Category: Termcard

Tuesday Week 1, 17th Jan – How the fish got its spots. Thomas Woolley 2012 marks the centenary of a true mathematical genius and war hero, who’s short life met a tragic end. Alan Turing is probably best known for his huge advances in computational logic and breaking the enigma code. However, very few people…

Week 1 – Problems, Pizza and the Electric Guitar Dr. David Acheson, Jesus College What is it, exactly, that makes for a good maths problem? Is there a place for pizza in serious mathematics? And what has all this got to do with playing the guitar? These are some of the questions we will consider…

Week 1 – Proof by Chocolate, and other Goodies Dr David Acheson, Jesus College What do we mean, exactly, when we say that a mathematical proof is elegant, or even beautiful? We will explore many examples from both pure and applied maths, ranging from the elementary and well-known to rather more exotic methods….including proof by…

Week 1 – All you ever wanted to know about pi Prof. Robin Wilson, Open University & Pembroke College The circle number pi has fascinated people for thousands of years?. Who first called it pi? Who had it engraved on his tombstone? Who tried to pass a law declaring it to be 3.2? How can…

Tuesday 1st Week Video Night We will be showing a video about the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, described by C.P. Snow as “an admirable story”. Tuesday 2nd Week Paul Garcia Percy A MacMahon – a good soldier spoiled. Major MacMahon was a famous and well respected figure in the world of late Victorian and Edwardian…

Tuesday 1st Week Robin Wilson (Open University & Keble College) 800 Years of Oxford Mathematics In this lecture the history of Oxford University will be presented from a mathematical point of view. It should be a good introduction for those new to Oxford, and also for those who have been here for some time. Tuesday…

Tuesday 1st Week “Fermat’s Last Tango” In 1993 Andrew Wiles stunned the world when he announced a solution to “Fermat’s Last Theorem,” the famous unsolved mathematics problem set forth by Pierre de Fermat in 1637. In the musical Fermat’s Last Tango, the fictional character Daniel Keane earns overnight acclaim when he presents his findings. However,…

Tuesday 1st Week Dr. Robin Wilson (Open University & Keble College) “Four colours suffice” Next week marks the 150th anniversary of the four-colour problem on the colouring of maps. In this illustrated talk Dr. Wilson shall outline the history of the problem and its proof. Tuesday 2nd Week Dr. David Acheson (Jesus College) “1089 and…

Tuesday 1st Week Dr. Wilson Sutherland (New College) “Fixed Points” Starting with a result about fixed points known to all fresher mathematicians, we’ll look at various kinds of results about fixed points in mathematics, and their uses. Tuesday 2nd Week Dr. Graham Nelson (St. Anne’s) “A Rainbow in the Physical Review of the Blind Men:…

Tuesday 1st Week Dr. Richard Steinberg (Cambridge) “Combinatorial Auctions” In a combinatorial auction, bids are permitted not only on individual items, but on groups of items as well. Recently, the American government attempted to design a combinatorial auction. Why they should want to do this, and what actually happened, is the subject of this talk.…