News header whats on for adults 2019

What's On: A Maths Week 2019 Guide for Adults

Not only are there loads of activities going on for schools and families during Maths Week Scotland, there’s plenty for adults to do too. Whether you’re looking to get better at saving money, wondering about the maths behind traffic jams or just love solving puzzles, we’ve got you covered. So what’s going on near you between 30 September and 6 October?

If you’re in Glasgow there’ll be A Tour of the Mandelbrot Set, a talk from Holly Krieger, a mathematician well known for her Numberphile Youtube videos. See her at the University of Glasgow at 5pm on Thursday 3rd October.

And on Saturday 5th October, The Numbers Game is back in George Square, you can join Santander and World-record holding Football Freestyler Dan Magness throughout the day to take part in a series of football and numeracy challenges.

Santander Foofball Glasgow MR121 Small
The Numbers Game in George Square.

If you’re near St Andrews on Friday 4th October you can join David Acheson at the University of St Andrews for Mathematics, Magic and Playing the Guitar, a talk offering an off-beat look at mathematics at its best, with live demonstrations.

In Edinburgh, there’s all sorts going on at the National Museum of Scotland, including Encryption Science Saturday, a day of code breaking drop in activities on Saturday 5th October to celebrate Maths Week Scotland and 100 years of GCHQ. Try your skills out with a code breaking trail, discover cipher wheels and enigma machines and get hands on with morse code challenges. Or come to the Maths Inside 2018 Winners Showcase exhibition to see what young people across Scotland found when we challenged them to find and photograph the maths inside everyday objects and scenes. It’s on throughout Maths Week Scotland. If you want to see your photo on display next year, join in with this year’s Maths Inside competition, it’s open to all ages.

Maths Inside Bridge Edit
Maths Inside competition runner up.

On Tuesday 1st October at 6.30pm, Dr Ilze Ziedins will be hosting When Networks Go Bad: Queues, Delays and Bottlenecks, a talk with ICMS at the University of Edinburgh Bayes Centre on the maths behind queuing from traffic to healthcare delivery, asking why we queue and whether there’s another way to do things.

And on Wednesday 2nd October at 5.30pm, Mathematics, Grammars and Babies, a talk at Heriot-Watt University from Dr. Laura Ciobanu, will reveal the maths behind the languages we speak, and their connections to computer science.

Or if lectures aren’t your thing, head to the Museum on the Mound for an exhibition all about money and finance, running throughout maths week.

If you can’t get enough of numbers, why not head to Churchill Theatre Morningside for One...And Other Numbers, a performance of songs all about them from the Edinburgh Gay Men’s Chorus on Saturday 5th October.

Last but not least, from wherever you are in Scotland, nobody’s too old to test their skills with the Deputy First Minister’s daily challenge every day of maths week. Just follow the Deputy First Minister on social media, or we’ll be retweeting the challenges on our twitter.

There’s all sorts to keep you busy this Maths Week Scotland, check back on our events page for more announcements. And you can let us know what you’ll be getting up to and keep up with us on Twitter.

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