
the classic
A Mathematician’s Apology
(online, pdf, 52 pp. ),
while today is the birthday
of three less saintly
mathematical figures:
Sir William Rowan Hamilton,
For these birthdays, here is
a more cheerful version of
the above symbol:
For the significance of
this version, see
Chinese Jar Revisited
(Log24, June 27, 2006),
a memorial to mathematician
Irving Kaplansky
(student of Mac Lane).
This version may be regarded
as a box containing the
cross of St. Andrew.
If we add a Greek cross
(equal-armed) to the box,
we obtain the “spider,”
or “double cross,” figure
of my favorite mythology:
Fritz Leiber’s Changewar.