Category: Archive

Rational Points on Curves Week 1, Tuesday 13 October MT 20158:15pmL2, Mathematical Institute I shall consider the problem, given a curve with rational coefficients, of how one tries to find all of its rational points. Challenging Mathematics: The UK Mathematics Trust and its work Week 2, Tuesday 20 October MT 20158:15pmLR23, Balliol College Planning for…

Maths, Music, AND Maiolica: Alfred Pringsheim (1850-1941) Week 1, Tuesday 28 April TT 20158:15pmL2, Mathematical Institute Every mathematics student is likely to encounter some of Pringsheim’s ideas, even if they do not recognise his name. This is the story of the mathematician who took part in a duel – and survived; who inherited a large…

Random Trees Week 1, Tuesday 20 January HT 20158:15pmL3, Mathematical Institute Tree structures are ubiquitous in nature, and it is natural to want to model trees which are somehow randomly generated. In mathematics, we think of trees as connected graphs (or networks) with no cycles; these are a fundamental object of study in combinatorics. Mathematics…

Week 1, Tuesday 14th October – An unqualified success in promoting Mathematics! Johnny Ball Johnny was writing comedy for TV in the late 60’s. When asked what subject he might write his own series on, he said, “Maths” and produced Think of a Number – which won BAFTA in its first year – and subsequently…

April 29th – The 27 Lines and Other Stories Nigel Hitchin In the 1860s it was discovered that a general cubic surface defined over the complex numbers has exactly 27 lines on it, and the configurations of these attracted a lot of attention. It was followed by similar statements relating to two families of algebraic…

Tuesday Week 1, 15th October – The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets Simon Singh Simon Singh, author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and Big Bang, talks about his latest book, which explores mathematical themes hidden in The Simpsons. Everyone knows that The Simpsons is the most successful show in television history, but very few people realise…

Tuesday Week 1, 23rd April – Invariants Social / Election N/A The first week of the most work heavy term heralds the newest INVARIANTS SOCIETY SOCIAL, a chance for everyone to come and have fun while discussing holidays and playing games and eating copious quantities of jaffa cakes and drinking tea, but most importantly, applying…

Tuesday Week 1, 15th January – The Secret Mathematicians Marcus du Sautoy Artists are constantly on the hunt for interesting new structures to frame their creative process. From composers to painters, writers to choreographers, the mathematician’s palette of shapes, patterns and numbers has proved a powerful inspiration. Often subconsciously artists are drawn to the same…

Lewis Carroll in Wonderland Prof. Robin Wilson, Open University & Pembroke College, University of Oxford Week 1, Tuesday 9 October MT 2012 8:15pm L2, Mathematical Institute Charles Dodgson is best known for his ‘Alice’ books, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking-Glass’, written under his pen-name of Lewis Carroll. If he hadn’t written them,…

Tuesday Week 1, 24th Apr – Paradoxes of Mathematical Space Richard Earl Through the 19th century and into the 20th, mathematicians began increasingly to uncover surprises (some nice, some nasty) amongst their notions of geometry and space. Seemingly axiomatic ideas like the parallel postulate, crucial notions such dimension and volume were, all of a sudden,…