Fourth Year Mathematicians in Action

On Thursday 23 January, the Fourth Year top set maths (and some other volunteers) went on a trip to the Emmanuel Centre for the annual Maths in Action talk. It covered a wide range of topics, from Geometrical Illusions to the chances of getting hit by lightning. Alex Bellos, the famous maths author and Guardian columnist, showed us some puzzles that we mainly got wrong, and signed the books that some of our students had brought along with them. Emily Grossman, Natural Scientist and broadcaster, went through some fascinating examples of poor statistics in the press. We gained some very useful exam tips from an expert examiner who gave us a talk on how to avoid losing marks when laying out workings in GCSE exams. Highlights were “The (little) Big Maths Gameshow”, involving competitors identifying when important events in the history of maths had occurred. The winner was quite ecstatic about winning by 0.1%. Sunny absolutely ‘cooked’ in the “how-many-pi-digits-can-you-get-wrong competition”, in which she spammed 0 (knowing that it does not occur for a long time) until she was caught out by the thirtieth digit. She beat the other contestant by a country mile, and won a book by the speaker, Kyle Evans. Overall, it was a truly memorable journey.  The venue was very clean and nicely air conditioned, so we left them a Five Star Review on TripAdvisor. Thanks to Dr Langdon, Mr Whitehouse and Mr Ogilvie for accompanying us and for Mrs Parker for organising the trip.

Yihu L (Fourth Year)