Maths Week Newsletter July 2020 – MATHS WEEK IRELAND

Maths Week Newsletter July 30/07/20

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Maths Week Newsletter July 2020

Roadmaps for school reopening have been outlined in both parts of this island,
Next month schools are set to reopen with some restrictions, but there still is a lot of uncertainty as to how everything will work. We dont fully know what the effects of the school closures have been on pupils. We do think that Maths Week 2020 will be very important to motivate and inspire pupils about maths. So, while we think that face-to-face events will not be possible we are working with our partners to deliver online and provide in-class maths engagement, We will be sharing more information in the coming months so stay tuned!

Don’t forget to put Maths Week 2020 into your diary:
10^th to 18^th October 2020
Get in touch at mathsweek@wit.ie

In the meantime, we have a quick update on all things maths
from across Ireland and the UK.

In this weeks Maths at Home Newsletter:

Matt Parker wins award for maths communication
Maths at Home
Happy Birthday to Tyndall, Stokes, and Hamilton!!!
What’s On
Douglas Buchanan Maths Beyond the Textbook

In Case you missed it....

Matt Parker has been a regular and popular presenter at Maths Week over the years. He has been awarded the Christopher Zeeman Medal, the UK award dedicated to recognising excellence in the communication of mathematics. Australian born Parker has many strings to his bow, Secondary school maths teacher author of best selling recreational maths books (Humble Pi and Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, YouTuber (Stand-up Maths, Numberphile), co-founder of the Maths Inspiration programme, MathsJam and Maths Gear, Public Engagement in Mathematics Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, and of course presenter at the Maths Week Ireland festival throughout the years. Congratulations Matt. Read more here https://ima.org.uk/14611/matt-parker-is-awarded-2020-christopher-zeeman-medal/

Our Maths at Home Contribution

During the schools closures we have delivered

44 daily Maths at Home activities with 70,726 views
plus daily challenge and daily recommended resource
90 Targetboards, with over 26,000 valid answers
144 24/Licence Plate puzzles
327 tweets to 6289 followers earning 599,000 impressions
10 weekly Newsletters to 8,500 subscribers

go to Maths at Home

AUGUST BIRTHDAYS:

In August we mark the birth of three hugely important mathematicians and scientists born in Ireland. Follow the links to find out more:

John Tyndall 2nd Aug.
William Rowan Hamilton 4th Aug.
George Stokes 13th Aug.

Go to MathsWeek.ie

Follow us on social media
Facebook: @MathsWeek
Twitter: @mathsweek
Instagram: MathsIreland
LinkedIn: Maths Week Ireland
Get in touch, give feedback, why not share your ideas and resources?

Daily Maths Activities

We have finished the daily maths at home activity but you can see them all - over 40- Maths at Home Activity page.

What's on

30^th July: Ulster Museum is Ready to Go!

The folks at the Ulster museum are delighted to welcome you back to the home of Northern Ireland’s treasures – past and present. While your visit may be a little different, your favourite stories and objects are waiting to be rediscovered. They are starting to reopen their museums beginning with the Ulster Museum on 30 July.

https://www.nmni.com/our-museums/ulster-museum/Ulster-Museum-Were-Ready-For-You/Ulster-Museum-Were-Ready-For-You.aspx

July 30^th to 3^rd August
Garter Lane Arts Centre presents SprÓg Childrens Festival.

SprÓg is the best summer fun in Waterford for children and families, with a week of arts & science experiences at Garter Lane Arts Centre, presented with WIT Calmast. This year all events are online and there is truly something for everyone. You can check out www.garterlane.ie to get involved in any of events from the fab forest-themed programme. On Thursday the 30^th of July Maths Week Ireland are delivering a workshop entitled Shape Shifting: Maths and Art Mash-up.
Children from the age of 9 years upwards are invited to explore the world of geometrical art. https://garterlane.ie/events/sprog-shape-shifting-maths-art-mash-up-with-calmast-wit/

1^st August: BRIDGES 2020 CONFERENCE

Calling all mathematics, art music, architecture, education and culture enthusiasts!
This conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of mathematicians, scientists, artists, educators, musicians, writers, computer scientists, sculptors, dancers, weavers, model builders and many others in an atmosphere of mutual exchange and inspiration.

The organisers of the Bridges conference believe that there are great ideas waiting to be found in mathematical analysis and synthesis of art, and that artistic thinking and activities can enliven the mathematics classroom.

The conference normally takes place in July / August, and the 2020 conference was due to take place in Helsinki. With Covid restrictions in place, the conference is now taking place on line.

The Bridges 2020 conference will launch on August 1st. The Virtual Conference will feature regular papers, short papers, workshop papers, the art exhibition, the short film festival, and the poetry anthology. Organisers will be holding a limited number of live 90-minute hands-on workshop sessions, using the Zoom videoconferencing platform. There will be one per day, August 1–4. Free registration is required by July 30th, and some workshops will require you to supply your own materials.

1. Exploring Symmetry Using Aestheometry in Classrooms and Beyond
Stephen Erfle and Katherine Erfle
01 August, 10:00am EDT

2. A Two-dimensional Introduction to Sashiko
Carol Hayes and Katherine Seaton
02 August, 6:00pm EDT

3. Organizing Children and Youth Mathematical Art Exhibits and Interpreting MathArt-works through a Collaborative, Transdisciplinary Practice
Kristóf Fenyvesi, Christopher Brownell, Pamela Burnard, Carine Steyn, Werner Olivier, Pallawi Sinha, Zsolt Lavicza, Saara Lehto and Kirsi Peltonen
03 August, 10:00am EDT

4. Dürer Machines Running Back and Forth
António Araújo
04 August, 10:00am EDT

Full information about these workshops, including required materials and a registration link, can be found at http://2020.bridgesmathart.org/liveworkshops/. If you'd like to jump straight to workshop registration, you can fill out our online form.

