Thirty-five students from Years 10, 11, and 12 joined the Maths Department on a trip to London’s Cambridge Theatre to attend the Maths Inspiration lectures.

The event featured an impressive lineup of speakers, including:

-Rob Eastaway, bestselling author and adviser for New Scientist magazine
-Matt Parker, whose book Humble Pi became the first-ever maths book to top the Sunday Times bestseller list-Ayliean MacDonald, a maths artist and community mathematician for Maths City in Leeds
-Jennifer Visser-Rogers, Chief Scientific Officer of Coronado Research, specialising in consultancy on clinical trials

Throughout the day, students explored the fascinating ways mathematics shapes the world around us. They learned how small errors—such as displaying mathematically impossible shapes on road signs or coding glitches in Minecraft—can reveal the importance of precision in avoiding significant mistakes, from medical trials to planning train routes.

The lectures also delved into a wide range of intriguing topics, including:

-The psychology and mathematics of fairness
-The aesthetic beauty of numbers and fractals
-The difference between correlation and causation
-How statistics can both illuminate truths and be used to mislead
-How mathematics can uncover the real stories behind newspaper headlines

We were incredibly impressed by how our students engaged with and absorbed the insights they gained throughout the event. It was a truly enriching experience, sparking curiosity and highlighting the diverse and exciting ways maths impacts our lives.