On Tuesday the 13th of March I attended the Maths Summit, an event held in the Science Museum in London.
From Simon Singh’s divisive opinions about Maths outreach, to hearing more about the not-so-secret-top-secret workings of the elusive GCHQ and their need for mathematicians, as well as a talk by the (now ex) secretary of state for science, technology and innovation, there was lots keeping me enthralled.
As a PhD student in my first year, it was particularly exciting to be able to attend the ‘Glastonbury of Maths’ as coined by our host for the day, Anne-Marie Imafidon. The theme for the day was on demonstrating the importance of mathematics in society, focusing on how we can increase awareness and ensure the role of maths and the need for mathematicians is continuously emphasised. This was achieved through several interesting panel discussions, touching on the perception of maths to the public and how this can be improved, as well as tackling imposter syndrome in maths and eliminating the narrative that “You must be the best to study maths at university”.
I felt very lucky to be part of such a great team and working alongside Chris, Kweku, Cangxiong and Tina, feel Maths4DL was well represented. It was also exciting talking to those from EPSRC, other academics and those with a general interest in mathematics and the role it plays in explaining deep learning. During the exhibition stage, my favourite topic of conversation was around in-painted image detection. A project I had worked on as part of a SAMBa ITT, which produced a rather fruitful method of detecting whether a region of an image had been AI generated. It was also fun talking to others about their work, hearing about different maths related charities, discussing potential collaborations and meeting ‘maths celebs’ like Bobby Seagull.
Some taglines and buzzwords for the day include “The age of AI and Quantum”, “Maths is the most popular A-Level subject, but university numbers are decreasing” and “We live in a society where it’s cool to be bad at maths, but the same is not said for English”.
After having a great time at the maths summit, I was keen to get involved in more maths related events. Then, one radical haircut later, on Monday the 6th of May, I attended the annual Somerset Science festival. An event held in the Haynes Motor Museum, a location which houses many classic and historic cars and motor bikes spanning several decades.
Whether attempting to convince families of my seemingly prophetic powers, through a game of guess the number (a binary test which later exposes said powers as nothing more than counting) or showcasing images of the ‘pope in a coat’ in an attempt to explain generative AI, it was an interactive and fun day out.
The science festival attracts families and science enthusiasts from all across the Southwest, with exhibitions from a large number of organisations and universities. Whilst setting up, I took the opportunity to peruse the neighbouring exhibitions (or ‘the competition’ as we joked) and was very impressed, with stands showcasing biomedical research to spectroscopy analysis and mars rover experiments.
While taking great enjoyment in discussing the importance of maths in society, and explaining more about the Maths4DL programme, there was also a chance to showcase the lighthearted side and fun aspects of maths. This included many games, puzzles and brain teasers which many kids (and some parents) had fun tackling. Some fan favourites included the game of ‘dog vs food’, to explain how a neural network learns or a dice strategy game, where the dice I chose, depended on the one selected by my opponent, justified by the probabilities of success. We ended the day with a tour around the motor museum and were greeted by some surprise thunder and lightning on our way back to the car.
