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July 2022

The Maths Item of the Month is a monthly problem aimed at teachers and students of GCSE and A level Mathematics. The problems can be used for enrichment, problem solving or as a way to encourage mathematical thinking/proof.

Circle Projection

Looking for more problems?

Check out past editions in our resources listing.

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Copyright © 2023 MEI

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Skip to content July 2022 The Maths Item of the Month is a monthly problem aimed at teachers and students of GCSE and A level Mathematics. The problems can be used for enrichment, problem solving or as a way to encourage mathematical thinking/proof. Check out past editions in our resources listing.

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Try one of our mathematical crafts!

Below you will find all the Maths Craft handouts from our events, and more. You are free to use our resources so long as you don't change anything or commercialise them. For more details, please see our licence.

Menger Sponge

Fractals are mathematical objects built from repeated copies of themselves. Create a fractal sculpture from business cards. Start by making single cubes, and then assemble them into a sculpture representing a Menger Sponge. Then use our cladding to make it look like a higher-level Menger Sponge. Maths Craft have also made some instructional videos on building a Menger sponge.

Are you a New Zealand maths teacher?

Want to build a Menger sponge in your maths class? Maths Craft in a Box is an entirely free, self-contained box dedicated to exploring the fascinating world of fractals in the classroom. Sign up to be notified about the next release.

Möbius Strips

A Möbius strip is a surprising object; it's a surface with only one edge and one side. Start with our instructions for making and investigating paper Möbius strips. You can even make entwined Möbius hearts.

Licence

All Maths Craft New Zealand handouts are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. The Maths Craft New Zealand handouts are free to be used at home or in a classroom. By using these handouts, you agree not to use the Maths Craft New Zealand branding for your own products or events, nor to package or distribute our material in any format, even if you do so for free. If you're not sure what the license and agreement allows, please get in touch; we'd love to hear from you.

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Below you will find all the Maths Craft handouts from our events, and more. You are free to use our resources so long as you don't change anything or commercialise them. For more details, please see our licence. Fractals are mathematical objects built from repeated copies of themselves.

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Resources for the teaching and learning of mathematics, free to download.

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University of Southampton Maths Challenge

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University of Southampton Maths Challenge

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The University of Southampton Maths Challenge '2 1 takes place in spring 202 1 . Over 1000 students from schools around the South of England took part in the Challenge last year.

The Junior and Senior Challenges consist of a selection of interesting mathematical questions for pupils to attempt at home. The Junior Challenge is aimed at students up to Year 8 and the Senior Challenge is aimed at students up to Year 10. In previous years we have even had some entries from year 5 and 6 pupils - very impressive.

The most successful students are invited, with their parents and teachers, to attend an evening of mathematical recreation in June 2021, at which prizes and certificates will be awarded. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this event will be held online.

The closing date for the competition is 23 April 2021. You can download the Challenges and submit your entries to the competition using the buttons above. Entry to the competitions is free.

The Challenges are brought to you by the University of Southampton's Mathematics Outreach Team. If you have any queries, please do get in touch with us at math4all@soton.ac.uk.

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The University of Southampton Maths Challenge ’21 takes place in spring 2021. Over 1000 students from schools around the South of England took part in the Challenge last year.
The Junior and Senior Challenges consist of a selection of interesting mathematical questions for pupils to attempt at

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UKMT Problem Solving Questions on Colmanweb

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Great maths enrichment material: individual UKMT Senior Challenge questions arranged by topic. Try single questions or sets arranged by topic.

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Overview

Our resources are organised into topics or stations on a map or tubemap showing the connections between them.

Watch this video or use the preceding menu to find out more.

The map

The mathematics has been organised along a system of tube lines, which reflect big themes that run through mathematics. The tubemap offers a way to navigate to resources for teaching a particular area of mathematics; resources can be accessed by clicking on a station name. Some stations are still in development and this is indicated by a construction symbol.

You can access the map at any time by clicking the Map button in the main menu.

