Last week, the UV went to the Bristol Beacon (along with 1100 other teens!) to enjoy a presentation by the Maths Inspiration team. Maths Inspiration is a national programme of interactive maths lecture shows for 14-17 year olds that set out to prove there's far more to maths than taking exams. It is a chance to experience the UK's most inspiring maths speakers presenting mathematics live in the context of exciting, real-world applications. Here, Mona (UV) reports on the experience:

In a trip to the Bristol Beacon for the Maths Inspiration talk, the UV learnt the power of maths in everyday life; from exploring the use of statistics during the Covid pandemic to using equations to model marine pollution.

Jennifer Visser-Rogers talked to us about hypothesis testing and evaluating new drugs. She also highlighted the importance of maths to understand ‘click bait’ headlines such as the rumours behind covid vaccines’ effectiveness. 

Tom Crawford showed us how we could use equations to model and combat the plastic pollution in the oceans and rivers.

Unlike the other speakers emphasising the importance of the application of Maths, Ben Sparks showed us that Maths itself can just be fun! He showed how we can make music with maths and make patterns and the elegance of the Mandelbrot set.

Everyone learnt so much and we were all so inspired by the speakers’ different take on the value of Mathematics.

Mona, UV