A recent study commissioned by Nationwide Building Society has revealed that more than one in four girls want to drop maths at 14, that less than half of 12-13 year old students surveyed could correctly calculate their change from £100 when paying for shopping worth £64.23, and that 76% of those who would choose to drop maths at GCSE said they either “couldn’t do maths” (31%) or “found it boring” (45%). They also tested respondents on their ability to identify the best value in a multi-buy situation, thus firmly conflating ‘the ability to do maths’ with ‘the ability to do arithmetic’.
You're reading: Posts By Katie Steckles
Manchester MathsJam Writeup, February 2014
We started the evening with a logic puzzle Paul had found on Stack Exchange, which is detailed in the diagram we drew:
Carnival of Mathematics 107
The next issue of the Carnival of Mathematics, rounding up blog posts from the month of January, and compiled by Frederick Koh, is now online at White Group Mathematics.
The Carnival rounds up maths blog posts from all over the internet, including some from our own Aperiodical. See our Carnival of Mathematics page for more information.
Puzzlebomb – February 2014
Puzzlebomb – Issue 26 – February 2014
The solutions to Issue 26 can be found here:
Puzzlebomb – Issue 26 – February 2014 – Solutions
Previous issues of Puzzlebomb, and their solutions, can be found here.
An infinite series of blog posts which sums to -1/12
Many of you who are aware of the internet will have noticed that some mild controversy has surrounded a recent Numberphile video, posted last week:
[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-I6XTVZXww]
Festival of the Spoken Nerd in geographical relocation shocker
Anticapitalists, please note: This post is categorised “not-directly-paid-for friendertisement”. We’re plugging a thing our friends do because we think it’s good, but alas, they make money off it. Please read with caution.
Fans of mathematics and science in general will be pleased to hear that they no longer have to travel long distances to see comedy show Festival of the Spoken Nerd – as it’s on tour! The show features Stand-up Mathematician and friend of the Aperiodical Matt Parker, as well as some-time mathematician Steve Mould, and singer of science and maths songs Helen Arney. The comedy trio are visiting over 30 locations around the UK and performing their new show, Full Frontal Nerdity, which I’m assured ‘contains strong language and spreadsheets’, and is guaranteed to ‘feed your brain, tickle your ribs and light your Bunsen burner’. It’s a longer version of the show they performed at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, and would make a great group night out for a maths department or other gathering of scientifically-minded humans (just saying).
Full details of the show, and a list of dates, can be found at the Festival of the Spoken Nerd website.
Spot the Ball (he’s the one talking about maths)
TV maths advocate and certified old person Johnny Ball is hoping to stage what will be a record-breaking World’s Largest Maths Lesson, by filling a stadium with kids and talking to them all about maths at the same time. The event will take place on March 19th, during National Science and Engineering week, and will be aimed at 9-13 year olds.
The current world record is 2,981, set in Nigeria in July 2013, and they’re hoping to smash that using Leeds United’s Elland Road stadium (capacity: 39,460) – Johnny Ball himself has stated he’d be happy with “5, 6, 7 or 8,000 kids” (7 kids probably isn’t enough – better shoot for 8,000). The event is being sponsored by Yorkshire-based boiler maintenance company (?!) Help-Link, and is supported by Leeds City Council.
If you’re a maths teacher in Yorkshire, or know anyone who is, tickets are free and you can apply by emailing the organisers. Details are below.
Further reading:
TV legend hosts bid to stage the world’s biggest maths lesson at stadium, at the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Help-Link to break a Guinness World record in 2014, on the Help-Link website.
Help-Link UK’s Giant Maths Lesson with Johnny Ball, on YouTube.
Event flyer (PDF)
National Science and Engineering week.
via Alex Bellos on Twitter