I saw that on a Numberphile video...

Last week, I was listening to a couple of year 7s discussing maths in class when I heard one of them say, "I saw that on a Numberphile video..." This was one of the highlights of my term because the video in question was not one I had promoted to the class. This term, I have introduced Google Classroom into my teaching and one of the excellent uses is to subtly promote Numberphile and other fantastic mathematical resources.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I think Numberphile is the most inspirational resource I have seen for Mathematics. By using youtube, Numberphile has opened the door to complex Maths that to this point remained hidden deep and difficult to find for the vast majority of people. It is ground-breaking and has the potential to be as influential  as Martin Gardner's work in bringing maths to the masses and deepening understanding of Mathematics beyond basic numeracy. It goes way beyond other attempts to open up mathematics, such as Johnny Ball in the UK, who promoted mathematics in an entertaining manner, but failed to look deeply and demystify the subject. Numberphile embraces the complexity of mathematics and challenges the grey cells, and with the creation of Numberphile 2 (with its focus on the 'hard' maths) this looks to continue strongly.

A big thank you to Brady Haran (producer, editor and thoughtful interviewer of the Numberphile videos) and the inspirational contributors, including the fantastic and amusing Dr James Grime and Matt Parker (two of the main contributors to the channel). Dr James Grime has his own youtube channel singingbanana, which is full of mathematical gems. Matt Parker has been touring the country with the best show ever, Festival of the Spoken Nerd, his talk on spreadsheets zooms into the heart of computing and mathematics.

Other excellent youtube channels for maths include:
Vi Hart
Smarter Every Day (although there is some Science in this one as well!)

Book Review - 1089 + All That by David Acheson

David Acheson has written an excellent little book about a journey into mathematics. This book is an ideal read for any teacher or student. It is an excellent holiday read to maintain and top up mathematical knowledge. 1089 is written in short passages, making it easy to read but doesn't shy away from some relatively complicated mathematics and contains some gems of mathematical insight. Amazingly, this small book deals with a whole range of topics from pi to chaos theory.

Alan Turing

Today, 23rd June, is Alan Turing's birthday.

"Alan Turing was a British Mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, computer scientist, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra-distance runner. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing the formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing Machine, which can be considered a model of general purpose computer. Turing is widely considered the Father of Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence." (Wikipedia)

Turing is famous for his work during World War II at Bletchley Park decoding the German Enigma machine. Bletchley Park has recently been revamped and reopened by the Duchess of Cambridge (see BBC article)

Below are some of my photos of Bletchley Park from a couple of years ago.

German Enigma Machine

Turing's Office at Bletchley Park

Colossus Computer

Alan Turing - Celebrating the life of a genius by Cambridge University (Dr James Grime)

SciShow - Hank introduces us to that great mathematical mind, Alan Turing.

Dr James Grime explains the Enigma Machine

The Mathematics of Alan Turing - Professor Angus MacIntyre (Gresham College)

For more information about Alan Turing's life see:
BBC - History - Alan Turing page
Alan Turing: The Enigma
Alan Mathison Turing - MacTutor
Royal Pardon for Codebreaking Turing

Visit Bletchley Park

Zeno of Elea

Zeno of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of Southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic. He is best know for his paradoxes, which Bertrand Russell has described as "immeasurably subtle and profound". (Source and for more information - wikipedia) 

Further information can be found on the MacTutor History of Mathematics.

Collection of Youtube videos on Zeno's Paradoxes

Numberphile