In July treat your Year 9s, 10s or 12s to an interactive Much Ado About Numbers show at:
- Shakespeare North (nr Liverpool)
- Alleyns Theatre (Dulwich).
English teacher: “I’ve never seen so many Year 9 students engaged in Shakespeare AND Maths".
Details here: mathsinspiration.com/much-ado-sum...
In 1909, John Venn (the diagram guy) invented a machine that can bowl googlies.
Matt Parker and I tested out a replica built by engineers at Cambridge University.
youtu.be/2E424Itot8s
Should you go first in a penalty shoot-out?
Which lane would you choose in a 400 metre final?
And should you work on your tennis serve?
Some myths debunked in my article for AB magazine.
abmagazine.accaglobal.com/global/artic...
In a happy coincidence, new paperback editions of of my two least mathsy books come out in the USA this month - from different publishers. Apart from their English-ness I don't think Shakespeare and Cricket have much in common.
(Cricket Explained is the US title for What Is A Googly?)
2B or not 2B?
Evidence that Shakespeare may have used a pencil, made from Lake District graphite.
Read more in Stationery News (where else?). #PencilDay
www.stationerynews.net/2b-or-not-2b...
"There were 500,000 protestors in London" said the organisers. "50,000" said the police.
Estimating crowd size is notoriously difficult, but a factor of ten difference is just ridiculous. (And I'm not taking sides here.) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
On 28th/29th March as part of national Shakespeare Week I'll be doing four public talks on 'The Maths of Shakespeare's London' at MathsWorld (near Tate Modern). Details here: mathsworld.com/events/Shake...
Sunday cricket just three or four weeks away now (anyone starting earlier than Easter/April??)
Have a look at our website and get in touch if we can help you with a small grant towards getting any friendly games on googlyfund.co.uk
Please share in your🏏 networks
Manchester doing a great impersonation of Manchester this evening.
I'm on my way to a school in Stretford in Manchester, roughly in between the two Old Trafford grounds, but I won't be talking football or cricket.
Instead I'll be doing my 50 minute interactive talk about Shakespeare and Elizabethan mathematics, for the entire Year 9 cohort (200 of them). Love it!
What if some maths was formally part of the History curriculum? History gives maths more context and its stories can captivate students. @teakayb.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy and I are at the @histassoc.bsky.social conference in May, aiming to talk to hundreds of history teachers. www.haconference.com
With a month to go until Easter, get your bids in to the Googly Fund for small grants for friendly cricket.
Could be for help with your:
-Ground🚜
-Kit🏏
-Teas🫖
-Advertising🤳
We’ll fund anything that helps get more people playing friendly forms of the game in the UK & Ireland
Here's the uncropped version
The book also included V=IR, v=u+at, a^2+b^2=c^2. I mean, they were practically handing us the answers 😉
Here's part of an A level formula sheet. It tells you how to solve a quadratic. Students have this with them in their exam, so they don't have to memorise it. Whatever next?!
Er...actually this is from the SMP Advanced tables book, 1975 (first edition 1966). Plus ca change.
It was really good to be the guest on the 'Your Brain On Climate' podcast with @powellds.bsky.social, a chance to talk in depth about the importance of numeracy when dealing with emotionally charged topics like climate change www.yourbrainonclimate.com/1817605/epis...
SHAKESPEARE BY NUMBERS - A free public talk
On 10th March at 5pm, @freeburian.bsky.social and I are doing a joint talk on how numbers influenced Shakespeare. The venue is the London Interdisciplinary School in Whitechapel. A limited number of seats available, message one of us if you'd like to come.
I’ve been guest on three very different podcasts recently:
Your Brain on Climate - numeracy to fight politicians
www.yourbrainonclimate.com/1817605/epis...
More or Less - Delap's maths trick
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
Shakespeare Unlimited - maths 500 years ago
www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...
Consensus seems to be that most companies had ceased production by 1976 and slide rules had disappeared from almost all classrooms (except as curiosity pieces) by 1980.
I just bought a new toy - it's a fully working giant slide rule that was used for classroom demonstrations in the 1960s. This is what people used for doing tricky calculations, before electronic calculators took over in the late 1970s.
Mornington Crescent?
😃
Here’s my maths colleague @sparksmaths.bsky.social performing it on the Widnes platform in 2019 (there were no other passengers to hear it).
It was Widnes station, surely. I’ve been to the station and seen the plaque!
Not quite, in fact it’s more the reverse of that…
@adamrutherford.bsky.social in case you missed it, we uncovered Delap's mathematical secret, and mentioned Ipswich too.
Liam Delap of Chelsea FC can work out cube roots in his head. Is he a maths genius, or does he have a trick up his sleeve?
I investigated with @timharford.ft.com on this week's More or Less. You can listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
Whether you like maths or Shakespeare or both (🙋🏻♂️) or neither, this interview with @robeastaway.bsky.social is a fascinating listen.
We often pigeonhole people as either a "maths " or an "arts“ person, but in Shakespeare’s time this divide didn’t exist.
I spoke with @Folger.edu about why looking at Shakespeare through the eyes of a mathematician can help students to appreciate both disciplines. www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...