Stations

Each station features an overarching question that could be used to stimulate curiosity. There are a number of key questions that summarise the ideas that arise in the resources. You can filter resources by selecting a key question. You can also filter resources by tube line, if you wish to choose a resource with a particular emphasis.

The resources that are available at each station may come under three headings. Resources that introduce new ideas relating to the station are in the "Introducing" section. "Developing" resources may build on these ideas or earlier work. "Review questions" are mostly drawn from past examination questions and have been chosen as ones that are interesting in nature and require non-routine thinking.

Resources

To help you find the resources you are looking for, we have classified them according to twelve resource types.

Resources are divided into sections. In some cases this may be a warm-up followed by a larger task, and others may have a problem followed by a suggestion of how to tackle it. Almost all resources contain a solution or a "Things you might have noticed" section. This may help you to think about questions you might ask students, to see areas where students could get stuck, or offer further insight into how you might use the resource in your classroom. Further support is offered in the teacher notes.

Pervasive ideas

By clicking on a pervasive idea you will find a description of how the idea arises within the resources. If pervasive ideas are highlighted in a resource they appear in the sidebar (or bottom-bar on a small screen) and in the list of resources at the station (on a wide screen).
What are pervasive ideas?
Search

Use the Search button in the top menu bar to open the search dialog.

You can search for resources by title, keywords or text within the resource. Review questions can be searched by question Ref. You can also search for pervasive ideas and mathematical processes such as visualising.

You can also browse all our material with filtering options by clicking the Browse button in the main menu.

Saving resources

You can save a resource for later by adding it to your resource collection. To do this click the star next to the resource title. Note you must log in or register to use this facility. To access your resource collection, click the User button in the top menu bar then Your resource collection.

Within your resource collection, you can organise your resources by creating ordered subcollections. To add a resource to a subcollection, click the add to subcollection icon in your resource collection table. To select a subcollection, use the drop-down list above the table. You can also generate a PDF of resources from a subcollection, which could be used to generate your own exam from our review questions, for example.

Bundles and more

The More menu in the top right contains links to the Underground hub, our About and contact page and the Your mathematical classroom section of the site.

Our About page contains a video explaining our philosophy.

The Your mathematical classroom area of the site is accessible from the More menu and has been coloured purple to distinguish it from the rest of the site, as well as having its own menu once inside this area. It contains support for using our resources in the classroom as well as professional development opportunities. This includes the Bundles page, which contains small collections of resources that have a particular focus or goal, our Resources in action page, which provides detailed teacher support for a handful of resources, our blog, upcoming and recorded webinars, a courses page, and information about our Champions programme.

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A level maths teaching resources | Underground Mathematics

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Rich resources for teaching A level maths, enabling all students to explore the connections that underpin mathematics. The resources are free for all users.

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Videos about numbers and mathematics. Videos by Brady Haran since 2011.

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Chances are you're probably well aware of Newton, Einstein and Turing, but when it comes to famous female mathematicians, their achievements are less well known.
Unfortunately, there is a stereotype that still prevails today that maths is a male subject and that girls are no good at it.

Fortunately though, that couldn't be any further from the truth, and so in celebration of International Women's Day we've put together a fabulous list of some of the world's greatest famous female mathematicians that you can use all year round.

We hope you can use these inspirational individuals and their incredible work to show children that maths is all about the journey of discovery, not someone's gender.

1. Maryam Mirzakhani, 1977-2017

What Maryam did: Iranian-born Maryam Mirzakhani was one of the greatest mathematicians of her generation, making exceptional contributions to the study of the dynamics and geometry of mathematical objects called Riemann surfaces.

She was a professor at Stanford University and held a Ph.D from Harvard University. In 2014, she was the first woman, and first Iranian, to be awarded a Fields Medal (also known as the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics) for "her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces".

Maryam's impact: Her work had a huge impact in shaping her field and has opened up new frontiers of research that are just starting to be explored. She shows us that, even in a male-dominated field, women can be role models and lead the way forward with their discoveries.

