Pacman Puzzles to Juggling Patterns: Unlocking the Wonders of Mathematics
Over the past two weeks, the Mathematics Department has taken pupils from Years Ten and the Lower Sixth to ‘Maths in Action’ days at Birmingham and Warwick Universities to introduce them to some of the applications of the subject beyond the classroom. Year Ten pupil Gabby Hailwood shares the following report:
“From game theory to music Mathematics, and everything in between, our day was full of things you never thought you could know about Mathematics. An in-depth analysis of the popular retro video game ‘Pacman’ revealed the answer to the well-known postman problem and Colin Wright fascinated the audience with his juggling abilities and his grasp on the Mathematics of patterns and predictions. A session with Ayliean MacDonald was all we needed to take out our phones and start playing alternate games on chessboards, making links to magic squares. Overall, it was an intriguing and captivating day of Mathematics!”