Play, listen and talk Mathematics with our experts.
The Mathematics Department is holding the first ever Virtual Taster Day. This replaces our hugely popular outreach event Exploring Maths this year. It will take place on the 22nd June 2020 and you can register here.
The day will feature a welcome address from the Head of Department, Prof Rüdiger Schack, followed by a popular mathematics talk by our guest speaker, Prof Imre Leader from the University of Cambridge.
Our very own Prof James McKee, Prof Brita Nucinkis, Prof Simon Blackburn and Prof Jens Bolte will also talk about interesting mathematics after which there will be a discussion on the UCAS application process. To end the day, we will have an extensive Q&A session.
Please write to TasterDays@rhul.ac.uk with any questions.
Programme
11.00 Welcome by Prof Rüdiger Schack (Head of Department)
11.10 Prof Imre Leader (Cambridge University): Eating Chocolate
11.55 Prof James McKee: The Mathematics of Doodles
12.15- 12.45 Lunch break
12.45 Prof Brita Nucinkis: The Shape of Space
13.10 Prof Simon Blackburn: Games using Counters
13.35 Prof Jens Bolte: Mathematics and the Law of Nature
14:00 The UCAS Application Process
14.25 Prof Stefanie Gerke with Joshua Coyston and Rashaine Weekes: Q&A with students and staff
Abstracts
Prof James McKee: The Mathematics of Doodles
We'll learn and play the game of Sprouts, and explore some mathematical questions arising from the game.
Prof Brita Nucinkis: The Shape of Space
How big is the universe? Is it finite or infinite? Does it have a boundary? These and other questions lead us to an area of mathematics called Topology. We will explore these topics, first in dimension 2, and will then see how to extend this to higher dimensions.
Prof Simon Blackburn: Games using Counters
Who wins when two good players play a game? What is the winning tactic? There is often some beautiful and surprising mathematics behind these questions. This session explores one particular game (often played with piles of counters) to illustrate some of the mathematics involved.
Prof Jens Bolte: Mathematics and the Law of Nature
At least since Galileo Galilei, the laws of nature have been formulated in mathematical language. The mathematical physicist E. P. Wigner once gave a talk on this subject, under the title “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences”, in which he elaborates on “why the success of mathematics in its role in physics appears so baffling”. In this talk I shall explain Wigner’s ideas in examples, from the very simple ones to some of the more “baffling” ones. Among the latter is P. A. M. Dirac’s prediction of anti-matter, solely based on the mathematical consistency of the (Dirac-) equation that he developed in 1928.
Prof Stefanie Gerke with Joshua Coyston and Rashaine Weekes: Q&A with Students and Staff
What does a typical week at university looks like? Where do I find resources to prepare for university? How important is the UCAS statement? How do you become a professor? This are just a few questions you may have. We will collect all these questions during the day and try to answer them as best as we can!