2. Katherine Johnson, 1918 - 2020

What Katherine did: Falling in love with maths from a young age, Katherine studied the subject alongside French at university, graduating summa cum laude at the age of just 18! She joined NASA in 1953 and her contributions in orbital mechanics were crucial to the success of the USA's aeronautics and space programmes. In 2015, she was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama for her important work as a mathematician, physicist and space scientist as a woman of colour.

Katherine's impact: Despite being one of the first three black women to attend West Virginia University, she dared to challenge the stereotypes which existed around her and has since become a pioneering example and role model for females everywhere of African American women in STEM.

She was responsible for calculating the trajectory for Project Mercury and the Apollo 11 flight to the moon, which means she helped the first spaceship and the first Americans reach the moon! Believing that "everything is physics and math(s)", she encouraged girls to pursue careers in STEM and often gave talks on the subject.

"Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing."

3. Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright, 1900-1998

What she did: Mary Cartwright was a British mathematician and a woman of many firsts! She was not only the first woman to obtain a first in her university degree, but also one of the first mathematicians to study what is now known as chaos theory. She was the first woman to receive the Sylvester Medal (awarded for the encouragement of mathematical research), the first woman to be President of the Mathematical Association and the first woman to be President of the London Mathematical Society.

Mary's impact: Thanks to her bravery in daring to defy the status quo, her work has gone on to strongly influence the modern theory of dynamical systems, and she even has a mathematical theorem named after her!

4. Sofia Kovalevskaya, 1850 - 1891

What Sofia did: Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya made monumental contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer and icon for females in mathematics and STEM subjects everywhere.

The first woman to obtain a doctorate in mathematics, she went on to gain global recognition in the mathematical community due to her paper on partial differential equations and was awarded the Prix Bordin from the French Academy of Sciences, a prize given to the best solution of a specific mathematical problem.

Sofia's impact: Despite scrutiny and doubts from her male counterparts and society as a whole, Sofia refused to give up academia and has paved the way for other famous females mathematicians to follow in her footsteps!

5. Sophie Germain, 1776 - 1831

What Sophie did: Marie-Sophie Germain was a French mathematician and physicist who, despite opposition from society (and her parents) due to her sex, persevered and went on to greatly contribute to maths. Due to the unfair gender restraints at the time, she was not able to pursue a career in the subject, but that did not stop her!

She worked on it independently throughout her life and through her hard work, she not only advanced the field of number theory, but was also one of the pioneers of elasticity theory, becoming the first woman to win the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences for her essay on the subject.

Sophie's impact: She proved to the people around her that their assumptions based on her sex were wrong and that females are incredible mathematicians. Although she was not allowed to attend university, thanks to her unfaltering determination and bravery she became the very first woman to make important original contributions to mathematical research and in doing so, carved out the way for women today.

6. Marjorie Lee Browne, 1914-1979

What Marjorie did: Gifted African-American mathematician and educator Marjorie Lee Browne was the first black woman to gain a doctorate in maths. She joined the faculty at North Carolina Central University, shortly after obtaining her Ph.D, where she taught for over thirty years. She was named chair of the Mathematics Department there in 1951, which allowed her to guide the way for some of the earliest computer use in her field.

Marjorie's impact: She noted that the lack of involvement of black women in STEM subjects was a huge societal issue that needed to be addressed and believed that education was a viable solution. She took advantage of her position as department chair at NCCU to gain a grant to educate secondary school teachers in advanced maths and spent much of her time with local secondary school teachers teaching them about linear algebra, encouraging them to study and obtain advanced degrees and improving the level of maths education as a whole in North Carolina. Her dedication to inspiring confidence in female mathematicians and providing quality education to others for the greater good, has helped her to become a role model for women in STEM everywhere.

"If I had to live my life again, I wouldn't do anything else. I love mathematics."

