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The sixth-formers helping QE’s youngest pupils at the Year 7 Maths Fair were the first generation to have taken part in the competition themselves.

Now in its sixth year, the House challenge features a morning of activities designed to stretch the Year 7 boys’ mathematical abilities. It was inspired by the UK Mathematics Trust’s Team Maths Challenge events.

The winners for 2017-2018 were Broughton House, with 837 points, followed by Pearce with 825 and Stapylton with 805. Broughton were subsequently presented with the trophy, the Scarisbrick Shield, in assembly. The shield is named after former Head of Mathematics, Fauziah (Gee) Scarisbrick MBE.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Each team was supervised by a Year 12 Further Maths student and it was a great opportunity for these sixth-formers to interact with Year 7, whether they were supervising a team or helping with the logistics of running the event: we couldn’t have done it without their help.” She pointed out that the Year 12 boys had themselves been participants in the inaugural Maths Fair, back in 2013.

The boys took part in a carousel of activities – some were more familiar mathematical problem-solving activities (A Question of Maths) and others more practical (Tangrams). Then, all teams took part in the Relay, which combines speed in movement about the room and speed in solving a maths problem.

“The idea is to show boys that mathematical problems come in many different formats as well as to help them to develop team-working skills,” said Miss Fung.

Year 7 Broughton pupil Aradhya Singh spoke of his happiness at his House’s victory, adding: “We hope that Broughton can win it again next year.”

All six Houses were also required to create a poster entitled What is Mathematics? Each of the teams within each House had to create part of the poster and was asked to prepare in advance by coordinating the different sections so that their poster would encompass the many facets of the subject.

The award for best poster went to Staplyton; it was put on display afterwards in the Mathematics department.

Siddarth Sridharth said: “We’re really happy to have won the poster competition and that our efforts paid off,” while fellow Stapylton House member Yash Patel added: “We spent a lot of time discussing how to show Maths in the best possible way.”

Boys in Year 8 pitted their talents against each other in a competitive Dragons’ Den-style challenge, first designing an innovative product and then pitching it at the end of the day.

The event, held as part of the School’s Enrichment Week, aimed to get boys using skills in the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

They had to design a product to solve a real-world problem, while also considering their marketing and business proposition. To create their prototypes, the participants were allocated a budget which they could use to buy the basic materials (such as card, tape and wooden sticks) from a ‘market’ in the hall.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This event encompassed problem-solving and combining knowledge of science, product design, technology, finance and business acumen to come up with a new product that was a practical proposition – and all in the space of a day. The boys successfully produced some very interesting and promising proposals.”

All boys in Year 8 took part in the challenge, which was split across two days. It was led by Simon Kettle, Executive Director of STEMworks, a not-for-profit company dedicated to promoting STEM. Simon also judged the boys’ projects.

Afterwards, Simon said: “The students were given the opportunity to design and develop ideas that use some new, cutting-edge technologies. I talked through a few new materials and the associated technology – and the students did the rest. They came up with a wide range of new product ideas, with the best being presented in the Dragons’ Den.”

The winners’ product on the first day, which they named SOLAcharge, used small portable solar panels to charge a mobile phone. The second-day winners designed Simon’s particular favourite – SafeSensors, a sports helmet which not only protected the head but also had built-in impact sensors that could notify the team coach or doctor of any impact that would require a player to be treated or substituted (in cases of concussion, for example).

Other ideas included mobile phones with in-built smoke alarms, smart baths (that would self-regulate temperature and could not over-fill), and even a helmet capable of styling the wearer’s hair!

A team of Year 9 QE mathematicians have come second in the final of a national competition that attracted entries from more than 150 teams from across the UK.

The team, named Perpetual Motion Squad, was one of three QE teams among the 13 who reached the final of the Edge Hill University Mathematics Challenge, which was held at Ormskirk in West Lancashire. Six QE teams had previously qualified for the second round of the competition.

The boys were accompanied to the final by Mathematics teachers Joelle Simpson and Michael Smith. “They had a very early start but used the journey to good effect to put the finishing touches to their presentation,” said Mrs Simpson. “All the boys did exceptionally well to reach the final. The judges were particularly impressed with the Perpetual Motion Squad, as the team had come up with a solution to the problem which had not been previously considered.”

