1. Street MathsEdmund Harriss University of Leicester @geladawww.mathematicians.org.uk/eoh Saturday, 14 November 2009

2. What is mathematics? Large numbers?PhD student: I have started a maths PhD Elderly Relative: Whats that then,multiplying and adding very big numbers? PhD student: No, its mor... Elderly Relative: What?! Are you LAZY! Saturday, 14 November 2009 3. This is 1 million points itbecomes a blur Even when I double Maths tools: Saturday, 14 November 2009 4. Why is this understanding important? We have (quite recent) way of expressing1 numbers very well, expressing them is notthe same as understanding.1000Especially when we say them...10000001000000000Nice idea, look at time... So why is this important...One: 1 second One Thousand: ~17 minutesOne Million: ~11 days 14 hours One Billion: ~32 years One Trillion: ~32,000 years Saturday, 14 November 2009 5. xkcd: http://xkcd.com/558/...they can be used to mislead. At the moment the classic example is in thesums being talked about. If people are to take full advantage of an open access system they need tobe able to think. Mathematics is about clear thought. How do we get mathematics out there?Saturday, 14 November 2009 6. These two Lengthsare incommeasurable Start with a legend Two images of pythagoras, neither really him, so we will takeWrong! Bad!one to be Hippasus Legend says they were in the pythagorean cult that worshipped Drown Him!whole numbers. With whole numbers you get ratios. But Hippasus said...Hippasusand so... This is a legend, there is almost no historical evidence. But thatdoes not matter, the story is important. People tell it because itsounds ludicrous. Maths is free. You cannot patent maths. We have a different problem, once you have built something howdo you make people come... IncommeasurableIs there a barrier of education/training? PythagorasLengths Saturday, 14 November 2009 7. Ramanujan Clerk, with basic mathseducation but willing toexplore. Worked at the cuttingedge of maths... Saturday, 14 November 2009 8. Robert Ammann Marjorie Rice Played with ideas and discovered newtilings. Where did their ideas come from? Saturday, 14 November 2009 9. Martin Gardner Godfather of street maths Got ideas out there Ammann after Penrose Rice read one of his columns You might say there is something elementary or naiveabout this work Yes, but that does not matter. This is not about creatingnew maths (though that is a bonus) its about gettingpeople doing it... so how... They are... Saturday, 14 November 2009 10. Playground proof So we have established mathsThere are a lot of ideas here. Kid B has grasped important, it is opena proof. There is no highest whole number. and people can do it...why dont they? However hard Kid A works he cannot make anumber that Kid B cannot beat with one We have all been told how useful maths is.It would be useful forKid A: One squagillion,phrase.me to keep my receipts organised, but I dont zillion, katrillion, godzillion,gajillion, On the other hand I am one of the lucky ones. I always found maths exciting. umptillion, trillion, Possibly too much so.Meeting a group of friends with the sunday magazines, I looked over entranced. What a great tiling! million, billion squared! I was mocked. Standing in front of the tiling was Natalie PortmanSo...how do we get people interested... Kid B: Plus oneSaturday, 14 November 2009 11. ac e?ill Sp eses F /sh apap gs.org. For some uk Sh Maths is fun:o ww.tilind w Puzzles, Games owhttp:// Summer ExhibitionHMathematicians playing Saturday, 14 November 2009 12. For others: Maths is beautiful Maths art, concrete art Saturday, 14 November 2009 13. m eH i zuge. or g/ A kio.sta rca ww://whttpBoth of these are still top down. Lots of people do sudoku, are they learning to think? A little but thereare limits. People can look at pictures and find them beautiful without trying tounderstand them. Akio Hizume. Projects to build, to walk through...to DO Want to get people doing maths Present them with opportunities to build themselves If you have to make something you have to engage at a lower level Paper polyhedra Street maths is about getting people involved and creative withmaths. Putting it in front of them, but also building something.Saturday, 14 November 2009 14. Project that started it... Make triangles Hinge People do the work... Saturday, 14 November 2009 15. Then need people to build it. But also to design it... Started with a talk on symmetry Made models: No symmetry People built models and then voted on which wewould make. Smashed model Saturday, 14 November 2009 16. 5/y st emx.php re S de 5 /in ._lp tu s/w _No b.i mbla steScu . fa Syww re_://w lptu ttp cuh SFinal resultThe design is openWANT other people to make them. Saturday, 14 November 2009 17. Hyperscope. Mirrors. People can build (or evendesign) then experience aworld of negativecur vature. Saturday, 14 November 2009 18. auss -Strandmthboow.ma u n. c om G m tp://wwh aiageChtain _P33 ex.p 20 i/indh p/M th /wik a duM k. e .u ar20 33Big influence on me:ath ://m Bamboo maths company.http Teaching this to students Saturday, 14 November 2009 19. ati csth emMaing D oGetting the materiaStreet maths is: Doing/building mathematics. l outGettinf op enuseoM ak ing tru cti on/ sconsac ces abs F abL Saturday, 14 November 2009