A quick guide to problem solving by analogy — Here’s something to puzzle over. A patient presents with a malignant, inoperable tumour. The doctor can use a particular type of ray to destroy the tumour. Unfortunately, the ray will also destroy healthy tissue in the process. The rays cause no damage to healthy tissue at lower intensity but, of…

What magic(ians) and math(ematician)s have in common — I took up card magic last year after spending time on YouTube in thrall of Shin Lim (if you’ve never heard the name, now is the time to get acquainted). I’d had fleeting experiences with magic before. As a child I once scuppered a magician’s act by accidentally destroying his…

The BBC has announced it is “to deliver the biggest education offer in its history”, featuring hours of daily content for primary and secondary students across its channels. For its part, the BBC deserves credit for delivering a public service at a time of desperate need. For many families, television…

My most cherished correspondence dates back to December 23, 2002: an offer letter from St Anne’s College, Oxford, to pursue a degree in mathematics. The dream subject at the dream university, and the catalyst for my development as mathematician and educator. I sat my exams, earned my grades, gleefully took…

What an EdTech CEO ignores about learning and teaching — Did you hear the one about the EdTech CEO who thinks all learning activities should cater to low attention spans? It would read as satire, except that Mohit Midha appears deadly serious. The boss of Mangahigh, an online maths platform, claims that video games offer a blueprint for the future…

Mathematical thinking spans multiple worlds — My work keeps me in touch with maths educators from across the world. Recently, I have noticed a renewed emphasis on problem solving in the classroom. …

It is so much more than a formula — Why do we have to learn Pythagoras? It’s a question that stretches back almost as much as the Greek maestro himself, and one that hip-hop artist and activist Akala recently challenged educators with. For maths education to find relevance and resonance with students, we have to interrogate the stock response…

We’ve just relaxed our human ambition — Am I the only one who feels a tad underwhelmed by Google Duplex? My social media feeds are filled with gushing platitudes over the virtual assistant’s handling of a simple haircut appointment. Some are even claiming the Turing Test has been passed. …

Where Paul Erdös got it wrong — I seem to keep encountering the following quote: It appears on my Twitter feed every few weeks, is quoted in several maths books and, just this week, I found the words emblazoned on the office wall of a mathematician colleague. The quote is attributed to Paul Erdös, the twentieth century…