Last week at Meet the Mathematicians I saw a talk by Jon Keating , “Some thoughts on the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” (an essay by Wigner). One element that I have taken away from this was when Jon was talking about the unexpected connections between mathematical concepts, illustrated using the normal distribution (an example from the original essay). The bell shaped curve depends on the mean and the variance, which is perfectly reasonable. The curve depends as well on pi. So Jon posed the question: If you take a large group of people, measure their heights (or other body parts, or lots of other types of data) and arrange them on a histogram, what has that to do with the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle?
You're reading: Columns
- Geometry and pigmentation of seashells by Professor Stephen Coombes, University of Nottingham.
- What do Hollywood, Sex and the WWW have to do with Maths? by Dr Keith Hopcraft, University of Nottingham.
- Designing Rides and Rollercoasters by Dr John Roberts of Jacobs.
- Slime Science – the Maths of Gloop by Dr Helen Wilson, University College London.
- Unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics by Professor Jon Keating, University of Bristol, a review of the essay by Wigner.
- On cochain approximations and mimetic finite differences by Professor Franco Brezzi, University of Pavia, Italy.
- On the fluid mechanics of fungal spore ejection by Professor Michael Brenner, Harvard University, USA.
- On residual stress by Professor Alain Goriely, University of Arizona, USA.
- On the flow properties of worm-like micelles by Professor Pamela Cook, University of Delaware, USA.
- On localized planar patterns by Professor Björn Sandstede, Brown University, USA.
- Quantum Chaos & Disordered Systems
- Scientific Computation
- Cells and Networks
- Stochastic Systems and Uncertainty
- Approaches to Nanofluidics
- Nonlinear Optics and Optical Coherent Structures.
- Delay and Difference Equations
- Regenerative Medicine
- Mathematics Education
- Solid Mechanics
Podcast: Episode 27 – Oliver Jensen, British Applied Mathematics Colloquium 2009
These are the show notes for episode 27 of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. 27 is the first composite number not divisible by any of its digits. More about 27 from Number Gossip.
In April was the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (BAMC) 2009, the premier annual national meeting of applied mathematics in the UK, at the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham. Immediately following this, I sat down with Professor Oliver Jensen, Co-Chair of the BAMC for a retrospective on the conference and what work is current in applied mathematics.
Oliver spoke about the Meet the Mathematicians outreach day connected to the conference and the following talks. All the talks at Meet the Mathematicians were videoed and will appear in time on the website at http://www.meetmaths.org/.
Oliver also spoke briefly about each of the plenary lectures at the BAMC. Click on the speakers name to find out more about their work.
Oliver also mentioned the mini-symposia:
If you can, please help to promote the podcast. You can help promote the podcast by pointing people to http://www.travelsinamathematicalworld.co.uk/. There is a poster/flyer to advertise the podcast: poster in A4 format; poster in A5 format.
You can find out more about my work with the IMA by following me on Twitter, reading this blog and visiting http://www.ima.org.uk/student/. Join the Facebook page.
Meet the Mathematicians video
A couple of weeks ago I attended Meet the Mathematicians, a schools outreach day at the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Nottingham connected to the BAMC conference.
A short video has just been released which was taken during the Meet the Mathematicians day which is worth a watch.
British Applied Mathematics Colloquium 2009
I attended the 2009 British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (BAMC) at the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham last week.
On day 1, I attended as a delegate from Nottingham interested in the Mathematics Education mini-symposium. On days 2 and 3, I attended as an exhibitor from the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and assisted with running the IMA stall. Needless to say, some people know me as an IMA chap and others as an e-learning chap. This made for a very confusing week. I don’t mind working for two employers but when one moves in with the other it all gets a little messy!
Overall I had a very good time at the conference. I took an approach of forced complete lack of self-consciousness, wandering up to people with: “Hello, I’m Peter, I work for the IMA” to see where it led me. I serendipitously did this with several people with whom I have been speaking by email or on Facebook or Twitter. In fact, at one particular wine reception I had a run of people who have invited me to give talks or to other events but who I had not met. I spoke to a lot of PhD students and postdocs and hopefully raised some awareness of the IMA. I spoke to a few younger members and encouraged them to get involved and make the most of their membership. I spoke to a lot of more established members who used the materials on the stall on upcoming conferences, etc. to become more informed about the activities of the Institute. I even gave away a couple of IMA application forms. And, of course, I answered a lot of questions about the ‘merger’ (in case you’re wondering the answers are always either: 1. there is a vote taking place currently; 2. no, no one knows the outcome yet).
