Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Thursday 24th July Number Theory Matt Parker matt@standupmaths.com http://standupmaths.com/ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/standupmaths http://www.think-maths.co.uk Matt Parker, known as the Stand-up Mathematician, can be seen talking about Maths on the BBC, in The Guardian and on stages across the UK – at science fairs, festivals and in theatres. Once a normal Maths Teacher, his first love is still […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Thursday 24th July Complex Networks Dr G Bianconi What does complex mean? 1) composed of many interconnected parts; compound; composite: a complex highway system. 2) characterised by a very complicated or involved arrangement of parts, units, etc.: complex machinery. 3) so complicated or intricate as to be hard to understand or deal with: a complex […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Thursday 24th July Medical Statistics Professor Joan Morris Folic Acid and Neural Tube Defects Randomised Controlled Trial A clinical trial is an experiment in which a treatment is administered to humans in order to evaluate its efficacy and safety Controlled = a comparison group Randomised = allocated to groups on basis of chance e.g. tossing […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Thursday 24th July Using statistics to learn about sensitive issues Dr Heiko Grossman Surveys, opinion polls, probability and statistics are used to find sensible estimates for things. If you are going to design a survey/ask questions you do need to be careful how you phrase them. Some examples: Should the UK adopt the Euro? Our […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Wednesday 23rd July Tour of the National Computer Museum at Bletchley Park Sheridan Williams, Andrew Spencer and Chris Monk http://www.tnmoc.org/ Sheridan Williams is a tour guide at the museum; Andrew Spencer is a corporate Events & Groups Manager at museum and Chris Monk is a learning co-ordinator at the museum. We began our tour with […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Wednesday 23rd July Tour of Bletchley Park Once Britain’s Best Kept Secret, today Bletchley Park is a heritage site and vibrant tourist attraction. Open daily, visitors can explore some of the iconic WW2 Codebreaking Huts and Blocks and marvel at the astonishing achievements of the Codebreakers whose work is said to have helped shorten the […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Tuesday 22nd July Professor Peter McOwan The Maths & Computing Magic Show Any magic trick is part performance and part mathematics. Because of the magician’s code I won’t give away any how the professor was able to carry out his tricks as he is a member of the Magic Circle. Torn and restored card trick […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Tuesday 22nd July Dr Behrang Noohi Cryptography – Lecture Secure Communication How can one send a secret message? Steganography vs. Cryptography; Kerckhoff Principle Steganography is the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file. The word steganography combines the Ancient Greek words steganos, meaning “covered, concealed, or […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Tuesday 22nd July Dr Rosemary Harris From Applied Maths to Transport Modelling (via non-equilibrium statistical mechanics) Transport processes Traffic, ants and molecular motors http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/08/traffic-radio-service-cut http://lakecountynature.com/2013/06/18/ant-parade/ http://www.ruben-group.de/home.html Stochastic Markovian dynamics In probability theory and statistics, a Markov process or Markoff process, named after the Russian mathematician Andrey Markov, is a stochastic process that satisfies the Markov […]

Goldsmiths’ 2014 Mathematics

Tuesday 22nd July Networks Dr Mark Walters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percolation_theory In mathematics, percolation theory describes the behaviour of connected clusters in a random graph. The above image shows a three-dimensional site percolation graph. Consider the two dimensional graph below showing islands in a river connected by bridges. Imagine that each bridge has a half chance of getting […]