Meet the mathematicians

PA 96/09 The brain, puzzles and roller coaster rides — these topics will all come under the spot light when hundreds of budding mathematicians gather at The University of Nottingham on Monday 6 April 2009 to rub shoulders with the mathematical experts. Sixth form students from across the country will be taking a day out from their Easter break to meet inspiring mathematicians to hear about the geometry and pigmentation of seashells, find out what Hollywood, Sex and the WWW has to do with maths and how to design a roller coaster ride. It is hoped the 'meet the Mathematicians' event will raise the profile of Mathematics and inspire more students to study for a Maths degree or even a PhD. One hundred and fifty 6th formers have already registered and more are welcome to attend the event which is being run as part of the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium — a conference which is being hosted this year by The University of Nottingham for academics and researchers interested in Applied Maths. Among the speakers will be Dr Keith Hopcraft, from the School of Mathematical Sciences who works on the application of maths to physics, including making a sun on the earth and the strange materials that can make things vanish from sight — without the aid of mirrors or trapdoors. He said: "The purpose of this event is to illustrate the ways that a few simple ideas in maths can be brought together and put to work to reveal connections between the seemingly unconnected, and to predict how things behave.