Podcast Episode 26: Chris Budd, Confessions of an Industrial Mathematican
These are the show notes for episode 26 of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. 26 is the only integer to be sandwiched between a square and a cube. More about 26 from MAA NumberADay.
A while ago I attended the launch event of a new IMA Branch, the West of England Branch. At this spoke Professor Chris Budd of the University of Bath and also Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, who gave his view on the shape of applied mathematics in the 21st Century and this podcast episode was recorded just prior to his talk. There is a wealth of information on Chris’ work in industrial mathematics and in popularising the subject on his website. The talk Chris gave to the West of England Branch was based on an article he wrote for the IMA publication Mathematics Today, which is available through his website: “Confessions of an Industrial Mathematician“.
You can find out more about my work with the IMA by following me on Twitter, reading this blog and visiting www.ima.org.uk/student. Join the Facebook page.
Mathematics Today April: University Liaison Officer’s Report
Graduate Recruitment Scheme
In the previous issue of Mathematics Today I reported some results on the uptake of IMA Prizes. This time I turn my attention to the more general graduate recruitment picture. Each year the IMA sends out Graduate Recruitment packs, essentially a letter of introduction to the IMA and an application form at AMIMA grade. Contact is made with universities as soon as possible after Christmas to discover how many graduates the university expects to have in the current year. The appropriate number of packs are then sent to universities to be distributed. What happens next is of some interest to me.
Last year I conducted a survey of IMA Representatives to attempt to discover the process of the Graduate Recruitment Exercise once it extends beyond Catherine Richards House and how we might improve its effectiveness. I would like to express here my gratitude to the 27 respondents (a 36% response rate). One issue that had been raised verbally with me and with the Membership Department is the timing of arrival of the Graduate Recruitment packs. In the past these have often arrived over the Easter break. At some universities, after Easter the students only have revision and exams and are rarely in contact with staff to receive the packs. In my survey 20 people answered the question “Please rate the timing of the arrival of the graduate recruitment packs”. Only five of these regarded the packs as arriving “too late” and 15 reported the timing was “just right”. Nevertheless, the Membership Department are working to ensure the packs are sent out prior to Easter.
Another, more problematic issue may be that of how to get the packs to the students. When I graduated from the
In my survey I asked “How do you distribute the packs to students?” and there were 25 responses to this question. Five respondents send the packs to students through the post; four of these to the home address, which seems in many ways to be the best possible outcome for the IMA. Two respondents include the packs in existing graduate or leaver packs that are issued to students. Where such packs exist, this would seem to be an efficient yet effective solution. A further five respondents send the packs to students via departmental pigeon holes. I do not know how effective this will be; my own memory is not of checking my undergraduate maths pigeonhole frequently. Nine universities hand packs to students in lectures. This approach has been described to me as problematic since it is not usual for all final year students to be present in a single class. With overlap between module choices a lot of departments find they are not sure which students have been given a pack. The final four respondents leave the packs in a common room or other area for the students to collect. With this option I am concerned that the packs may not be collected by students. However this is a method that takes the least department time and since we are relying on volunteer activity we are thankful for any attempt that can be made.
A strong comment that comes through from the survey responses and conversations with academic staff on this issue is that the most efficient and effective solution to this would be to have an email introduction to an online form. Sending an email around the students does not have such an administrative or cost burden (at either end) as does the distribution of physical packs and an online form is widely believed to be essential for modern students to participate. Also, such an electronic approach could be promoted through multiple channels whereas the printing of multiple forms for each student is not efficient. At present this option is not available to us and this is a shame. The IMA membership form is available via the IMA student webpage at www.ima.org.uk/student so students could be encouraged to join this way, although the form must still be printed and sent in by post.
Why am I so interested in what happens to the graduate recruitment packs? The final issue with the packs is that students/graduates tend to think “Who are these people?” and throw the pack in the recycling. I know I did. Looking at numbers, the IMA has sent out somewhere between 4,000-5,500 packs a year over the last 12 years (declining as student numbers have declined over this period). A decade ago in 1999 the number of packs resulting in applications was 4.1% of packs sent. I am not sure whether to regard 4.1% as an acceptable return for this kind of activity. Remember the graduate packs are not direct marketing for a company or product. Quite apart from any academic or social interest, this is about joining the only UK professional body for qualified and practicing mathematicians. I think this should be a natural sale for most graduates, even those whose academic interest lies with other learned societies.
