Public Understanding of Maths: a lost cause or a fight worth winning? Chris Budd.

Public Understanding of Maths: a lost cause or a fight worth winning?

Chris Budd

A common scenario

You meet someone at a party and (foolishly)

Tell them you are a mathematicianTheir immediate reaction is to …

• Panic

• Leave quickly

• Tell you that ..

Mathematics is completely useless

Mathematicians are souless geeks

All mathematicians are mad!

In response you can …

• Deny that you are a mathematician

• Not go to any more parties

• Agree that mathematicians are evil

• or …. Say that

The modern world would not exist without maths

Maths is cool and lies at the heart of art and music

Even if maths scares you it is still

vital to your life and can even be fun!

We don’t just need to do this at parties!

Most people don’t realise

how important maths is!

It is essential that we convince others otherwise we will have no funding, no students and no future!!!

• Young people and their parents and teachers

• Politicians and industry

• Research Councils!!!!Talk will: provide some motivation, describe some PU activities and indicate how you can get involved

So .. How do we get the message across that maths is important, fun, beautiful, powerful, challenging, all around us and central to civilisation?

• Why is it so hard to do this?

• What maths can we tell everyone about?

• What is being done?

• What works .. And what doesn’t?

• How can you get involved?

Let’s face it part of the problem is obvious …

• Mathematicians have often been our own worst enemies, thinking that maths is best kept as useless as possible and communicating its power is a poor substitute for proving theorems …

• the RAF and HODs often support this view!

• Maths isn’t as easy to talk about as sex and violence (see later)

• Maths genuinely is hard, can be scary, and requires thought

• The media often makes fun of maths or simply doesn’t understand it!

Things that I have found to have worked

• Starting with an application relevant to everyone’s lives and then showing the maths involved

• Being proud of the subject!

• Surprising your audience! …. Maths is magic!

• Linking maths to real people … all maths was invented by someone!

• Not being afraid to show the audience a real formula or real mathematics!!!

• Using techniques from stand up comedians!

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Some motivation: maths really is fun!

And ..We have lot to be proud about!!!

Maths has changed the modern world

Maxwell: Electromagnetism … radio, TV, radar, mobile phones

Google

Error correcting codes

Galois

Matrices, eigenvalues

Mathematicians invented the computer

Mathematicians forecast the weather, climate

0.,Re

1. 2 uuPuuut

… and dust clouds

Mathematicians save lives (and bees)!

Florence NightingaleRadon 1917

VENTRICULUS

HAEMOLYMPH

0.05mm

But .. What is being done to communicate this awesome power of maths to the public?

Mathematicians can be great communicators and it is possible to communicate a lot of good maths without getting sunk in technicalities Some examples of maths champions:

• Christopher Zeeman … Books, radio, TV, RI• Ian Stewart … Books, radio, TV, RI

• Marcus du Sautoy … Books, radio, TV, RI, fashion ..

• Simon Singh … Books, TV, UAS

• Matt Parker … Card Tricks, Busking

• Sara Santos … Busking, Masterclasses

• Colin Wright … Juggling

• Dr Maths .. News column, Maths in the Mall

• Kjartan Poskitt .. Murderous maths books

• Robin Wilson .. Books, radio, talks

• David Acheson .. Books and talks

• Rob Eastaway .. Books, puzzles, shows

• David Spiegelhalter .. Risk show, talks, media

RI Maths Masterclasses .. How everyone can get involved

• Saturday morning classes for young people

• Mixture of talk and workshops

• Based in a university, linked to local schools

• Huge variety of topics eg. Mazes*, codes*, deep sea diving, dancing

* Involve sex and violence!

RI Classes founded by

Christopher Zeeman

Other ways to get involved

• Direct engagement with schools .. Widening participation

• MOTIVATE video conferences

• Writing text books

• INTERNET … Plus Maths, Cipher Challenge, MMP, NRICH

• Maths Inspiration

(Rob Eastaway)

Science Festivals

Traditionally maths is under represented at fairs

Eg. Cheltenham .. Only one maths event!

But the British Science Festival now has a number of maths events .. 2009: Origami, Moon landings, Magic

2010: Radar, Risk, Industrial Revolution

Bath Taps Into Science … 1/3 of exhibits are maths

Involving Undergraduates

• Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme UAS: Simon Singh

• Cambridge: Stimulate

• Bath ‘Maths Communicators’:

15 Students do a Masterclass, take part in Bath Taps, take a school lesson and do a written activity

All for degree credit

• MMG, HE-STEM

What works?

Almost anything, provided it is done with energy, enthusiasm and commitment

What doesn’t

• Being too technical .. Steer clear of Sobolev spaces

• Not being technical enough .. Don’t be afraid to stretch and challenge your audience .. Young people love puzzles

• Talking about it rather than doing it

• Expecting that the media will beat a path to your door!

They can still need a lot of convincing and often think that maths means mental arithmetic!!!!!!

Just do it .. If you’re not doing it then you’re not doing it!

. But it does take time, commitment and energy and it is not always easy to convince heads of departments of the value of these activities.

How to get involved .. Basically just go for it .. It’s great fun and brings great rewards

Some organisations to team up with

• HE-STEM … Michael Grove

• RI : Maths Masterclasses … Sara Santos

• MMP/MOTIVATE … Jenny Gage

• STEMNET

• LMS (Holgate), IMA (Popular lecturers)

• Royal Society (RSSE)

• EPSRC PPE Grants

Or come to the IMA Conference 8-9th June, Manchester and take part in the factor

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I hope that I have encouraged you to not only think that a lot is happening to promote maths, but that this activity is not only well worth while but great fun. I remain convinced that we MUST promote maths not only to justify the money that is spent on us, but also to enthuse the next generation of students. (I hope that the increase in numbers doing maths A level and maths degrees is in part due to the increased work in promoting maths enrichment in schools). We also need to show everyone that not only is maths important but that it really is central to their lives. I hope that the increase of maths in the media is an indication that this is now working better, and I look forward to a future where maths is treated with the same respect in the media as all other subjects. I also look forward to a future where the numbers of mathematicians involved in public engagement is more than the current handful. Next year the IMA is running a conference on ‘How to talk maths in public’ which is aimed both to share good practice and also to encourage and train the next generation of maths presenters. Please can I urge you all to come along and see if you can take on the challenge of the

ex factor.