The Aperiodical 

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OEIS Foundation Appeal

By Katie Steckles. Posted November 19, 2013

If you’ve worked with or used any sequences of integers lately (and let’s face it, you have) you might have looked them up in the OEIS. I’ve used it twice today, and it’s still before 9.30am. As you may have gathered from our extensive banging on about it, we’re huge fans of the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.

If you have visited their site recently, you might have noticed an extra paragraph of red text near the top – yes, they’re doing a Wikipedia, and asking for their users (which is realistically everyone) to donate so they can keep going. It’s a hugely worthy cause, and here at the Aperiodical, we think it’s worth supporting. The OEIS is owned and maintained by The OEIS Foundation Inc., a nonprofit company.

Head over to the OEIS for lists of integers with various properties, and to find out more.

Ri grants for UK schools mathematics enrichment activity

By Peter Rowlett. Posted September 3, 2012

The Royal Institution of Great Britain are offering 72 grants of up to £500 for schools for mathematics enrichment activity. These are available to UK teachers of mathematics to primary or secondary aged pupils to support activities from the STEM Directories, a list of enrichment schemes, in the 2012-2013 academic year.

‘Enrichment’ is activity that is relevant to the subject being taught but that doesn’t directly address the curriculum – for example, through more depth, a broader coverage or additional subject areas. Grants will be allocated in two stages. Applications to round 1 close on Wednesday 26 September 2012 and round 2 on Friday 30 November 2012. The grants are funded by The Clothworkers’ Foundation.

More information: The Royal Institution of Great Britain Grants (NCETM).

EPSRC very quietly relents on maths funding

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted June 1, 2012

The EPSRC has silently updated its table of “areas in which fellowships are available” to include “intradisciplinary research” in mathematical sciences at all career stages. According to a post by Timothy Gowers on Google+, this “means in practice pretty much all of maths.”



Maths Busking enters university outreach & public engagement competition

By Peter Rowlett. Posted April 7, 2012

Maths Busking has been entered for ‘Engage U’, a “European Competition for Best Innovations in University Outreach and Public Engagement”. A detailed entry makes the case for Maths Busking, including the following description:

Maths Busking aims to show the public the surprising and fascinating side of mathematics through the medium of street performance.

The EngageU competition seeks:

to identify the most innovative outreach and public engagement activities that have been carried out by European Universities. We define outreach and public engagement in the broadest sense to incorporate all forms of interaction with individuals and organisations outside the university… The three winning entries will each receive a 5000 EUR prize for their institution… The three winners will be announced on 23 April 2012.

As well as being a competition, “all entries will be made public on the website, forming part of an online repository of good practice in outreach”.

You are encouraged to vote for entries and no registration is needed to do so.

A full list of entries, rules and further information is available via the EngageU website.

New NCETM contract awarded

By Peter Rowlett. Posted March 24, 2012

You may remember that funding for the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), the mathematics school teacher professional development programme, came to an end in March 2011 and the NCETM entered a “transitional contract” while a new tender took place.

Now the NCETM website has announced that a new consortium has been awarded the contract for the mathematics continuing professional development (CPD) support programme for 2012-2015. The consortium consists of Tribal Education (the previous NCETM contract holder), Myscience (who operate Science Learning Centres), Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), and the Institute of Education, University of London.

The NCETM announcement outlines the previous work of the members of the consortium and carries quotes from a representative of each member.

Source: Improving mathematics education in all schools: the NCETM to coordinate the CPD support programme for mathematics 2012-2015.