Maths Inspiration shows are put on at various venues across the country, drawing 14 – 17 year olds to participate in engaging presentations by various mathematicians.
Last month, I had the privilege of attending one of these shows in Winchester. St Swithun’s School hosted the event in their beautiful theatre, filling seats in the main auditorium, as well as the balcony.
We had presentations from Rob Eastaway, Sophie Maclean & Matt Parker. Rob Eastaway started off by giving us several puzzles to try, only to find that you had to think outside the box because your intuition was often wrong – well mine was anyway! Sophie Maclean showed us how colour could make maths more accessible, and Matt Parker talked to us about mathematical errors that famous companies had made and the problems, some life threatening, that ensued. It helped us put our own mistakes into perspective – it might not matter if we make an error in our exercise book at school and an error on our exam paper might lose us a few marks, but it certainly matters if you are fuelling a plane!
If you get the chance next year – it is well worth the visit.
By Hazel Santineer