Mark Ronan

André and Simone Weil were two sides of the same coin: impatient; determined; brilliant; attracted to ancient wisdom and ideas

Mathematics publishing is a soft touch. The publisher usually hasn’t a clue, so they send the manuscript to someone like me to comment on. I used to be a soft touch too

Mark Spiegelhalter’s book helps explain how implausible statistical nonsense arises in the first place

The ancient Assyrians deserve to be remembered for being pioneering builders and engineers

It may not be possible to know if we are living in a simulation — but perhaps we don’t need certainty

How a brilliant young Russian mathematician was blocked by blatant Soviet anti-Semitism

This year’s rural festivals provided a feast of productions of works outside the main repertoire

‘Arabic’ numerals came to Europe from India — but ancient Sumerians invented them

Events in the quantum world do not form an orderly queue but crowd around in a chaotic fashion

The Monty Hall problem requires clear, unbiased thinking as new information comes in