The lecture was in two parts: a celebration of UK success in the recent International Maths Olympiad, including a medal ceremony, followed by a Pure Maths lecture delivered by a former Maths Olympian, Dr Jack Shotton, now an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Durham University.

Our participants reflect on the evening:

“Think you’re good at maths? Because I certainly did. After getting through to the Kangaroo (the follow-up competition to the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge) and almost getting a Merit for it, I thought that my maths was up to scratch.

Apparently not.

And thus, accompanied by Mr Male and a handful of other naive mathematicians in my year, we embarked on a journey to Jane Street in Liverpool Street to humble ourselves profoundly. Let’s hear what the others had to say about our experience…”

Ashna Adhikari, Year 13

 

“I really enjoyed the talk and the impressive City of London headquarters we got to visit, but I did question whether we belonged in the same group as the current most successful person in UKMT history and most of the UK's international Maths Olympiad team.”

Lev Griffin, Year 13

 

“What an enjoyable evening! It was wonderful to hear that the UK is holding its own on the International Maths stage, with “Team GB” putting in the best performance of any country in Western Europe last year. And I understood about three-quarters of the lecture, which began with “the area of a triangle” and finished with “The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture”, previously unknown to this maths teacher. I hope that our students, Ashna, Lev, Tom and Stelios, were inspired rather than dismayed by what they heard!”

Mr Male, Maths Department