Category Archives: Mathematics

Inspired by Geometry Exhibition

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A new exhibition with a mathematical twist starts day in the Martin Hall Exhibition Space.

Inspired by Geometry traces the unifying thread of geometric influence that binds together art, design, and mathematics. The exhibtion features original works by artists Jonathan Meuli and Karen Westland, together with mathematical sculptures created in a collaboration between the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Loughborough Design School.

The exhibition is supported by the Loughborough University Institute of Advanced Studies and the Loughborough Design School. It runs from 14th-31st January and  is open daily from 12pm-2pm. Admittance is free.

Useful Calculator Apps for Maths Students

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Although there are countless apps available to download for your iPad, the clever people at the Educational Technology & Mobile Learning website have just posted a link to four free iPad graphic calculator apps which maths students may find useful.

Visit the site below to take a look!

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2016/04/4-powerful-ipad-graphic-calculator-apps.html

Calculator image by Amy, reproduced under CC License from Flickr.

Pop Along to the Wolfson Pop-Up!

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The Wolfson Pop-up Library will be starting tomorrow and running every Thursday in term-time from 12.30pm – 1.30pm in the Wolfson cafe.

Come and ask your friendly neighbourhood Academic Librarian Becky Laing any engineering, science and mathematics questions you may have. She also knows lots about classic television series and knitting. What better way to spend a lunch time!

Free Online Course – Numeracy Skills

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FutureLearn_823185A new numeracy course from FutureLearn entitled Numeracy Skills for Employability and the Workplace has been launched this week to help students with their numeracy skills.

Designed to build confidence, this course will help students to gain the numeracy skills needed to succeed in both employers’ numeracy tests and the workplace.

In addition to refreshing understanding of specific numeracy skills (such as percentages, ratios, averages and currency conversions), students will also develop essential skills for interpreting numerical data and understanding statistics.

The course will develop through a carefully paced, step-by-step introduction to relevant topics with opportunities to check understanding through quizzes. There will be feedback at every stage.

Students can enrol at any time during their studies at Loughborough. Enrolment will automatically roll over at the end of each academic year as long as students remain registered at the University.

Participation in the course is eligible for Employability Award points and a Certificate of Completion will be automatically generated as evidence.

You can watch the FutureLearn course trailer here.

To self-enrol, click here.

Numeracy Skills for Employability – Free Online Course

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mooc

Improve your mathematical confidence and gain the skills to pass employers’ numeracy tests with a new free online course being run by our Mathematics Education Centre this June.

This course will help you improve or revise your knowledge of mathematics. You will gain the numeracy skills needed to succeed in both employers’ numeracy tests and the workplace. It is designed to build your confidence.

Over three weeks, the course will look at where numbers occur in everyday life and what numeracy means in this context. It will look at the rationale behind employers’ numeracy testing and the skills you will need to be successful.

In addition to refreshing your understanding of specific numeracy skills (such as percentages, ratios, averages and currency conversions), you will develop essential skills for interpreting numerical data and understanding statistics. The course will develop your skills through a carefully paced, step-by-step introduction to relevant topics with opportunities to check your understanding through quizzes. There will be feedback at every stage.

To find out more and to register for the course, visit this link:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/numeracy-skills

Landmark First Female Winner of the Fields Maths Medal

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mathematics robert scarth

Professor Maryam Mirzakhani of the Stanford University, California, yesterday made history by becoming the first female mathematician to win the prestigious Fields Medal, the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

The prize, founded by Canadian mathematician John Fields in 1936 and awarded every four years at a ceremony hosted by the International Mathematical Union, was awarded to four mathematicians in total, with Professor Mirzakhani winning the top prize for her work in complex geometry. Professor Martin Hairer, from the UK’s University of Warwick, also received a medal for his study of partial differential equations.

We have a vast amount of books and journals dedicated to the subject of mathematics, located downstairs among our collection on Level 1. We also have a wide variety of databases on the subject, including MathWorld, an interactive mathematical encyclopedia, and PlanetMath, a virtual community dedicated to help make mathematical knowledge more accessible. Why not have a browse?

Image by Robert Scarth, reproduced under CC License from Flickr.

Learn Online for Free this April with a Massive Open Online Course

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mooc

Loughborough University is offering two courses as part of FutureLearn, the first UK-led provider of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Both courses are free and can be taken by anyone from around the world.

‘Innovation and enterprise‘ will give you the opportuntity to learn how an innovative idea becomes a reality. The course is led by our internationally renowned School of Business and Enterprise and runs for six weeks, starting on 14 April 2014.

‘Getting a grip on mathematical symbolism‘ will teach aspiring engineers and scientists to think mathematically and explore essential concepts. The three-week course is run by our award-winning Mathematics Education Centre and begins on 28 April 2014.

For further information, visit this link: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/moocs/

Have a Slice of Pi…

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pi by tj blackwell

As today is National Pi Day, what better time to remind you of some the magnificent mathematical resources we have at the Library?

Aside from all the books and journals we have on the topic down on Level 1 and online, we have access to a host of mathematical databases, including MathWorld – the web’s most extensive mathematics resource – and PlanetMath, a collaborative virtual community which aims to help make mathematical knowledge more accessible.

If numbers aren’t quite your thing and you’d like a quirkier interpretation of the theme, why not pop up to our Leisure Reading Collection on Level 4 and borrow a copy of Yann Martel’s Booker Prize winning The Life of Pi?

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th around the world.  Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

To find out more, visit the Pi Day website here.

Pi image by T.J. Blackwell, reproduced under CC License from Flickr.

Equadiff 2011

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Loughborough University is presently the proud host for European’s top conference on the subject of differential equations, Equadiff.

Equadiff is held biannually between nations in Western and Eastern Europe  and this is the  first time that the meeting has taken place in the United Kingdom. It is backed by an organising committee including some of the leading mathematicians in the UK differential equations community and is expected to draw attendance from across the globe.

Running from August 1st to August 5th, the conference will be organised around fifteen plenary lectures and around twenty-five mini-symposia. Full details are available here.