At the Maths Inspiration event held in Greenwich on
March 9th, 2006, Rob Eastaway introduced a completely
new idea:
The audience was invited
to submit topics, and a few of these were chosen at
random. The speakers were then challenged to speak for
two minutes or more on the mathematics of that topic.
Topics at the Greenwich event included the mathematics of ...
- Afros
- G-Strings
- Michael Jackson's face
- Speedos
- Va Va Voom
- Finding the perfect partner
- Rubber ducks
- Annoying guys who don't send kisses in text messages
- (I got landed with talking about that one)
- Free running
- Hula Hoops
- Bogeys
... and more. Were you there? Can you remember some
of the others? Let us know if you can!
I'm not going to give any of the answers here - I may
get asked them again!
Maths Improvisation proved to be a great success, and
is likely to be included in future events, despite being
very hard on the speakers' nerves.
Some time later this was tried again, this time with Year 10s.
Included below is the list of topics received.
This list is not typical of entries we've had in previous
Maths Inspiration events. Teachers had been invited to speak
with the students about possible topics, and the different
age group may have made a difference.
There is also the question of how much of this they really
want to know, and how much is designed just to make the
speakers look stupid.
On the other hand - does it matter?
- Maths of jam doughnuts
- The maths of time travel (2)
- War (2)
- Tips for solving sudoku (2)
- The meaning of life (3)
- "Life" (2)
- Russia
- What's the maths behind the recorder or the clarinet
- Ambigrams or cheese [interesting choice!!]
- Boys
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- Why do spinning objects move faster through the air than non-spinning objects?
- Why do bad things happen to good people?
- Chess
- Guitar
- Which idiot created maths?
- How highly tuned are a cat's senses?
- Why are triangles so strong, and is there a stronger shape?
- Why do people like hiphop better than punk rock?
- Earth
- Food
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- Strategies for the game of 20 with more than two players.
- Maths of tennis.
- Isaac newton's hairstyle
- Abnormal hair growth
- Kamasutra
- Mr Blobby
- How to curl a football when taking a free kick
- "Stuff"
- Free running
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There were others that were too rude to put here.
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Rachel Wright:
- Maths, Design, Juggling, Computing,
- Embroidery, Proof-reading,
- and other clever stuff.
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