Team members Abishek Balajee, Joshua Bonafe, Siddhant Kansal, Manav Khindri and Filip Olszewski spoke afterwards of their pride in securing the runners-up spot.

The competition provides pupils with an opportunity to tackle engaging mathematical activities while developing teamwork and communication skills. Participants also had to think about ways of integrating ICT within Mathematics and to develop problem-solving skills.

In the two qualifying rounds, the boys had to produce posters showing solutions to a given problems. Round 1 offered a choice between a problem involving factors and another involving calculation. The second round gave a choice between a geometry problem and a speed/distance problem.

At the final, teams had to present their solution to a panel of three judges. Each team had 15 minutes to display their poster and make their presentation.

In their discussions with the finalists, competition judges were looking for evidence of:

• Clear and accurate solutions
• Good display of mathematical and problem-solving skills
• Critical comparison of alternative approaches
• Original and imaginative presentation of the solutions
• Evidence of teamwork and communication between team members
• Evidence of the use of ICT.

Team πr NOT2 comprised Athiyan Chandramohan, Nirmay Jadhav, Ansh Jaiswal, Jay Patel and Thilakshan Thayalan, who said they had developed their teamwork, organisation and communication skills throughout the competition.

Beuran Kannan, Heshanth Mogendram, Arvind Raghu, Vineeth Rajan and Dharun Srirathan made up Team Mathsala. In their feedback, they said they found the project fun as it consisted of geometry, CAD design and programming which was very interesting for all of them.

Four QE boys acquitted themselves very well at the finals of a national Mathematics team competition.

Having first reached the Team Maths Challenge national final by winning their regional heat in March, this year’s entrants built on recent successes by QE, improving on last year’s 17th place by coming 11th out of the 88 finalists. The team, which was drawn from Years 8 and 9, achieved a score of 182 points out of 232.

The UK Mathematics Trust event included a round devoted to Leonhard Euler. Born in Basel, Switzerland, Euler is considered one of the 18th century’s most pre-eminent mathematicians and is known as the ‘father of graph theory’. He notably used graphs when he presented and solved the famous Seven Bridges of Königsberg Problem, demonstrating that it was impossible to devise a journey that would cross all seven bridges in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia) only once. Euler also studied topics including number theory, combinatorics (an area of Mathematics concerned primarily with counting), geometry, mathematical analysis, as well as mechanics, fluid theory and music theory.

The team had won the regional heat in March, thus qualifying, for the national final of the competition at the Royal Horticultural Halls. The overall winner at the challenge was Westminster Under School.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “The boys did very well; to reach the National Final is an incredible achievement in itself, as 1,742 teams entered this year’s event.”

In addition to the poster round focusing on Euler, there were the following activity rounds:

• Group circus, which involved working on practical Mathematics problems
• Relay race – a combination of speed across the room and speed at solving problems
• Cross-number challenge, similar to a crossword, but with numbers
• Shuttle, which is a series of mini-relays against the clock.

Calculators were not permitted.

Team captain, Shimaq-Ahamed Sakeel Mohamed, of Year 9, took part alongside Bhunit Santhiramoulesan and Agrim Sharma, of Year 8, and Dan Suciu, of Year 9. Shimaq-Ahamed said: “We had a great day at the challenge and really enjoyed working as a team.”

A record total of 14 local schools took part in this year’s QE Primary Challenge Day.

Now in its fourth year, the event features a range of enjoyable and stimulating activities focused on English and Mathematics, with competition rounds adding a little friendly inter-school rivalry to the mix.

QE Headmaster Neil Enright said: “We enjoy maintaining close links with local primary schools and this was a great opportunity to host a large number of their pupils and staff for this day of enrichment activities designed to stretch and challenge the children participating.”

Assistant Head Michael Taylor started proceedings, welcoming the primary school children and encouraging them to enjoy their day.

The competition rounds included interactive games and tasks comprising a spelling competition, a limerick-writing challenge, number puzzles and logic problems. Teachers Greg Lee and Marco Saccardi, of the Mathematics Department, and Robbie Hyland and Alex Ulyet, from English, each ran one of the rounds and enjoyed chatting to the participants.

