The work I am doing as University Liaison Officer received funding from a bequest of £20,000 from Clement W. Jones. This is gratefully noted, along with a short biography of Professor Jones in a piece in the latest issue of Mathematics Today and on the IMA website.
You're reading: Travels in a Mathematical World
A Millennium of Mathematical Puzzles
On Wednesday night I attended a talk by Robin Wilson at Gresham College on mathematical puzzles. Gresham have videoed the talk and made it available online: “A Millennium of Mathematical Puzzles”, as well as a large number of other talks of mathematical and other interest available from the same site.
Plus don’t forget you can attend the events live too.
Greenwich and Gresham
On Wednesday I visited the School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS) at the University of Greenwich at the invitation of Noel-Ann Bradshaw, who amongst many other roles is involved with the Mathsoc at Greenwich and with the British Society for the History of Mathematics. I also spent time with Tony Mann, Head of Department and others. I had an interesting and useful day at Greenwich, which has a pleasant campus (pictured).
Noel-Ann and Tony are trying to engage students through maths history and run a Facebook group “Who invented mathematics?”
In the evening I attended a talk by Robin Wilson, Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College on mathematical puzzles, which was interesting and entertaining. Gresham put on free public lectures on mathematics and other topics, which is a fabulous idea and more information can be found on the Gresham College website.
IMA Lancs & NW event
In the evening on Tuesday I attended a talk by Liz Henning of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to the Lancashire and North West Branch of the IMA at Manchester Metropolitan University. This was an interesting talk on school teaching of mathematics and provoked a fairly lively discussion. More events from the IMA Lancs and NW Branch are available through the branch website.
During the talk I noted down the following quote Liz gave from the Non Statutory Guidance 1989:
“Mathematics provides a way of viewing and making sense of the world…and to tackle a range of practical tasks and real life problems.”
Shiny new building in Manchester
On Tuesday I visited the School of Mathematics at the University of Manchester in the new Alan Turing Building (pictured) at the invitation of the Mathsoc there. I had a useful day and met some interesting students and staff.
While there I ate lunch at the cafe in the Alan Turing building, which is called “Pi in the Sky”. It seems to me if you’re going to have a cafe in a maths building, you might as well use a Pi pun.
A note on the title
Travels: my travels, I am the traveller (literally).
Mathematical World is overtly to suggest I will be travelling around meeting mathematicians and inhabiting the world of that community. Beyond this, since I am actually travelling around the UK and hope to see how applied mathematics relates to everyday life it is also to indicate that actually the mathematical world is no different from the rest of the world; that in fact mathematics is in everything around us.
It is a mathematical world to highlight that I can only write about the world as I experience it, and others might see difference views.
So I have a blog
A traditional first post. I am going to be travelling around a lot as part of my new job as University Liaison Officer for the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). I am keeping this blog, for better or worse, to keep track of where I go and highlight any interesting tidbits I pick up along the way.