7. Rachel Riley

What Rachel did: Television presenter Rachel Riley studied Mathematics at Oxford University. At age 22 she joined Countdown where she applies her maths skills on a regular basis, handling the letters and numbers rounds to find solutions to complicated problems. She has gone on to present other shows including 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Gadget Show, and even starred as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing!

Rachel's impact: Riley has visited many schools over the years in an endeavour to inspire children on the "joys of applied maths, quantum mechanics and time travel" and increase the numbers of females participating in STEM subjects. She has shown us that pursuing your passion and studying maths at university can lead to us down different avenues, including less conventional ones such as a career in television!

"There's no reason for men to be better at maths than women - it's just about our perception."

8. Malala Yousafzai

What Malala did: Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female educational rights, and the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, at just age 17! She started participating in activism when she was only 11 years of age and began writing blogs for the BBC detailing what life was like under Taliban rule and her beliefs on the important role education plays for girls across the world - and especially in Pakistan.

In her home province of Swat Valley, girls were banned from attending school by the Taliban. After appearing in the New York Times documentary, she gained global recognition as a speaker on the education of girls, and has brought about huge change in this area ever since.

She took A-Level Mathematics and is currently studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University. She has won many awards and has been named one of Time Magazine 's "100 Most Influential People in the World"!

Malala's impact: Due to the nature of Malala's work, an attempt was made on her life when she was on her way to school one morning. It was unsuccessful, and she refused to let this stop her fighting for her cause, continuing to give speeches and interviews for women's educational rights. Her story drove the United Nations to launch a campaign for the education of all of children worldwide, which ultimately led to Pakistan's first Right to Education Bill.

Malala's brave and determined actions illustrate that females do have the power to change the world regardless of contemporary societal beliefs and that education can be a force for that change! She also shows us that education is a privilege, so, if we want to go on and study maths, we should!

"Education is neither eastern nor western. Education is education and it's the right of every human being."

9. Mayim Bialik

What Mayim did: American actress Mayim Bialik studied neuroscience at UCLA, where she went on to obtain a Ph.D in 2007. She is best known for her role as Dr. Amy Fowler in the comedy The Big Bang Theory, but has starred in countless other television shows and films.

Mayim's impact: Despite success in her early acting career, Mayim still decided to study neuroscience at university because she had a passion for the subject. She believes strongly in the involvement of women in STEM subjects and has spoken at events on the topic encouraging girls to pursue these disciplines. She also plays the bass and trumpet!

Online 1-to-1 maths lessons trusted by schools and teachers
Every week Third Space Learning's maths specialist tutors support thousands of primary school children with weekly online 1-to-1 lessons and maths interventions. Since 2013 we've helped over 80,000 children become more confident, able mathematicians. Learn more or request a personalised quote to speak to us about your needs and how we can help.

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9 Famous Female Mathematicians Who Have Changed The World

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Chances are you're probably well aware of Newton, Einstein and Turing, but when it comes to famous female mathematicians, their achievements are less well known. Unfortunately, there is a stereotype that still prevails today that maths is a male subject and that girls are no good at it.

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Discover Mathigon, the Mathematical Playground. Learning mathematics has never been so interactive and fun!

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You can search by course title. You can also search for OpenLearn courses associated with an Open University course by searching for the course code.

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Bold, bright and beautiful ideas for mathematics teaching, learning and play. Here you will find resources for mathematical art activities, ideas for classroom display, and suggestions for using origami in mathematics lessons.

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Fun fact: The number 163 is prime, which we can prove simply by showing that it is not divisible by 2, 3, 5, 7, or 11. (Of those prime factors, the only one that's a little tricky to check is 7, but I can see that since 140 + 21 = 161 is a multiple of 7, the number 163 is not.). By the way ... why don't I have to check prime factors greater than 11? Howie Hua gives a nice little video explanation.

First, indulge me while I give a little plug for my own playful math project, a series of free math songs on my YouTube channel called Tunes that Count. We just released a new song about powers of 2 called The Power of Powers. Check it out!

