Talking Maths in Public

Talking Maths in Public is the UK's network for maths communicators: anyone who communicates maths, in any format, to any audience. We run a biennial conference and other events, as well as a chat group, podcast, animation challenge and grant scheme! More info at talkingmathsinpublic.uk

This thread of posts by 2025 MEGA Grant winner Christian Lawson-Perfect outlines the progress he's been making on the logistical challenge of creating giant tile stampers for the #BeachSpectres!

Let’s go to the beach and make an aperiodic tiling! Somehow, I’ve been awarded the MEGA grant, from Matt Parker and Talking Maths in Public, for a ridiculous public maths project. I’d better get on that, then! My plan is to go to the bea…

At the TMiP conference in August, we announced the winner of this year's MEGA Grant - Christian Lawson-Perfect will be creating beautiful aperiodic tilings in the sand, as part of the #BeachSpectres project. Christian's write-up is here: aperiodical.com/2025... More info at http://tmip.uk/mega-...

Did you know TMiP has a podcast? All episodes of series 1 of the TMiP podcast are still available to listen to, and series 2 will start recording in 2026. Find out more and how you can get involved at https://tmip.uk/podcast

Talking Maths in Public is the UK's network for people who communicate maths to the public in any format - writing, speaking, video making, podcasting and performing, and a bunch of other ways too. Find out more and join our network at https://tmip.uk

Did you know we have a podcast? All six episodes of the TMiP Podcast, featuring case studies, interviews and idea sharing from maths communicators in our network, are available to listen to at https://tmip.uk/podcast. The next series will be starting in 2026!

Talking Maths in Public is a network for maths communicators in the UK and elsewhere, for sharing ideas, making contacts and raising standards in maths comm. Find out more, join our mailing list and chat community at talkingmathsinpublic.uk

This month's #MathsAnimationTMiP deadline is 15th September - if you can make a video showing how to create an animation of a Hilbert curve being drawn, submit it for our playlist and share your approach! Info and submission link at tmip.uk/animation

Thanks to everybody who took part in my #MathsInMuseums activity at #TMiP25 this morning. Some people have sent me some of the ideas they had, and I'm hoping a few more will when they've recovered from the conference!

24 Hour Maths Fri 28th October 7pm BST to Sat 29th October 2022 7pm BST. Raising money for Beat Eating Disorders, the Rheumatoid Arthritis Foundation, the Disasters Emergency Committee, and the Malala Fund.

I'm home from #TMiP25. Was great to catch up with a lot of old faces and meet many new faces. I'm very very tired, but not the most tired I've ever been after working on an event with @steckl.es (see 24hourmaths.com)

Geometry, code & embroidery! Thank you @megjlow.bsky.social for a fantastic workshop at #tmip25!

#joyfulmaths #momentofmaths

This show was so much fun! Hard to believe it was only 2 years ago that I did a lightning talk at @tmip.bsky.social entitled 'Do you wanna be in a band with me?' Now I have a wonderful community of people who love making maths music (most not pictured here). More to come soon, online and in person.

I've not been on here as much as I'd have liked lately - it turns out that being part of the @tmip.bsky.social committee becomes very full on and intense in the run up to and during the biennial conference. But #tmip25 is now done and dusted, so allow me to share a couple of highlights...

Had a great time at #TMiP25 on Thursday and Friday: met some old friends for the first time, caught up with others and even spoke with a couple of people I didn't know previously. Oh, and there were talks and stuff too.

Beaded Archimedean Solids made of colourful beads on a grey background.

Beaded Archimedean Solids!!!

I had lots of fun over the past two weeks making these for the pigeonholes at the TMiP conference.

[Each n-regular graph has an n-colouring and there's a pair of colours on each one which form a Hamiltonian cycle.]

#TMiP25 #MathsArt #MathArt #Polyhedra

My Brian is fired from another great Talking Maths in Public conference!

While I'm waiting for my train I'll see if I can post some coherent (if disordered) thoughts about the last couple of days spent at #TMiP25.

In no particular order...

I had a lovely time at @tmip.bsky.social this week! It was great to be part of this panel and reflect on my science communication career.

On Monday it will be officially one year since I went full time freelance 🥳

Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences The Isaac Newton Institute is a national and international visitor research institute. It runs research programmes on selected themes in mathematics and the mathematical sciences with applications over a wide range of science and technology.

Huge thanks again to our lovely sponsors for making it possible - thanks @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social for hosting, and @icms-edinburgh.bsky.social, @ima-maths.bsky.social, INI newton.ac.uk, MapleSoft.com and heilbronn.ac.uk for financial support with our event. #TMiP25

Today at #TMiP25, I'm at @TeaKayB's session on maths in museums. (You should hire him.)

Kenilworth Books is a lovely shop. The team ran a very popular book stall at the Talking Maths in Public conference over the last couple of days, and were so nice. It was a real pleasure to work with them. #tmip25

Today's our final day of #TMiP25, with a morning of fun maths activities around the city, followed by a lunch buffet at Coventry Transport Museum. We hope everyone has enjoyed the conference, and thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Up early this morning to walk πkm as the first in a list of amazing Saturday Morning Activities at #Tmip25

Two ruled surfaces (in this case, a hyperbolic paraboloid, like a Pringle crisp). Each is made of a collection of cross-sections in two colours, criss-crossing each other at right-angles. At first glance they're different; one has cross-sections aligned with the curvature and for the other they're at 45 degrees. But the surface is the same!

Yesterday I saw a question here about mixed partial derivatives and it got me thinking about how a surface might or might not have d^2 f / dx dy = 0 if we rotate it. Today I saw these two ruled surfaces at #TMiP25 made by Laura Bradby. No such thing as coincidence in maths!

Hope everyone else is having a great time at #tmip25. One thing I love is how much of the discussion on the hashtag is about the mathematical music last night, and the mathematical art on display - proof if it were needed that creativity and mathematics go hand in hand

Excited to be part of the maths art exhibition at Talking Maths in Public at the University of Warwick!! 🧶 🧮 #MathSky #embroidery #handembroidery #TMiP2025 #TMiP25

TIL, via Ayliean at #TMiP25, that the octahedron is the only platonic solid you can make from a single modelling balloon.

Enjoying @kityates 's workshop at #TMiP25 , especially the idea that the restriction on writing a book on maths and football is that not everyone likes football.

Embroidered with white thread on black felt, a sort of 9-pointed, curved-edge star design with smaller almost-squares sprouting at regular intervals from the edges (on the inside of the shape).

I bet a lot of people think they have a clear idea of what goes on at a #maths conference.

Anyway, today at #TMiP25 I attended an embroidery workshop.

#MathsToday

A collage of colourful squares with each square containing a stitched pattern. Each pattern is unique, there are some fractal patterns and circular patterns.

Really impressed by the brilliant designs created by #TMIP25 participants at our Geometry, Code and #Embroidery workshop today with @philjemmett.bsky.social

I'm running a free online introductory workshop 17th Sept 4–5pm.

Registration & resources: www.warwick.ac.uk/turtlestitch
#maths #computing

One of the most interesting things for me today at #TMiP25 was comparing Chris Head's comedy structure (Setup / Hook / Escalation / Payoff) with @kityates's article structure (Headline / Hook / Context / Argument / Conclusion) .