James Munro

New academic year, new Step Support Programme website!

Over the summer we have updated our website, had a bit of a tidy up, and added some new content.

One of the new features is a "Check in test' for students who have completed the foundation modules complete with marksheme.

maths.org/step/

Laura has very helpfully put instructions on her website, I can't wait to make them when I get home! warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/math... and scroll down to "a pair of hyperbolic paraboloids".

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!

Our much missed colleague Vicky Neale wanted to tell the world about maths. So who better for the second Vicky Neale Public Lecture than Simon Singh who has spent a career doing just that.

Wednesday 6 August, 5pm, Oxford. Online three weeks later. More info: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/72339

🚨🍩 Torus alert!! 🍩🚨

No, I've got no idea whether this is true or not, sorry.

The University of Oxford is aware of the complaints. Have you approached Ofqual? ^James

The Curse of the Diaeresis

You might be interested in the way the New Yorker handles this www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...

I'm imagining a number like 9.499999999997, with so many 9s in the middle that the calculator gives up and rounds this to 9.5, which begins 9.5. I've interpreted the question as being about the difference between the true answer and what the calculator says, which is probably not intended.

I don't know any procedures for this, but my answer depends on the number of digits the calculator has (my lower bound is slightly below 9.5 to allow for some tiny amount of rounding, and similarly at the other end). Am I supposed to imagine a calculator that doesn't round?

The MEGA Grant is a bursary scheme for maths communicators who want to put together large-scale, hands-on interactive maths events and this year's closing date is 22/7. If you have a cool idea and just need some support and £££ to make it happen, visit: tmip.uk/mega-grant

All that tech and all that prep and I still forgot to unmute myself at the start haha ^James

Two computer screens, and a mess of tech peripherals like a tablet and microphone and a mini stream deck. One screen says MAT Livestream 2025 in large letters.

In #MathsToday we've started the MAT Livestream again; free online support for people thinking of applying for Maths or CS at university (and especially Oxford). See www.maths.ox.ac.uk/r/matlive for more! ^James

Thanks Emily! ^James

I'm not a primary or secondary teacher, but I'm interested in this! Why do you think the question says "on average"? The intention seems to be for children to just ignore those two words? But that bit is interesting to me because in general E(1/X) isn't 1/E(X)! Of course, KS2 kids don't know that...

Love the choice to use (2,0) instead of (1,0) and similarly on the y-axis. What changes if it's not convex? (Maybe I'm wrong, but I get the same answer in terms of a and b)

Templeton is attempting the Table Cubes activity; there are nine dice, each with four numbers written on them, and they can be arranged to show 9 times table, or the 8 times table, and so on down to the 1 times table. Activity adapted from magicmathworks.org/oldsite/exhi...

A large red dragon mascot (wearing a T-shirt identifying him as the mascot for Templars Square shopping centre) attempts a maths activity with dice at the Oxford Maths Festival.

Maths for everyone at the Oxford Maths Festival, even dragons! #MathsToday

ta v cool

Exciting! Do you know how much of the £8.2m is going to support girls' mathematics education? In the video you say "part of this funding". Is it a large part?

Nice! Do you want feedback / bug reports on this web version?

Come and work with us! We've just advertised a new post in the Oxford Mathematics outreach team, on a project that I'm really excited about. We're looking for someone to work on Mathematics resources to educate, challenge, and inspire students in KS4 or equivalent. Info & apply at bit.ly/3Ykps7q

Update; the Further Reading notes are now live, including links to books by Simon Singh, Borges, and Georges Perec. Also including a description of my incredibly stupid one-symbol code. Finite strings are countable, y'know... www.maths.ox.ac.uk/outreach/oxf... #MathsToday

We got to talk to Ayliean about Morse Code for an hour! So much fun :)

Store of one delight : I like |z+1/z|=2, which I first saw on an Oxford Maths problem sheet courses.maths.ox.ac.uk/course/view....

Please don't! It's not good science, especially the "3 sigma" bit. See this thread bsky.app/profile/dist...

We’re pleased to announce that tickets are now on sale for our 2025 Talking Maths in Public conference #TMiP25! Join us for ~e days of networking, panels, keynotes and discussions about communicating maths in a variety of ways. Details and booking info at talkingmathsinpublic...

Yep, I agree with your analysis, and I'm just suggesting a wording change to give students a nudge to "keep looking" in search of that magical value of k.

Q6 part (c) is really good, I love showing people this sort of thing. I don't know how you've prepared them for what's going to happen, but perhaps the point is that it's a surprise! thread: 3/3

There's a slight inconsistency of wording between Qs - some say orbit of F(x), some say orbit of x_0, and Q6 just says "the" orbit, perhaps to suggest that it's independent of x_0 (is it?). Students can probably guess what you mean, but might think that checking x_0 = 0 for Q6 is sufficient. 2/3