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Steven Clontz
Steven Clontz
@clontz.org
Mathematician, professor, puzzler, cat juggler (he/him) clontz.org orcid.org/0000-0002-4938-4274 Professor SouthAlabama.edu Co-founder PreTeXt.plus, ScholarLattice.org (Views expressed are my own and do not represent my employer or companies.)
1K followers413 following2.8K posts
Steven Clontz reposted
Instructure hasn't updated the Canvas open-source project since getting hacked in April 2026. They might never update it again. github.com/instructure/...
Steven Clontz reposted
I always knew math was in the humanities.
Actually, there is a sharp line to be drawn between science and the humanities. The difference is methodological: The “scientific method” consists of publishing papers formatted in two or more columns; whereas humanities papers are arranged in just one column.
Excited to announce labs.pretext.plus — a home for bleeding edge (read: very untested but hopefully useful!) tools to help STEM OER authors. Our first tool: an interactive PreTeXt <exercise/> authoring widget!
We used to be a proper country www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf8E...
Steven Clontz reposted
I was interviewed by the NPR show On Point, with things I said dropped in a couple of places into an illuminating conversation between Steven Strogatz and Meghna Chakrabarti about AI and math: www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026...
Steven Clontz reposted
lol So basically, sure, O(n(log n)^(1-ϵ)) < O(n log n). But n(log n)^(1-ϵ)) < Cn log n only for n > e^C^(1+ϵ). Apparently this paper has C ≈ 10^100 and ϵ = 10^-13, so this is an improvement only for n values greater than, well, an incredibly stupidly large number. #MathSky
OpenAI’s faster Fourier transform is less a mathematical breakthrough and more a malicious exploit of mathematical traditions.
So uh no one was talking in class today during an activity so I put this on and it was like a lightswitch flipped lol #MathSky #deltarune
Interviewer: Can you each explain the gap in your CV? 1st Logician: I don't know. 2nd Logician: I don't know. Last Logician: Yes.
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your CV? Scientist: I made it in TeX and can't figure out how to remove the gap but I also don't want to get yelled at if I post a question on stackexchange, so I have instead decided to appreciate the gap, which is still there
Steven Clontz reposted
Hi, I’m a sighted alt text user! Here are some reasons I use it: - Slow Internet on an airplane - I’m over 40, I have no idea who that celebrity is - Bluesky broke images again - My vision sucks and that text is too small to read otherwise - Conveys further context and authorial intent
Not to mention, the social aspect of talking about a shared experience with your friends and geeking out about the hidden lore with people online.
maybe i'm old fashion but the coolest thing about video games is being taken to new worlds that i hadn't thought up and experiencing something exciting that the artists behind the game want to show me
Steven Clontz reposted
New fraud dropped: arxiv.org/abs/2610.10072 > The result is also contained in a paper released by OpenAI on October 6, 2026, in which the proof strategy and specific choices of notation are identical to a preliminary version of the present paper that was uploaded to ChatGPT on September 8, 2026.
Steven Clontz reposted
Last week in our department colloquium I showed how to formally prove that Hausdorff implies Urysohn separation. It was really easy. I just had to define Urysohn incorrectly. (And in reality: topology.pi-base.org/spaces?q=%24... )
Steven Clontz reposted
Someone at AHM pointed out this paper which seems to cast doubt on the validity of the statement proved by the OpenAI Navier-Stokes paper. Too tired to read it, but here it is. arxiv.org/abs/2610.08144
Chat is it good that the kid is now asking about Amazing Digital Circus characters, and that I know the answers? (Apparently YouTube Kids has TADC Content, but as far as I can tell, not the actual episodes. Not sure any of it should be there...)
I don't know what makes me a better dad: this, or the fact that her favorite game to play in the car is to take my "Undertale/Deltarune Bangers" Spotify playlist and see who can "name that tune" quicker. (yes Petal Dance / Aqua are her favorite)
Steven Clontz reposted
working on next year's MaPPmath.org "Funky Younger Fightin' Reptiles" puzzlehunt, and I can't get this music unstuck from my head... www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQP3...
Steven Clontz reposted
Reminder that an open license means nothing if there's no mirror or archive.
SRC changed their terms of use yesterday, and released a news post with an FAQ. They make it sound like not a big deal. It's a big deal. The Creative Commons licence is gone. They claim ownership over the data now. Thread about what this means, and what we can do about it 🧵
Steven Clontz reposted
Steven Clontz reposted
"arXiv now limits submitters to up to two submissions per calendar month" I completely understand why this has been necessary. But also watch out – two submissions per month could easily catch people out (e.g. PhD students and postdocs putting papers up before starting a job hunt). #MathSky
Announced today: arXiv is now rate-limiting contributors to two submissions today. blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/u... 🧮
Steven Clontz reposted
Help, #MathSky community: Trying to get a handle on how different techniques of integration are covered at different types of institutions. Take 2 minutes (I swear) and fill out this quick survey: forms.gle/hk9nfSwwme82...
Steven Clontz reposted
3rd circuit rules AI training on copyrighted material is NOT fair use. Wow! chatgptiseatingtheworld.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
If you haven't played with pretext.plus in a while, we just spruced up the editor. It's looking pretty good even on mobile!
Steven Clontz reposted
It's come along enough to share... An Algebra Game (the start thereof, at least), like the Natural Number Game! adam.math.hhu.de#/g/CRGibbons... Play it, critique it, join the development team (which is... just me)! It's meant to go along with a "rings first" semester of abstract algebra