Outreach
School visits and public lectures.
I regularly run outreach sessions at local schools, and have given a number of public lectures on the mathematics of card shuffling (one of my research interests).
From 2017 - 2020 I was an LMS Holgate Session Leader, and in 2018 I spoke at a GCSE Maths in Action day.
Below you can find a selection of sessions which I've delivered. If you'd be interested in getting me to run one of these for your school, get in touch.
Growth
How fast do things grow? An interactive session looking at fingernails, knitting, croissants and epidemics.
Secret keeping
An easy introduction to the mathematics of codes, from simple Caesar cyphers to modern-day cryptography.
The prosecutor’s fallacy
This session demonstrates how a little knowledge of relatively simple statistics can help in real-life situations. We consider the interpretation of medical tests for (fictitious) rare diseases and of (real) statistical evidence presented in a court room, and seek to understand commonly made mistakes.
Penney ante
Penney Ante is a simple coin-tossing game with some very counter-intuitive properties! This session explores these properties, and shows how to use binary numbers to work out optimal game strategies.
Surprising uses of randomness
A look at how random numbers are generated, and some of their surprising uses. These include calculating areas of complicated shapes, image restoration, and decoding substitution codes.
Patterns and problem solving
A workshop in which students are challenged to spot patterns and conjecture solutions to problems involving cake cutting, drawing graphs, and sharing gold between pirates
Card shuffling
How many times should you shuffle a pack of cards?A gentle introduction to the mathematics of card shuffling, involving probability, permutations and possibly a little magic!
Mathematical proof
This workshop inroduces students to the idea of mathematical proof. We talk about why mathematicians care so much about proof, and see examples of some famous theorems. We then look at proof by contradiction and by induction, with the students working through plenty of examples of each type.