23^rd July to 18^th October Carlow Artworks and VISUAL Carlow Annual exhibition

For ARTWORKS 2020 artists were invited to take inspiration from John Tyndall, the Carlow Scientist who discovered why the sky is blue. Tyndall is understood to be one of the founders of climate science. 2020 marks the bicentennial of his birth in Leighlinbridge, Carlow.

ARTWORKS 2020 - Sky is Blue as part of the VISUAL Carlow festival.

A group of artists that were invited to submit work that responds to the theme of climate and our natural environment. The Sky is Blue presents work in film, painting, sculpture, new media and photography. ARTWORKS 2020 celebrates contemporary visual art and its potential to engage a critical and heightening awareness of environmental change.

Nuala Clarke, a former presenter at Robert Boyle Summer School has two 2 paintings in the Tyndall inspired show at the VISUAL Carlow which is open now.

For details on opening hours other exhibits visit: https://www.visualcarlow.ie/events/info/book-your-visit-VISUAL-CARLOW

While we are on the subject of Art, Nuala has recorded five short videos during the lockdown entitled “so I have observed” - a series of colour experiments. they are explorations into colour and memory of a dream performed in the time of the pandemic alongside Robert Boyles text "Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours" (1664)

Check them out here:

https://nualaclarke.com/so-I-have-observed-a-series-of-colour-experiments-video

If you would like to recommend a maths book or website then please email us at mathsweek@wit.ie – We would love to hear from you!

MoMath, the national museum of mathematics in the USA, is an award-winning museum that highlights the role of mathematics in the world around us. They present dynamic galleries and programs that are designed to stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity, and reveal the wonders of maths. As the museum is closed due to the current public health situation they have curated a full menu of online events and student sessions at https://momath.org/upcoming-events/. Register for this weeks events

Fri, July 31 2020	Folding Fridays, unique origami designs all summer long
Tue, Aug 4	Hats and Liars, “Logic Puzzles” with Peter Winkler
Wed, Aug 5	*Free* Math Encounters — “Number Theory Problems: From Easy to Undecidable” with Bjorn Poonen
Thu, Aug 6	*Free* Ask a Mathematician — Anything!
Fri, Aug 7	Folding Fridays, unique origami designs all summer long
Tue, Aug 11	Meet a Mathematician, hosted by Alex Kontorovich, featuring Inna Zakharevich
Thu, Aug 13	*Free* Math Gym

DCBEAGLE CHALLENGES

BEYOND THE TEXTBOOK – Maths Week Ireland

June 2020

Douglas Buchanan ~ dcbeagleb@gmail.com ~ www.dcbeagle.com ~ @dcbeagle1

I am sure all the educationalists are enjoying the summer break after such a term of turmoil due to the “virus”. I am sure many positives have come out of the experience and will be taken forward when life gets back to “normal” again. Technology, for one, has been a godsend and many new skills by pupils and teachers can only be a good thing.

Maybe many teachers will change their teaching methods and not revert back to the “chalk and talk” approach and rely on textbooks?

As usual the July newsletter is “different” and it is for you and hopefully your amusement.

This month’s puzzle – taken from a Henry Ernest Dudeney book

Pocket Money

"When I got to the station this morning," said Harold Tompkins, at his club, "I found I was short of cash. I spent just one-half of what I had on my railway ticket, and then bought 5p’s worth of candy. When I got to the terminus, I spent half of what I had left and ten pence for a newspaper. Then I spent half of the remainder on a bus and gave fifteen pence to that old beggar outside the club. Consequently, I arrive here with this 5p coin. How much did I start out with?"

Paper and Pencil puzzles

Whilst sitting on the “beach” at the bottom of your garden you may like to do the following puzzles:

http://www.krazydad.com/– sudoku, mazes, inkies (kenken), kakuro, slitherlink, bridges, galaxies

Online puzzles

http://www.popularmechanics.com/– lovely logic conundrums
Logic Games Time Killers – a series of apps with a wide variety of topics and plenty examples.

Games

Bridge – click here - a comprehensive website for all levels of players
Solitaire – click here - over 120 card games

Films with a maths-type theme

Gifted (2011)
Hidden Figures (2016)
The Imitation Game (2014)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Goodwill Hunting (1997)

To see the trailers of the five films – click here

Maths videos

Biggest Math Secret in History Ever - Click here. An informative full-length documentary
Faster than a calculator | Arthur Benjamin | TEDxOxford – click here – a mathemagician’s presentation

Humorous videos

What Happens When Maths Goes Wrong? - with Matt Parker – click here
QI Compilation | Best Of Maths Magic – click here
Teaching an idiot basic maths | Blackadder – BBC – click here

Pocket money solution
When he left home Tompkins must have had £2.10 in his pocket.

Final words
Wishing you all well and do keep healthy and safe and I will be back in September in a happier environment – I hope.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”
— Willie Nelson

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”
— Lyndon B. Johnson

The PDST ran a series of STEM Seminars focusing on Maths at Home for primary schools.

See https://pdst.ie/STEM-Webinars for all the recordings to date.

If you want activities that promote Maths and Play you can also find loads at our Maths at Home section on the MathsWeek website.
https://www.mathsweek.ie/2019/maths-at-home-activities/

Follow us on social media each day for updates:
Facebook: @MathsWeek
Twitter: @mathsweek
Instagram: MathsIreland
LinkedIn: Maths Week Ireland
Get in touch, give feedback, why not share your ideas and resources?

Maths Week Ireland, Calmast, STEM Outreach Hub,

Cork Road Campus, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford

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