On Friday, 1st March 2024, eight GCSE Maths students attended the Maths in Action conference at the Emmanuel Centre in London. The goal of the conference was to help the students deepen their understanding of key mathematical concepts, improve their problem-solving skills, and generate excitement for all things maths! Maths in Action featured lively and enriching sessions exploring various topics, carefully designed to extend the students’ knowledge of Maths and their curiosity. The sessions covered a range of intriguing questions, such as why some specific notes are in harmony while others are not, how to take the perfect penalty, and what is more likely between being struck by lightning or winning the lottery.
Dr Tom Crawford was one of the speakers who explained how maths has all the answers (taking probability into account), and how we can improve our performance in sports such as football or running the marathon. There was also a session on astrophysics, where the students learned how astrophysicists measure distances between various objects in the Universe. The students could ask the speakers questions and participate in the activities throughout the day. They represented their college to an excellent standard! Dr Matt Pritchard delivered the Magical Maths session, where he explained how some seemingly impressive tricks are created by playing with geometry. Overall, the GCSE maths students could see how relevant Maths is to nearly every aspect of our daily lives and how their understanding of the subject increases their knowledge of the world around us.
