Bloxham Fourth Formers enjoyed an activities session with three ‘Mathemagicians’ from Oxford University, who came to the school to guide our young mathematicians through a range of interactive maths challenges.
These students, who are currently studying towards their maths degrees at Oxford University, put on a number of fun and engaging activities revolving around the idea of probability:
How likely are you to be able to win at a game of rock-paper-scissors?
If you enter the lottery, what is the probability that you will be a winner? (Very slim!)
The students recreated their own mini-lottery to identify patterns to maximise your winnings (should you be one of those lucky few who fall within the almost 1/14,000,000 odds!). They were also interested in exploring what makes a winning strategy when competing at Monopoly – particularly apt as the Christmas holidays approach and families begin to prepare for the obligatory festive board game afternoons!
We would like to thank our friends from Oxford University for their visit – all their chosen activities made maths engaging and interactive for our students, looking outside the box and not limiting maths to sums on a page.