Now, check out the great things I found below. Some are perfect little nuggets for use in classrooms or homeschooling. I also found some great math-art project ideas. Enjoy!
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MATHEMATICS
March 14 was Pi Day, of course, but according to UNESCO it is also the International Day of Mathematics. One of the activities that was organized was a mathematics cartoon contest. Children and adults from all over the world entered, and you can see some of the selected cartoons in this gallery. Since the cartoons have no words -- only visuals and mathematical symbols -- the gallery is a testament mathematics as a universal form of communication. Below is one of my favorite of the cartoons, submitted by two students from Colombia.
FRENCH WEEK OF MATHEMATICS
Speaking of playful math....The French Ministry of Education sponsors a "week of mathematics" each year with a different theme in which it encourages people to create and share playful mathematics activities. This year, the "week" of mathematics ran from March 6 to March 15 and had the theme "Mathématiques à la carte." The contribution shown below is a clever game of vector dominoes by Jeux 2 Maths. For more details and for more games see their website. (Many of the games are so visual that you don't need to read French to understand them.) If you want to see more ideas, search for the hashtag #SDM2023 on Twitter.
HAPPY PALINDROME DAY!
NCTM reminded us with a tweet that March 20, 2023 was a palindrome day! Naturally that raises questions. I wonder how special that is? Do we get only one per year? Do we get one every year?

PLAYFUL CLASSROOM MATH Math for Love
A recent post from Math for Love helps teachers out with resources to plan a Family Math Night at their school. In general, I love games and puzzles where the rules are simple but the math is not. This blog post offers a nice sample of such games and puzzles. The image below shows one puzzle type (The Broken Calculator), which I think would be perfect for 4th or 5th grade. In fact, I loved the idea so much I created my own version for a 5th grade decimal unit. (For example, how would you make 0.364 without the decimal point and without a 3, 6 or 4? Tricky!)

Denise Gaskin's Let's Play Math

Denise has been sharing free games and activities from her collection of playful books. One of her books is called "Thinking Thursday: A new math journaling prompt every week!" From this book Denise recently shared the prompt, "Pick a topic you have learned in math. Write two correct statements and one false statement. Trade with a friend. Can you find each other's fibs?"

Here's an example of a more targeted prompt: "Tell me two truths and a lie about the median of a set of 5 numbers." If you try it yourself, as I did below, you'll see it's not so easy to write these kinds of statements. Open-ended tasks like this are great for differentiation within a classroom because students will each challenge themselves at an appropriate level.

A. The median of 5 numbers is always a number in the set.

B. The median of 5 numbers is always greater than the smallest number in. the set.

C. The median of 5 numbers does not change if you add 10 to the largest number.

Reflections and Tangents: Thoughts on Math, Education, and Technology

The Reflections and Tangents blog has done a series of posts using what they call the "Same and Different inquiry routine." The idea is that you present students with two similar mathematical situations, and (as the name suggests) ask students to brainstorm how the situations are the same and how they are different. The March 3 blog post gives an example from calculus, but you could really adapt the structure of the activity to any grade level at all. For a middle school classroom, you might ask, for example, what is the same and what is different about 3 different sequences.
@Mathgarden
This recent tweet by Sunil Singh sort of blew my mind. He shows a textbook illustration that extends Pascal's triangle upwards to include Row - 1, Row -2, and Row -3. Why didn't I think of this before? Extending the triangle would make a wonderful, playful activity for middle schoolers. For older students, it broadens the application of the binomial theorem to include negative exponents.
PLAYFUL MATH PROJECTS, PUZZLES, AND GAMES FOR MATH CIRCLES Playful Bookbinding and Paperworks
This blog is by an artist (Paula Beardell Krieg) who explores mathematics visually. In a recent post she turns a circle theorem about inscribed right triangles into an art project. Notice the visual impact of this drawing: In spite of the complexity and asymmetry of the drawing, many of the lines Paula created intersect in what appears to be the center of the circle. The drawing invites you to wonder why!
Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival activities blog
The Julia Robinson Math Festival is always a good source of playful activities. Their new blog for activities that are not quite ready for prime time is a great find. The most recent post on Modular Origami with Sonobe Units is a rich activity that could keep a math circle busy and engaged for a few sessions. The origami squares become building blocks to create polyhedra, which can then be explored geometrically (exploring structures) and algebraically (exploring numerical patterns).

