Entertaining maths
A series of entertaining lectures and workshops took place as part of Wales Maths Week 2007.
Statistical sleuthing, maths and magic, and creative thinking were among the subjects on the agenda.
Mathematician and engineer Dr. Paul Shepherd was in Bangor talking about The Maths of Sports Stadiums. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium are two of the country’s most talked about structures. But it might surprise you to think that maths has been critical to both. Dr. Shepherd explained how mathematics helps with roof design, spectators’ views, and even making the grass grow better!
Dr. Paul Baxter, a lecturer in statistics from Leeds university, held workshops at Newi in Wrexham. Students were presented with a set of historic data and challenged to analyse the data and work out where it came from.
Dr. Colin Wright is a mathematician who can also fire breathe, unicycle and juggle. He displayed his juggling skills during his acclaimed juggling talk at Swansea. While juggling he analyses what is going on and describes how he invented a mathematical notation for juggling. Dr. Wright is now the director of a company specialising in software for marine radar…but he takes time out to give juggling talks all over the world.
Maths and magic was the subject of a lecture from Dr. Kevin Houston of Leeds university in Aberystwyth. He says it is possible to shuffle a deck of cards so that two halves of the deck become perfectly interlaced allowing many entertaining magic tricks. The mathematics behind this apparent trick can be used in many ways, such as the ability to calculate the day of the week when given a date, and it’s even behind secret codes and internet security.
Author and creative thinker Rob Eastaway, gave a talk about maths and psychology in Newport. He says the combination can be fascinating. While human intuition can sometimes lead people astray, maths can help individuals to think critically and behave in a rational way.
