This month saw a record high turnout, requiring as many as three tables being pushed together, a whole bag of maltesers and a tin of shortbread someone got for Christmas and hadn’t eaten yet. We also had one new attendee who had previously been a regular at Newcastle MathsJam, and has now moved to Manchester for a PhD. Not that it’s a competition or anything, but in your face Newcastle. In fact, the turnout was so large that I couldn’t even keep track of everything that was going on, and when I collected in all the scrap paper I found people had written down several things I wasn’t aware we talked about, including the method for cube rooting large numbers used by Maths Busking.
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Puzzlebomb – September 2012
Puzzlebomb is a monthly puzzle compendium. Issue 9 of Puzzlebomb, for September 2012, can be found here:
Puzzlebomb – Issue 9 – September 2012
The solutions to Issue 9 can be found here:
Puzzlebomb – Issue 9 – September 2012 – Solutions
Previous issues of Puzzlebomb, and their solutions, can be found here.
G4G Celebration of Mind 2012 Event Map is live
The event map for the Gathering for Gardner Celebration of Mind 2012 is now live, with nine events already listed in North and South America and Europe. More will surely be added in time.
These are parties “to celebrate the legacy of Martin Gardner on or around Sunday, October 21, 2012 through the enjoyment of Puzzles, Magic, Recreational Math, Lewis Carroll, Skepticism and Rationality”. The website explains:
Celebrations can be large or intimate depending on the event. They don’t have to be formal and range from a few friends getting together to discuss the above all the way up to series of lectures at Universities and Science Cafes.
In 2010 there were 66 on five continents and in 2011 there were 70 events on all seven (yes, seven) . This will be the third Celebration of Mind.
More information: You can find an event to attend in your area or sign up to host one.
Puzzlebomb – July 2012
Puzzlebomb is a monthly puzzle compendium. Issue 7 of Puzzlebomb, for July 2012, can be found here:
Puzzlebomb – Issue 7 – July 2012
The solutions to Issue 7 can be found here:
Puzzlebomb – Issue 7 – July 2012 – Solutions
Previous issues of Puzzlebomb, and their solutions, can be found here.
Spelling Bees Puzzle Blog
Hello. I’ve been talked into writing another blog post about my latest puzzle to appear in the Puzzlebomb. Spelling Bees appeared in the May and June issues. The solver is presented with a honeycomb grid containing letters and one bee (of the insect variety; the grid may contain several or no Bs). Their task is to find the two words (or phrases) that can be 
traced along a path through every cell (to use jargon that will be familiar to cruciverbalists and beekeepers alike) in the honeycomb grid. The bee acts as a wild card and will stand for a different letter in both words. The cells which are the first and last letters of each word are shaded to give an extra helping hand.
National Science & Engineering Competition at your local Big Bang Fair
With the national fair over, the regional Big Bang Fairs are taking place. These aim to “inspire and enthuse the next generation of engineers and scientists”. This year the Nottingham Maths Jam group will be at the East Midlands fair repeating our puzzles stall, previously seen at the East Midlands Big Bang Fair 2011.
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| Maths Jam stall at the East Midlands Big Bang Fair 2011 |
The fairs in my part of the world are the East Midlands (East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham, 28 June 2012) and West Midlands (Thinktank, Birmingham, 26 June 2012), both organised by David Ault and his team at By Design who ran the very successful 2011 East Midlands fair. You can find your nearest via the Big Bang website.
One major reason for attending the fairs is to enter a CREST or STEM project to the National Science & Engineering Competition (East Midlands competition page; West Midlands competition page). According to the website, this
seeks to showcase and reward the best student projects from every area of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It is open to all 11-18 year olds living in the UK.
Students entered projects by attending a Big Bang Near Me event. The best entries from these are invited to showcase their project at The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists’ and Engineers’ Fair, held every year.
There is over £50,000 of prizes available including cash awards and trips abroad. Prizes are available for teams and individuals, for different age groups (Junior: 11 to 14 years; Intermediate: 15 to 16; Senior: 17 to 18 years) and across a range of disciplines and themes. The overall individual winners in the senior age category will be crowned the UK Young Scientist of the Year or the UK Young Engineer of the Year.
Find out more at the competition website. So what are you waiting for? Register to attend your local Fair via the website.
Matt Parker’s Twitter Puzzle – 3rd June
Matt Parker (@standupmaths on Twitter) has tweeted the following Maths Puzzle, in light of the forthcoming transit of Venus:
If you’re bored: Venus orbits the Sun in 224.70069 days while the Earth takes 365.242199. Ish. Feel free to work out how often it overtakes.
— Matt Parker (@standupmaths) June 3, 2012
No spoilers in the comments! Send your replies to Matt on Twitter.