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Pigpen and atbash, the hidden sums in Alice in Wonderland and Rovers on Mars – it must have been another maths day at Wellington College.
Open to Year 10 students in the Wellington College Student Alliance, the second Taking Maths Further day of this academic year began with Lawrence O’Toole discussing cryptography, including the Pigpen and Atbash ciphers.
Jeff Trim talked about how author Lewis Carroll, creator of Alice and the Mad Hatter, was a mathematician and coder, while Cath Moore talked about the mathematics of space, which included a lively segment where the students tried to make paper helicopters.
Yvonne Scott from the Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP), outlined many ways maths can help in a career, and the day ended with a closely-fought quiz where students built a picture of a dragon by getting maths questions right, with Ranelagh students from Bracknell taking the prize, closely followed by boys from The Forest.
Teacher Linda Harbour, from King’s Academy Binfield, said: “It was a fabulous day. It really opened our students’ minds to the potential and possibilities of maths.”
George, from The Forest School in Winnersh, said: “It was very informative about what you can do with maths, it made me think of things I’d never thought about before.”
The event was run by the Wellington College Student Alliance and AMSP and partner schools involved included Gordons and Robert May’s.
The first Taking Maths Further Day of the year was held in November.
