Reflections on a short puzzle in Elluminate

Stephen Lee (MEI) approached me regarding a 'Virtual IMA Branch talk' which would be delivered by Elluminate. The advantage is that anyone can access this, even those who cannot access a standard Branch talk. We agreed I would give a puzzles talk.

Last week we did a short practice run, with a couple of volunteers, @christianp and @SundayTeaTime (Thanks!). I did a couple of river crossing puzzles. Here it is, followed by some reflection:

I found it strange to know how to pace the talk with no real audience feedback. When we allowed multiple microphones to be active the system had an enormous lag, so we set it to what I'm thinking of as walkie-talkie mode, where I had control of the mic until I released it to Stephen. This was strange, partly because you might say something and expect a laugh or a murmur from the audience (perhaps at the start when I blame Stephen in advance for it all going wrong) and you don't get that, and also because I am used to recording a two-way conversation via Skype for the Math/Maths Podcast, where Samuel Hansen and I tend to interrupt each other.

I found it strange having no visual clues to how well the audience was understanding what I was saying. I have given this puzzle before a live audience seven times from years 11-13 (what's that? 15-19?) to undergraduate and university staff. Then, it is relatively straightforward to get an idea of whether people are following or not but here it wasn't so easy. I think this caused me to under-explain a few things, like the precise definition of the puzzle while we were trying to solve it, and I think it caused me to rush a bit.

Specific feedback given at the end that I need to address for the real thing:

• The window wasn't all on screen for one person, so a smaller window would be helpful.


• To keep the puzzle definition on screen while trying to solve it would be an advantage.

Watching the puzzle back seems to me a little slow, but then I know what's coming and I'm not playing along at home. When I've asked a question it is hard to know how long to leave it to wait for a response. Again, when I'm talking to Samuel dead air is to fill, but here you need to give people some time to think about the problems. I would be very interested to hear in the comments how you found watching it back.

Invasion of privacy

Q: What is your name?
A: Peter Rowlett

Q: What is your sex?
A: Male

Q: What is your date of birth?
Yes, okay, I'm not going to put that here (but I don't doubt you could find out if you tried).

Q: On 27 March 2011, what is your legal marital or same-sex civil partnership status?
A: Married

Q: Do you stay at another address for more than 30 days a year?
A: No

Q: Are you a schoolchild or student in full-time education?
A: No

Q: What is your country of birth?
A: England

Q: How is your health in general?
A: Good

Q: Do you look after, or give any help or support to family members,
friends, neighbours or others because of either:
- long-term physical or mental ill-health / disability?
- problems related to old age?
A: Yes, 1-19 hours a week

Q: How would you describe your national identity?
A:
English
British

Q: What is your ethnic group?
A: English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British

Q: What is your main language?
A: English

Q: What is your religion? (This question is voluntary)
A: No religion

Q: One year ago, what was your usual address?
A: The address on the front of this questionnaire

Q: What passports do you hold?
A: None

Q: Are your day-to-day activities limited because of a health problem or disability which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months?
A: No

Q: Which of these qualifications do you have?
A:
1 - 4 O levels / CSEs / GCSEs (any grades), Entry Level, Foundation Diploma
5+ O levels (passes) / CSEs (grade 1) / GCSEs (grades A*- C), School Certificate, 1 A level / 2 - 3 AS levels / VCEs, Higher Diploma
2+ A levels / VCEs, 4+ AS levels, Higher School Certificate, Progression / Advanced Diploma
Degree (for example BA, BSc), Higher degree (for example MA, PhD, PGCE)

Q: Last week, were you:
A: working as an employee

Q: In your main job, are (were) you:
A: an employee

Q: What is (was) your full and specific job title?
A: Educational advisor

Q: Briefly describe what you do (did) in your main job.
A: HE funding and staff development

Q: Do (did) you supervise any employees?
A: No

Q: At your workplace, what is (was) the main activity of your employer or business?
A: Higher Education

Q: In your main job, what is (was) the name of the organisation you work (worked) for?
A: University of Birmingham

Q: In your main job, what is the address of your workplace?
A: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT

Q: How do you usually travel to work?
A: Train

Q: In your main job, how many hours a week (including paid and unpaid overtime) do you usually work?
A: 31 - 48

Census 2011: What did I do?

