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IMA seeks mathematical images for anniversary book

You may have heard rumours that the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications is producing a book, published by Oxford University Press, in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary next year. The book will contain accessible and thought-provoking articles on a wide variety of topics through the spectrum of mathematics and its applications.

They’ve now announced that they’re additionally in search of images to illustrate the book, and are seeking submissions. Here’s an extract from their request for submissions.

Illustrations, photographs, computer simulations or even clever doodles — anything that’s colourful and inspirational. […] The idea is that these images should be able to stand alone, like pictures in an art gallery, with minimal explanation. They should ideally be approximately square or portrait style and sufficiently striking to be readable when reproduced at a size of approximately 10cm^2. You need to hold the copyright for the image. […] We also plan to reuse the best images (fully credited to you) in publicity for the IMA, especially its 50th Anniversary.

We’re assuming that here “10cm^2” means 10cm by 10cm, and not having an area of 10cm2, meaning $\sqrt{10}$cm by $\sqrt{10}$cm. Submissions are to be emailed, in a low resolution format initially, to ima50@maths.cam.ac.uk by or before 12th May 2013, along with any appropriate explanation or attribution text, using the word IMAGE in the header.

The IMA is also holding a competition, open to all IMA members, for articles to go in the book. Details of their anniversary celebrations, and the competition, can be found on the IMA website.

More information

We want your maths images! at Plus Magazine

IMA 50th Anniversary

Competition to visualise open government data

Who loves data? If we’re talking about the android from Star Trek: TNG, then I do, and if we’re talking about the thing that’s not the plural of anecdotes, then I’m pretty sure the answer is everyone.

If you love data, then you’ll definitely love visualising data, and Google have teamed up with the Open Knowledge Foundation to launch a data-visualising competition. Nobody has more data than… well, Google, but second in that race is Governments, and the world’s governments are releasing a massive shedload of open data for people to play with.

International Year of Statistics Video Contest

In case you’d already forgotten, 2013 is the International Year of Statistics (I had; turns out Katie told us about it just after the New Year). One of the many activities going on is a video contest sponsored by the publishers Wiley.

Take it away, Wiley!

We invite videos of four minutes in length or less that illustrate

  • how statistics impacts individual lives, improves society, or in general makes the world more a better place
  • how statistical thinking can be brought to bear on important issues of our day
  • interesting careers in statistics (tell the world why your job in statistics is a great job, or why it is interesting and fun to be a statistician)

Prizes of $250 to $1000 will be awarded for the best videos, with special prizes for “the best videos by a person or persons 18 years of age or less and the best non-English language videos”.

Submissions must be received by February the 28th, so get rolling.

More information

Statistics 2013

Video contest details

Registration for the Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2013 is open

Following on from the huge success that was their inaugural competition earlier this year, mathematicians from the University of Manchester have put together another Cryptography Competition in honour of father of modern everything, Alan Turing.

This time, the competition is open to teams of school children from all over the UK, and comprises a six-chapter story featuring Alice and Bob Mike and Ellie, who get “caught up in a cryptographic adventure”. Solving all the puzzles and cracking the codes faster than other people gets you on the leader board, and there are prizes for being near the top as well as extra prizes for randomly-selected teams who’ve solved everything. (You know that since it’s a maths department, their randomisation algorithms will be top-notch). It’s also possible to enter as a non-schoolchild, and check your answers on the site, although you won’t be eligible for prizes. The competition is aimed at UK school years 7-11 (age 11-16), although I can confirm it’s dead good fun for anyone interested in cryptography puzzles themed around exciting storylines.

More information

Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2013

Manchester University press release

Via Nick Higham on Twitter.

International Maths Olympiad results

We’re a bit late on this one but it’s still of interest: the 53rd International Mathematical Olympiad took place in Mar Del Plata, Argentina a couple of weeks ago. The event was hosted by the University of Buenos Aires together with the Argentine National Ministries of Education and of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation.

No fuss was made on the IMO’s official site after the event apart from the addition of a column to the results table. The top three countries were South Korea, China and the USA, with the UK coming 23rd, still ahead of Germany and France, in 31st and 39th places, respectively.