When I decide to start this blog, I was faced with the task of deciding on a name for it. I wanted something enigmatic and intriguing. I didn’t want the word ‘Mathematics’ to be in the title. At the same time, I didn’t want the title so distanced from Mathematics that it would seem unrelated to what I hope to accomplish with the blog.

I asked some people whom I trust to suggest names and a few of them responded. A good friend and former student suggested ‘So Obtuse’. That got me thinking. ‘Obtuse’ goes with ‘acute’. Could I find a way to include both? And what would it mean?

Of course, there are the geometry related meanings that most people who read Mathematics blogs will have readily recognized. An acute angle is one whose measure is between 0° and 90°. And an obtuse angle has a measure between 90° and 180°. So far so good. But that would have been too plain for my purposes. I wanted something deeper.

So I checked the meanings of both words. Among the various meanings listed, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that ‘acute‘ meant ‘marked by keen discernment or intellectual perception especially of subtle distinctions’ (meaning 4a). That was promising. What about ‘obtuse’? Well, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that ‘obtuse‘ could mean ‘difficult to comprehend’ (meaning 2b). I was getting closer to what I wanted to do with this blog.

So in the end I have chosen to go with ‘Acutely Obtuse’, with the proposal that I will be attempting to provide insightful, discerning and perceptive commentary on mathematical ideas that may be difficult to comprehend but that will, hopefully, become more lucid through my commentary.