Recently I wrote Census 2011: What do I do? about the "occupation" questions on the UK 2011 Census form. The issue was to summarise what I do in a way that would be as understandable as "School teacher" or "Car mechanic" and I tried to list everything I do in my earlier post. Particularly because the question asks about your main employment, following a helpful suggestion from commenter Liz, I put "Educational Advisor". I feel like I've been sold short by being pigeonholed, but it's better than everything else I thought of. The second part was to describe what I do in only 34 characters (including spaces). "Higher education funding and staff development" was too long, so I put "HE funding and staff development", which isn't really right in any case.

And the Census failed to capture that I am a student part time alongside work, which I think is a missed opportunity. And it didn't find out I take the bus to the railway station on the way to work, so my local Council's pleas about allocating funds to local areas won't be helped. There are some other issues (BSc or PhD? What's the difference?) but let's stop there.

Sigh.

Math/Maths History Tour of Nottingham 2/3 - George Green: Miller, Mathematician, and Physicist

When Samuel Hansen visited me in Nottingham I took him on a maths and computing tour of the city and we filmed content for three videos. Here is the second, on Nottingham's most famous mathematical story, George Green.

There is a YouTube playlist with all the Math/Maths History videos and a map of the locations used in the videos.

George Green (1793-1841) was a miller in Sneinton, Nottingham who worked in his spare time to develop mathematics that, although unrecognised in his own lifetime, has been very useful to mathematics since. His work was rediscovered by Lord Kelvin and applied first to electromagnetism, later even to Nobel Prize-winning work in quantum theory, and continues to be useful to physicists and mathematicians today.

When Samuel Hansen visited Peter Rowlett in Nottingham, Peter took Samuel on a mathematics and computing history tour of the city. In this video, Peter takes Samuel to visit some of the sites from Green's life in Nottingham, including Green's windmill, Nottingham's mathematical playground, Nottingham High School and the Bromley House Library.

Listen to Samuel and Peter on the Math/Maths Podcast, a weekly maths news roundup from Pulse-Project.org.

Samuel Hansen's visit to the UK and associated activities were supported by: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Greenwich, University of Leicester Mathsoc, Nottingham Trent University, MathsJam, Nottingham High School, Bromley House Library and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.

Census 2011: What do I do?

I notice people on Twitter filling in the Census 2011 form already. (This is strange to me, because it is a record of who was in your house on the 27th March 2011. What happens if you get hit by a bus tomorrow? What if you're called away for work or a family emergency? What if you meet a nice boy/girl tomorrow and he/she is staying at yours, or you at his/hers, on the night of the 27th?) So I'm looking at the form.

Putting aside the question of whether I am English or British, and the difficult modesty-inducing issue of whether I can speak English "Well", or "Very well", and the concern that if I work I am asked to skip the question "Last week, were you: a student?" (a real missed opportunity to get some useful information and, it seems to me, indicative of a misunderstanding about part time education), or the fact that my journey to work (about 70 miles each way) must be either by train, by bus or on foot but not more than one of these, we come to the tricky issue of occupation. Along with employer details, the specific questions are:

"What is (was) your full and specific job title?"

This seems easy. My job title is "HE Curriculum Innovation Advisor". However, the prompts are "For example, PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER, CAR MECHANIC, DISTRICT NURSE, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER", so the question really seems to want a generic version of what I do. James Grime put "mathematician". As I said to him: if I taught I'd be a lecturer; if I did maths I'd be a mathematician. I'd like to be a lecturer, but I'm not. So what am I?

"Briefly describe what you do (did) in your main job".

This question allows 34 characters (including spaces) on the paper form. Oh dear!

So what do I do? Professionally, I do the following:

• The main day job is HE Curriculum Innovation Advisor for the Maths, Stats and OR Network, a Higher Education Academy Subject Centre at the University of Birmingham, where I work on the Mathematical Sciences HE Curriculum Innovation Project, funded by the National HE STEM Programme.
  I suppose my employer is properly the University of Birmingham. The work is split, I think, into four parts: HE Curriculum Innovation Fund (distributing funding and supporting funded projects); Research into current mathematics HE curriculum (read: course delivery and design), particularly "sector priorities" to inform distribution of the Fund; Dissemination of funded project and research outcomes and staff development; and, admin related to the other parts (although I am greatly supported in this latter by the MSOR Network).
• PhD, Nottingham Trent University
  Alongside this I am doing a part-time, self-funded PhD on, broadly, e-assessment in mathematics at higher education level. If you work in HE mathematics I have a questionnaire on advantages and disadvantages of e-assessment open until 25th March 2011 that it would be great if you could fill in.
  
