Maths in the City Competition

Tuesday 12th July 2011

At the end of the Easter Term, Professor Marcus du Sautoy of the University of Oxford launched a new project, Maths in the City, to reveal the maths hiding in our urban surroundings. The boys in Years 3 to 6 were given the entry details to take with them on their Easter holidays.

The competition was open to all and asked people to share their mathematical stories of any city, anywhere in the world. It might have been a piece of interesting architecture, a mathematical sculpture or the maths behind something more mundane, such as traffic lights. The team were looking for

• interesting examples of maths in the urban environment,

• clear explanations of some maths seen in a city,

• great demonstrations of mathematical ideas on the street.

Anyone was welcome to enter the competition (young, old, students, teachers, researchers, member of the public, journalists...). The official competition was open for entries from 4 April to 3 May 2011. The Maths Department at Aldwickbury ran an unofficial competition. Creative and interesting photos featuring the boys’ Maths Daves (the logo of the competition) from around the world provided enough display material to cover almost eleven square metres of wall! I was very impressed by the quality, scope and humour of the entries. Chocolate prizes and certificates were awarded to the 36 boys.