Christmas Lecture

For the Christmas lecture of my multivariable calculus module I tried find something entertaining to present. This turned out to be quite difficult, but in the process I across this multivariable calculus themed comic.

What Is the Point?

Today the Guardian reported that a Polish man who went to the police to report an assault on his wife was questioned about his immigration status and handed over to immigration officials who detained him in Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre. He has been in detention for the past two months.

There are genuine arguments for controlled immigration and “taking back cotrol of the border”. There is also merit in finding and deporting those who are in the country illegally. But what can possibly be the point of making life hell for those who have done nothing wrong? What purpose is served by casting the net of suspicion so wide that it causes collateral damage?

Writing a Bachelor Thesis

One of my duties as lecturer is supervising final year projects. Seeing students engage with a piece of mathematics on their own is an interesting and rewarding experience. As part of the process of guiding and advising, of observing students and with the benefit of hindsight one distills little nuggets of advice. Advice that, one hopes, might help students engage deeper with the mathematics and benefit more from the process.

Adventures with Android

A geocaching adventure gone wrong saw my phone disappear into the depths of a Latvian river and so I was in need of a replacement phone. My parents were kind enough to let me use one of their old phones and after unlocking it and acquiring a new sim card—both tasks ending up being more time-consuming than they should have been—nothing stood between me and the enjoyment of a new phone.

What is Mathematics?

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to help out with the upcoming induction week for our mathematics undergraduate students. I am given one hour to give 70 students some idea of what they have come to study. After thinking about the question, “What is mathematics?”, I have found the following four-fold answer.

Mathematics helps us to…

• … find precise answers to precise questions.
• … find approximate answers to vague questions.
• … interpret answers that seem precise but are not.
• … figure out the right questions to ask.

Below I have tried to develop these points and to supplement them with examples. The text below is addressed at first year students of mathematics at Brunel University.