• Council Member, British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM).
  Voluntary. Here I am a member of Council, a director of the company and trustee of the charity BSHM. This involves various specific voluntary activities, such as my 'unplanned impact' initiative and the upcoming talk on the Golden Section which I initiated and had a hand in organising. This also means I have an advisory and decision making role with the rest of Council on BSHM affairs.
• Senior Vice Chair, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications East Midlands Branch.
  Voluntary. This mostly involves helping to organise talks in the region.
• Chartership Leader, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications Early Career Mathematicians Group Committee.
  Voluntary. I am on the committee for the group and involved in collective decision making. Specific activities I am involved with are organising a pilot of a mentoring scheme for IMA membership and chartership applications and I will be attending the IMA Council Strategy Weekend in March which will make a strategic review of IMA activities, mission, etc.
• Co-Host, Math/Maths Podcast for Pulse-Project.org.
  Voluntary (in the sense that no one wants to pay me to do this, rather than this being necessarily a voluntary or charitable activity). A mathematics news/current affairs sort of podcast for Oxford science communication project Pulse-Project.org. I have a weekly chat with Samuel Hansen, upload the recording and add some text to a webpage on pulse-project.org. Recently this also involved a short lecture tour and recording some videos on mathematics history in Nottingham.
• Organiser, MathsJam Nottingham.
  Voluntary. I organise the Nottingham branch of this 'puzzles in the pub' monthly event.
  
• STEM Ambassador.
  Voluntary. I volunteered to be a STEM Ambassador in Nottinghamshire and have been CRB checked for this purpose. Working out of town a lot means I'm often not available to help with events but recently I attended an event to get teachers interested in using STEM Ambassadors and I am talking with the Big Bang East Midlands about running a stall and/or giving a talk.
  
• Paid maths speaking engagements.
  This year I had my first paid speaking gig. I gave a lot of talks in universities when I worked for the IMA but now my current job doesn't involve this and I don't have a lot of spare time, so when I was asked to give a talk I asked for a small payment for my time.
• Other bits of writing.
  I write this blog and I've been known to host a Carnival of Mathematics or write a popular maths article. So far I haven't been paid for this sort of writing.
  

On my website I describe myself using: "I work in maths promotion and maths education". On Twitter I say in my bio: "Mathematics incl. popular, recreational, education, history".

So, really, what do I do? Advice welcome!

Links to enthuse about mathematics

A while ago an email was posted to a mailing list I am on. The IMA, my former employer and the professional body of which I am a member (and I hope you are too), are redeveloping their website and the redeveloped site will have a section "I Love Maths". The email asks for suggestions of content to link to and explains this will contain:

• interesting articles on the history of mathematics;
• biographies of mathematicians;
• mathematical problems;
• mathematical podcasts.

I sent an email back with a couple of suggestions. Then yesterday, on a sort of whim, I asked on Twitter for "Suggestions please: What websites, blogs, video, audio & online written resources could I link to to enthuse people about maths?" Here are the replies I have received so far. More welcome in the comments or on Twitter.

@CloudoidLtd and @joshgiesbrecht recommend the charming Vi Hart and her doodlings. Here's an example:

@jennycaddick recommended Plus Magazine. When I would give my careers talk for the IMA I would point out the Plus Careers Library and I'd always ask: "Do you read Plus?" and comment: "If you don't, you should. It's good!"

Plus magazine opens a door to the world of maths, with all its beauty and applications, by providing articles from the top mathematicians and science writers on topics as diverse as art, medicine, cosmology and sport. You can read the latest mathematical news on the site every week, browse our blog, listen to our podcasts and keep up-to-date by subscribing to Plus (on email, RSS, Facebook, iTunes or Twitter).

@acmescience pointed out the YouTube channels singingbanana by James Grime and TDAmathsmoneysavers by Matt Parker. Here are samples:

As well as his blog, reflectivemathsteacher, @reflectivemaths recommended Murderous Maths.

The books, the extra bits, games, hints, tricks, puzzles... they're all here !

You can watch a video here:

@dendari recommended Math Playground:

Welcome to Math Playground, an action-packed site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game and have some fun!

@dansmath pointed me to his site dansmath.com, "for free lessons and link to my math(s) podcasts!"

