MMP staff and volunteer Cambridge University maths students were joined by hundreds of visitors on Saturday 22 March 2016 for our Hands-On Maths Fair event, part of the 22nd Cambridge Science Festival. The annual Cambridge Science Festival takes place over two weeks in March each year, and is one of the largest public understanding of science festivals in the UK. In 2016 the Festival included more than 350 events, attracting an estimated 60,000 visits in total.
Our annual NRICH and Plus mathematical advent calendars are published on 1st December, and this year we're inviting you to explore your mathematical creativity. Mathematics is a creative subject. It involves spotting patterns, making connections, finding new ways of looking at things and using what you already know in new contexts. Creative mathematicians play around with examples, draw pictures, have the courage to experiment and ask good questions.
When you think of scientific researchers actively investigating how diseases may spread, you probably wouldn't imagine they could still be in the classroom. But we're delighted to have been part of a project giving Year 9 maths students the opportunity to conduct real scientific research in their schools, alongside a team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Cambridge.
We have launched a new collection of free online resources, Wild Maths, aimed at 7 to 16 year olds exploring maths beyond the classroom. Mathematics is a creative subject. It involves spotting patterns, making connections, finding new ways of looking at things and using what you already know in new contexts. Creative mathematicians play around with examples, draw good pictures, have the courage to experiment and ask good questions. All our award-winning activities aim to encourage creative thinking, curiosity, exploration, discussion and discovery.
Even if you missed our Year 12 Mathematics Enrichment Day in June 2015, you can now watch the two plenary talks online. 132 Year 12 students (aged 16-17) from 17 different schools took part in the full-day event on 19 June 2015, which had a special focus on encouraging the development of mathematical thinking. The enrichment day programme included two talks: Dr Vicky Neale explored some fascinating aspects of prime numbers, while Professor Ben Allanach gave an overview of the discovery of the Higgs boson and how current research at the LHC might provide insights into dark matter.
Come to Cambridge on Saturday 21st March 2015 to join in the huge range of free family activities at the Cambridge Science Festival Maths Public Open Day! From Isaac Newton onwards, Cambridge has been associated with some of the most famous mathematicians in history. Modern mathematicians and theoretical physicists work on everything from the Big Bang to number theory, from modelling the shrinking of Arctic sea ice to geometry, quantum information and understanding how the influenza virus evolves.
The annual University of Cambridge Science Festival takes place from 9-22 March 2015, packed with hundreds of free events for all ages. You can browse the full programme on the Cambridge Science Festival web pages, but we've also picked out some of the Festival's mathematical highlights for you below. From maths and art to the mystery of dark matter, Fermat's Last Theorem to the Enigma code, the free public talks on offer cover a huge range of mathematical topics.
The STIMULUS programme has created 362 placements for Cambridge student volunteers in local schools this year - a new annual record! STIMULUS is a community service programme which gives Cambridge University students the opportunity to work with pupils in local primary and secondary schools and sixth form colleges, helping with Maths, Science and Computing lessons. Volunteers sign up for a term at a time, working in their assigned school for one afternoon each week. This year, STIMULUS has also expanded to include a collaboration with the national Code Clubs network.
The University of Cambridge's Mathematics Faculty has launched a new, pilot project providing free online support and preparation resources for students now in Year 12 who may want to take STEP (or the Oxford MAT) in Year 13. STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) is an additional examination which usually forms part of conditional offers to mathematics applicants at Cambridge and some other universities.
Thank you to all the school students, Cambridge students and staff and members of the public who helped to build part of the world's largest ever distributed model fractal out of business cards! The model represents a Menger sponge: a (nearly) three-dimensional fractal cube, which has so many holes it contains no volume at all, but is so crinkly it has infinite surface area. The Level 3 model cube, which is proudly on view in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, is built out of 8,000 smaller cubes, each made from 6 folded business cards.