Early Family Math

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A math blog by Sian Zelbo for elementary and middle school. Emphasizes problem solving and mathematical reasoning.

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Students

In case you missed our Primary and Secondary Challenges during the summer break, we are continuing to feature them, so you can enjoy them for another month

Your Solutions

See if your solutions to our recent problems have been published
Primary
Secondary

For regular updates, sign up for our Newsletter

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NRICH - Mathematics Resources for Teachers, Parents and Students to Enrich Learning

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The Nrich Maths Project Cambridge,England. Mathematics resources for children,parents and teachers to enrich learning. Problems,children's solutions,interactivities,games,articles.

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Resources for the teaching and learning of mathematics, free to download.

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This resource, written by Shirley Fall, has fourteen cards with statements about the likelihood of six different runners winning a race. Students are tasked with using the statements on the cards to determine who is most likely to win the race, with what probability, and in what sequence they would expect the...

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This resource, written by Shirley Fall, has fourteen cards with statements about the likelihood of six different runners winning a race. Students are tasked with using the statements on the cards to determine who is most likely to win the race, with what probability, and in what sequence they would expect the...

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Suggested study hours 30

Format pdf for 10 booklets

What's included

There are three components to the materials.

PM751 One booklet containing notes on the central importance of generalisation in secondary mathematics, and a large collection of situations which call upon expressing generality.

PM752 Five booklets each on a different mathematical theme: decimals, infinity, notation, picturing functions and doing and undoing, full of tasks with some commentary.

PM752A: Actions into words

PM752B: Doing and undoing

PM752C: Approaching infinity

PM752D: Picturing functions

PM752E: Dealing with decimals

PM753 Four booklets providing a structured approach to preparing to teach any topic, exemplified in equations, probability, ratio and angle.

PM753A: Preparing to teach angle

PM753B: Preparing to teach ratio

PM753C: Preparing to teach equations

PM753D: Preparing to teach probability

The structured approach is described more fully in Mason & Johnston-Wilder (2008) and other academic publications.

Who is the course for?

PM751 and PM753 could be used by secondary students looking for further stimulation beyond the regular curriculum. They could be used by people studying to become teachers or by teachers who want to extend their appreciation of mathematical themes and topics.

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project mathematics update: view as single page

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Suggested study hours 30 Format pdf for 10 booklets What's included There are three components to the materials. PM751 One booklet containing notes on the central importance of generalisation in secondary mathematics, and a large collection of situations which call upon expressing generality.

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Try one of our mathematical crafts!

Below you will find all the Maths Craft handouts from our events, and more. You are free to use our resources so long as you don't change anything or commercialise them. For more details, please see our licence.

Menger Sponge

Fractals are mathematical objects built from repeated copies of themselves. Create a fractal sculpture from business cards. Start by making single cubes, and then assemble them into a sculpture representing a Menger Sponge. Then use our cladding to make it look like a higher-level Menger Sponge. Maths Craft have also made some instructional videos on building a Menger sponge.

Are you a New Zealand maths teacher?

Want to build a Menger sponge in your maths class? Maths Craft in a Box is an entirely free, self-contained box dedicated to exploring the fascinating world of fractals in the classroom. Sign up to be notified about the next release.

Möbius Strips

A Möbius strip is a surprising object; it's a surface with only one edge and one side. Start with our instructions for making and investigating paper Möbius strips. You can even make entwined Möbius hearts.

Licence

All Maths Craft New Zealand handouts are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. The Maths Craft New Zealand handouts are free to be used at home or in a classroom. By using these handouts, you agree not to use the Maths Craft New Zealand branding for your own products or events, nor to package or distribute our material in any format, even if you do so for free. If you're not sure what the license and agreement allows, please get in touch; we'd love to hear from you.