Returning to the present, the 2008 data shows that 1.9% of packs were returned as applications for membership. Actually, the data over the period (table 1) shows this is not a fluke result but the figure has been this low since the early 2000s. Presumably there will be a year on year fluctuation but this seems to show a trend, with percentage of packs resulting in applications declining to around 50% of their value a decade ago. It is hard to say what may have caused this; the world is a different place than it was ten years ago and there are several obvious issues including the personal finances of new graduates. We can hope some will join later on in their careers.
|
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
|
|
Applications as % of number of packs sent |
3.4% |
3.9% |
4.1% |
3.0% |
|
|
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
|
|
3.9% |
2.9% |
1.7% |
1.9% |
|
|
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
|
1.5% |
1.9% |
1.8% |
1.9% |
Table 1 – Number of applications as percentage of graduate recruitment packs sent
I see it as my main activity in practice to increase the chances that students will have heard of the IMA and perhaps even know a little of its work and the benefits of membership when they receive the graduate recruitment pack so that pack is more effective. I am interested in what happens to the graduate recruitment packs because the whole premise of my work for the IMA is founded on the principle that we have an excellent system for offering new graduates the opportunity to join the Institute. Together we give them the opportunity; I must give them a motive! I hope you will share my concern over the return of graduate recruitment packs. If we continue to attract only around 1.9% of graduates per year (80 people in 2008) to join the ranks of our 5,000-strong membership, we can expect some troubling times ahead for the Institute. I hope you will join me in trying to ensure your students have heard of the IMA before they receive the packs and making sure that as many packs as possible actually reach the hands of your students this year.
Activities Jan-Feb 2009
January and February 2009 have been a very active period. I have had time over the winter to make contact with universities and student groups for the new academic year and the period at the start of the calendar year is key to engaging with them before the Easter holiday, exams and the long summer break. In consultation with my steering group I have decided to attend less IMA meetings such as Executive Board and use the time to engage more actively with students.
Part of my role is to give Clement W. Jones Lectures on careers and popular maths topics. I have given a careers talk at the following universities in January and February:
My travels in this period included a most enjoyable week in Scotland. While there I gave a talk to the Scottish Branch of the IMA which covered the background to the University Liaison initiative, the majority of the content from my careers talk and some of the methods I am using to engage with as many students as possible from a part time role. Although I didn’t have a lot of free time I did manage to take the opportunity to seek out the new statue of James Clerk Maxwell in
I operated an IMA stall at a Maths & Stats careers event at the
I visited my counterpart at the Institute of Physics (IOP), Mischa Stocklin, and we compared notes on engagement with students and younger members. This was a learning experience for both of us and I would like particularly to report Mischa’s appreciation of the work the IMA has done in encouraging our Younger Members Group and its activities.
As you read this, I will be entering a period of lowered activity as many students settle down to revision on their return from the Easter break. If you feel that your students would benefit from an IMA talk, either on careers or a popular maths topic, during the remainder of the academic year please get in touch. Not many universities have availability now before October so I will be looking to book engagements. I will also be interested in filling my calendar for the next academic year. You can email me at
You can find out more about my work on the University Liaison initiative by visiting the IMA Student page or reading my blog, both via: www.ima.org.uk/student. If you are even more interested in what I do you can also now follow me on Twitter and my Twitter updates are used to update my Facebook status so either follow me at twitter.com/peterrowlett or add me as a friend on Facebook.
Meet the Mathematicians
As part of the BAMC, the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Nottingham held a schools outreach day called “Meet the Mathematicians“. This was a day of talks and a lunchtime session including interesting stalls, examples of mathematics research, a showcase of mathematical puzzles, a maths trail and a prize quiz.
As e-learning chap in the School, it was my job to operate the online prize quiz. The questions were written by Joel Feinstein and encoded to Questionmark Perception from a previous open day quiz. The questions were both mathematical and mathematics general knowledge (history and so forth). The computer suite was set up in the morning. All I had to do was be on hand to make sure nothing went wrong. We had a minor panic when no one had attempted the quiz half way through lunch, followed by increased signage and then a secondary panic when there was a queue and more computers had to be logged on. Apart from that it ran very smoothly. My role then was to write down the names of the top two scorers and slip them to Joel in an envelope (awards ceremony-style) during the panel discussion.
I think the day was good for the students who attended and for the School. It is always pleasing to see outreach events but a shame there aren’t more of them.
Meet the Mathematicians next year will be at Heriot-Watt University in connection with BAMC 2010 at the Maxwell Institute (Edinburgh/Heriot Watt).