Maths Inspiration!

Published: 09 Dec 2011   updated: 23 Jan 2012

On Thursday 24 November, all girls studying Maths A Level in Years 12 and 13, made their way to the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, for the Maths Inspiration Show.

Many of us had little idea of what to expect, but had been told in advance by several teachers, who had attended last year's event, that it was definitely worth seeing. Indeed, they were right. The hall was filled with eager sixth formers and budding mathematicians, ready to listen to what the speakers had to share - and they certainly did not disappoint.

The Chair for the morning was Helen Pilcher, who led the first session and livened us up with her great enthusiasm. Kate Bellingham began the morning's talks with 'Maths at 1000 Miles Per Hour'. She is currently working on the Bloodhound Project, a mission to break the land speed record, 'to confront and overcome the impossible using science, technology, engineering and mathematics' and 'to motivate the next generation to deal with global 21st century challenges'.

Bloodhound has recently been featured on the BBC programme, 'Bang Goes the Theory'. Kate Bellingham explained to us how many aspects of maths and engineering are essential in order to achieve their mission. She also highlighted that although some are opposed to the project, as they believe it is a waste of money, projects like this are not always about the end goal, but about what you discover in trying to reach it.

The second talk was presented by David Acheson, an Oxford graduate and passionate mathematician. 'Proof, Pizza and the Electric Guitar' was a very interesting and engaging talk, in which he used pizza to demonstrate a theory. He ended his talk with his own composition on electric guitar, and somehow managed to include an element of maths into his playing technique.

The morning ended with Rob Eastaway's 'From Pepsi to Peace Deals' talk, where we all got to participate in several mathematical games. He involved members of the audience in a game ofThe Weakest Link,where Lucinda Brown represented EHS well, answering all of her questions correctly. His talk was focused around statistics and probabilities.

I think we would all agree that the talks were great fun and gave us good insight into the many angles of maths. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Newling, Mrs Norman, Mr Fleming and Miss Afzal for organising and joining us on the day, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Lara Akindeinde 12C