Stairway Constants is my award winning* 2020 article series in mathNEWS, a student publication in the Math Faculty at the University of Waterloo covering the satirical, the serious, the sexy, and everything in between. What is Stairway Constants about? From the final article:
There is a stairwell in the main mathematics building on campus (MC), from the basement all the way to the 7th floor penthouse. Along that stairwell runs a number line painted on the walls, with silvery plaques marking various important mathematical constants. You can find celebrities like the golden ratio and π, interspersed between oddities like the prime constant and 2e.
The first 5 articles of the series covered the constants in increasing order, and were published in the Winter 2020 (pre-pandemic) volume of mathNEWS:
- Stairway Constants, part [0,1): v142i1 (a.k.a. the infamous "UWUSA" issue)
- Stairway Constants, part [1,2): v142i2
- Stairway Constants, part [2,3): v142i3
- Stairway Constants, part [3,4.5): v142i4
- Stairway Constants, part [4.5,7]: v142i5*
If you're lucky, you might be able to find copies of these in print.
The final article of the series covered the contributions of the faculty and staff members who made the stairwell decoration happen in the first place. It was published in the Fall 2020 volume, online.
- Stairway People: v144i3
It was a labour of love. Researching and writing Stairway Constants took more work than some of my courses, and it was completely voluntary. Unlike some of my older writings, I continue to be proud of it. This repository is a long-overdue web revision of the series. I hope it is worth the wait, for those who requested it.
* article of the issue, which comes with a not-to-be-scoffed-at $25 gift card prize