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Below you will find all the Maths Craft handouts from our events, and more. You are free to use our resources so long as you don't change anything or commercialise them. For more details, please see our licence. Fractals are mathematical objects built from repeated copies of themselves.

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Skip to content

July 2022

The Maths Item of the Month is a monthly problem aimed at teachers and students of GCSE and A level Mathematics. The problems can be used for enrichment, problem solving or as a way to encourage mathematical thinking/proof.

Circle Projection

Looking for more problems?

Check out past editions in our resources listing.

Donate

Registered charity Number 1058911
Copyright © 2023 MEI

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Skip to content July 2022 The Maths Item of the Month is a monthly problem aimed at teachers and students of GCSE and A level Mathematics. The problems can be used for enrichment, problem solving or as a way to encourage mathematical thinking/proof. Check out past editions in our resources listing.

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We are a charity committed to improving lives through advances in maths education

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by Jonny Griffiths

Activities for the A Level Statistics Classroom

www.making-statistics-vital.co.uk

This Edition: June 2014

Sister site 1 - www.risps.co.uk

40 open pure activities for the A level mathematics classroom

Sister site 2 - www.carom-maths.co.uk

40 pure mathematics active Powerpoints bridging between A Level and university

Sister site 3 - www.further-risps.co.uk

Risps for Further Maths A Level and equivalent

Jonny's email: hello@jonny-griffiths.net
Jonny's website:www.jonny-griffiths.net

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by Jonny Griffiths Activities for the A Level Statistics Classroom www.making-statistics-vital.co.uk This Edition: June 2014 Sister site 1 - www.risps.co.uk 40 open pure activities for the A level mathematics classroom Sister site 2 - www.carom-maths.co.uk 40 pure mathematics active Powerpoints bridging between A Level and university Sister site 3 - www.further-risps.co.uk Risps for Further Maths A Level and equivalent Jonny's email: hello@jonny-griffiths.net Jonny's website:www.jonny-griffiths.net

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MEI problem of the month curriculum mapping

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MEI problem of the month curriculum mapping

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We offer a wealth of free classroom-ready resources that promote mathematical thinking and support teaching.

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We are a charity committed to improving lives through advances in maths education

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How to prepare for MAT (Oxford Mathematics Admissions Test)

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We need help to keep Puzzle of the Week running! Please consider donating through our Patreon page or volunteering some time and joining the team. See the Donate page for more information.

Puzzle of the Week is a free international puzzle competition for schools. Students submit answers to a puzzle which is published weekly on Mondays. School and student performances are recorded and leaderboards are published on the results page. You can sign your school up for free using the button above or by clicking here.

All previous puzzles are available with detailed answers including extensions and background information on the puzzle library page.

All Time School Leaderboard
This shows the top 20 schools in the competition since its inception in 2016.

The leaderboard updates live as entries are submitted, just refresh the page to see the most recent data.

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We need help to keep Puzzle of the Week running! Please consider donating through our Patreon page or volunteering some time and joining the team. See the Donate page for more information. Puzzle of the Week is a free international puzzle competition for schools. Students submit answers to a puzzle which is published weekly on Mondays.

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Mathematics Admissions Test 2019 Preparation Thread

(Based on r_gup's 2018 post which was based on previous year's posts. Any recommendations for stuff to be added to this post are welcome!)

If you need help with any MAT questions then please post the question in this thread (or link to it) along with your full working and explain where you're stuck.

Registration deadline : 15th October 2019
MAT exam date : 30th October 2019
Interview shortlist decisions (for Oxford) : Early December 2019
Offer decisions (for Oxford) : January 2020

It's worth studying the second year single pure content before beginning MAT preparation for a better understanding of the concepts behind trigonometry/calculus. However, as noted in the syllabus, the only 100% necessary part of this for the MAT is sequences and series

Start with the earliest papers you can find and ideally try and complete them all by the exam. The papers before 2007 are of an older style and do not follow the same specification as current papers but are good practice nonetheless. The papers up to 2017 are also now of an old specification, however will be more similar to our specification than the older ones.