@numberprose pointed me to the NumberProse Blog:

Welcome to my blog. I will share my thoughts on a variety of math-related topics. Sometimes when I go to a Spanish tapas restaurant after sampling some tapas, my taste buds are tantalized but I am left hungry for more. I need an entrée! Similarly if you are hungry for more information after reading a particular blog entry then click on the links for more in-depth reading.

@pkauppila recommended Math-Blog.com.

Math-Blog.com is dedicated to promoting the beauty of Mathematics at every level. It was started in 2007 by Antonio Cangiano, a Software Engineer and Technical Evangelist employed by IBM, who is very passionate about math. It began as a personal blog, but following its early success the site is now accepting external submissions and contributions by guest writers, with the long-term goal of making it a hub for those who intend to publish high quality, interesting and easy to follow mathematical articles on the Web.

Last but not least, @AbdelRSS pointed out the magazine published by his employer the RSS, Significance Magazine.

Statistics are key to understanding news, developments, and decisions. Updated daily, Significance brings you a statistical view of what's going on in the world.

Okay, I'm off to send in these suggestions. What did I recommend in my first reply? Well the IMA already know about the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast but I recommended Strongly Connected Components and of course gave a nod to the Math/Maths Podcast. For history I sent in the MacTutor history of mathematics archive, the BSHM web resources section (although I've been asked to update this) and the new Bite-sized History of Mathematics written materials and podcast. I pointed out the first of three videos Samuel Hansen and I made on our History of Mathematics Tour of Nottingham and the two videos of lectures I gave for History of Maths and x, on cryptography and gravity. For blogs, I suggested the Big Two, Terence Tao's What's new and Tim Gowers Gowers's weblog, and also Greenwich Maths Time. For interesting reading I suggested Plus Magazine and Maths and Sport. For puzzles and problems I suggested Cut-the-Knot.org and recommended a link to MathsJam.

What would you recommend?

Math/Maths History Tour Locations

I made a Google Map of the locations used in the Math/Maths History Tour of Nottingham. At present this includes the locations from video 1 - Computing: Burroughs Adding Machines and Ada Lovelace - but when the rest are released I will add those too.

I also made a YouTube playlist onto which I will add the new videos as they become available.


View Math/Maths History Tour of Nottingham Locations in a larger map

Math/Maths History Tour of Nottingham 1/3 - Computing: Burroughs Adding Machines & Ada Lovelace

When Samuel Hansen visited me in Nottingham I took him on a maths and computing tour of the city and we filmed content for three videos. Here is the first. (Be sure to watch for the bit after the credits!)

Update (05/03/11): I made a YouTube playlist onto which I will add the new videos as they become available.

The Math/Maths Computing History Tour of Nottingham - Burroughs and Ada Lovelace

Nottingham is the burial place of the Byron family and particularly Ada Lovelace, regarded as the world's first computer programmer, who worked with Charles Babbage on his Difference and Analytical Engines. Nottingham was also the overseas manufacturing plant for Burroughs Adding Machine Company, a precursor of modern computers, which became one of the eight major United States computer companies and ultimately joined a merger to form worldwide IT brand Unisys.

When Samuel Hansen visited Peter Rowlett in Nottingham, Peter took Samuel on a mathematics and computing history tour of the city. In this video, Peter shows Samuel some of the sites related to this story in Nottingham, following a clue from David Singmaster's Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles, and Samuel tells Peter some of the relevant history of computing.

Listen to Samuel and Peter on the Math/Maths Podcast, a weekly maths news roundup from Pulse-Project.org.

Samuel Hansen's visit to the UK and associated activities were supported by: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Greenwich, University of Leicester Mathsoc, Nottingham Trent University, MathsJam, Nottingham High School, Bromley House Library and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.

PhD questionnaire

For my PhD I have written a questionnaire. I conducted interviews with UK higher education mathematics lecturers about their views of the advantages and disadvantages of e-assessment and traditional assessment (two users and two non-users of e-assessment). This questionnaire is based on the findings of those interviews and hopes to collect a wider range of views.

I would be very grateful if you could complete the questionnaire and pass this message on to anyone who you think might complete it. It is quite short; if it takes more than five minutes to complete I would be surprised.

If you are at all interested in this please consider completing the questionnaire but I am particularly interested to hear the views of those involved in teaching or supporting the teaching of mathematics at higher education level. I am not just interested in the views of those who use e-assessment; I would really like this survey to reach those who don't use e-assessment as well so they can offer their views on the advantages and disadvantages of different methods.

I will keep the questionnaire open until Friday 25th March 2011.

Thank you!