Maths in the City Competition
Posted: 05/04/2011
A new project - Maths in the City - has just been launched to reveal the maths hiding in our urban surroundings. The project is led by Marcus du Sautoy and is based at the University of Oxford. The project is working with a team of volunteer mathematicians to develop walking tours of Oxford and London taking the public on a mathematical adventure of the city.
The orgnisers need your help:
We are running a competition, open to all, asking people to share their mathematical stories of the city. It might be a piece of interesting architecture, a mathematical sculpture or the maths behind something more mundane, such as traffic lights. We’re looking for:
- interesting examples of maths in the urban environment,
- clear explanations of some maths you see in your city,
- great demonstrations of your mathematical ideas on the street.
Winning entries will become part of our virtual mathscape of cities around the world and will help Marcus and the team develop their walking tours. And, of course, you can win great prizes including:
- a subscription to Nature, kindly provided by Nature Publishing Group,
- best-selling popular science books, including the “Last Word” series kindly donated by New Scientist,
- having a mathematical object named after you,
- and showcasing your entry with other finalists at an event in Oxford on 18 June with Marcus and his team.
Anyone is welcome to enter the competition — young, old, students, teachers, researchers, member of the public, journalists... — and the stories can come from any city across the UK or around the world. The competition is open for entries from 4 April to 3 May 2011. You can find all the details at http://www.mathsinthecity.com