The earlier papers are somewhat easier than current papers so be careful to not become complacent when scoring highly on early papers

Aim to do as many past papers as possible as timed mocks, exam technique is essential to success in the MAT

Note the following changes of the specification from 2018: In order to reflect the new syllabus of AS-level Mathematics, we will be removing the following topics from the syllabus: the remainder theorem, radians, the trapezium rule. We will be adding the following topics to the syllabus: combinations and binomial probabilities, derivative of , differentiation from first principles, graphs of log a (x).

The exam is 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes) long

There are 5 specific questions to be completed depending on your course

The first question consists of 10 multiple choice questions all worth 4 marks each

All answers to questions are submitted on plain paper

Formulae sheets and calculators are not permitted

Compasses are permitted

Find the asymptotes of the curve

Determine if and where the curve intercepts the coordinate axis

Determine if there exist turning points/points of inflection for the curve

Find the limits (if they exist) of the curve

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Mathematics Admissions Test 2019 Preparation Thread (Based on r_gup's 2018 post which was based on previous year's posts. Any recommendations for stuff to be added to this post are welcome!) If you need help with any MAT questions then please post the question in this thread (or link to it) along with your full working and explain where you're stuck.

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STEP Support Foundation modules | STEP Support Programme

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This module involves some algebraic manipulation and some work on quadratic equations. There is also a geometry question with a surprising result.

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Each of these STEP 2 modules consists of a selection of STEP questions, together with hints and solutions. The modules also contain "topic notes" which consists of useful formulae you should be aware of, together with some general hints and advice.

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The STEP 3 specifications include all of the material in the STEP 1 and STEP 2 specifications as well as some additional further mathematics topics such as hyperbolic functions and polar coordinates.

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Past papers, solutions and examiner reports for the Maths Admissions Test (MAT)

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Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP) - PMT

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Past papers, solutions, examiner reports, and the booklets by Stephen Siklos for the Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP)

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The School of Mathematical Sciences presents the 19th National Cipher Challenge

In the lead up to WWII the British intelligence services were flooded with reports of Nazi spies and sympathisers. With war fast approaching and limited resources the task of vetting all these reports was passed to a fledgling security organisation known as BOSS. As a new recruit you are given the job of decoding the secret messages that will expose the enemy agents. It is a race against time and your country needs you ...

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Latest News

THIS WAS THE FIRST BOSS PUZZLE THIS YEAR WITH A BOSS RATING OF 4. Maybe you found it easier than Harry, and if so, hat tip to you! Either way, we hope you enjoyed it! In the completed puzzle the numbers 0 through 9 appear in each of the top six rows of the grid so that they give the column sums at the bottom and no number appears in twice in adjacent cells, including diagonal adjacency.

Read on

BOSS PUZZLE CHALLENGE 8 - open until Sunday 13th Dec 9am

ANOTHER GREAT GRID PUZZLE FROM OUR GUEST PUZZLEMASTER THE LETTER WRIGGLER, whose identity, like those of all our officers and agents, is a closely guarded secret. TLW first became interested in ciphers after reading Simon Singh's The Code Book in 1998. He found the now NCC web page way back in the early 2000's and has enjoyed every years session since, but until 2019 he remained a 'lurker' never registering (because it was for schools only and did not think [...]

Read on

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Skip to main content The School of Mathematical Sciences presents the 19th National Cipher Challenge In the lead up to WWII the British intelligence services were flooded with reports of Nazi spies and sympathisers. With war fast approaching and limited resources the task of vetting all these reports was passed to a fledgling security organisation known as BOSS.

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A website dedicated to the puzzling world of mathematics.

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Brilliant - Build quantitative skills in math, science, and computer science with hands-on, interactive lessons.