The winning primary schools in the various rounds were as follows:
• Limerick-writing: Livingstone
• Logic: Christ Church
• Spelling bee: Underhill
• Crossnumber puzzles: Monken Hadley.

The overall winners were the children of Christ Church, with St John’s N20 coming second and Northside in third place. Elena Print, Headteacher of Christ Church, said later: “They had a fabulous time and came back full of excitement, and enthusiastic to tell us all about it!”

Mr Enright presented the winners with their certificates at the end of the event, congratulating all participants.

Each primary school team was accompanied by a QE Year 7 pupil who spent the whole morning looking after that team. Organiser Wendy Fung, who is QE’s Assistant Head of Mathematics, said: “I was very grateful for their help in ensuring that the Year 5s felt at home and for supporting their teams so enthusiastically.”

All boys in Years 7 & 8 took part in this year’s Junior Maths Challenge – and the overwhelming majority took gold, silver or bronze for their performance.

In total, some 341 of the QE entrants won certificates – a significant increase on last year’s tally of 279 – with 154 achieving gold and a further 120 taking silver and 67 gaining bronze. Nationally, it is only the top 40% of pupils who receive gold, silver and bronze certificates, which are given in the ratio 1:2:3.

As a result of their performances in the Challenge, 21 boys this year have qualified for the Junior Mathematical Olympiad competition and a further 95 have qualified for the other follow-on round, known as the Junior Kangaroo. Around 1,200 of the highest scorers nationally are invited to take part in the Olympiad.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “We are delighted with how well the boys have done and look forward to the results of the Olympiad and Kangaroo. Much of the success among the Year 8 boys stems from the excellent guidance and help given to them at our Junior Élite Maths group by mentors from Years 10 and 11.”

Best in School certificates went to Maxwell Johnson, of Year 7, and Yash Makwana, of Year 8, who achieved identical scores of 130 out of a possible 135 in the UK Mathematics Trust competition.

“I’m incredibly pleased with my result and would like to thank my Élite Maths Mentor, Vincent Tang [of Year 11], for helping me to learn how to go about Maths Challenge questions,” said Yash.

Having achieved such signal success at the first attempt in the Challenge, Maxwell said he is now “looking forward to trying the Olympiad”.

Year 11 boy Saruthan Seelan achieved a top-50 finish among élite mathematicians in his age group in this year’s nationwide Intermediate Olympiad, with four other pupils coming in the top 100.

Like Saruthan, Year 10 pupil James Tan and Year 9 boys Athiyan Chandramohan, Abhinav Santhiramohan and Dan Suciu all won medals for their performance, while Andy Kwak, of Year 9, was awarded a distinction certificate for coming in the top 25% nationally.

The six were among 27 boys from Years 9 to 11 who qualified for the Olympiad after performing strongly in the UK Mathematics Trust’s Intermediate Challenge. An additional 21 were awarded merit certificates.

Congratulating all of them, Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Solving any one of the problems set is an achievement and those who did more than that deserve corresponding praise.”

Saruthan said afterwards: “The Olympiad questions help me to extend my understanding of Maths.” James found solving the problems “very satisfying”, while Abhinav praised the “interesting maths” involved.

Nearly 1,700 students took part in the Olympiad. In each year group, the top 50 receive book prizes, the top 100 receive a medal and the top 25% receive a certificate of distinction.

In the Intermediate Challenge’s other follow-on round, the European Kangaroo, 135 QE boys from Years 9 to 11 took part, of whom 41 were awarded merit certificates. The Kangaroo’s high scorers in each year group were: Jamie Watkin-Rees (Year 11 – the second consecutive year that he has come top of his year group in this competition); Tanishq Mehta (Year 10), and Beuran Kannan (Year 9). Tanishq said he particularly enjoyed the “logical aspect of the questions”.

This is the 16th year that the UKMT has run the International Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo contests. The latter is promoted by Kangourou sans Frontières, an independent association promoting Mathematics among young people around the world: its name reflects the fact that the organisation was inspired by the Australian Mathematics Trust.

Three million students worldwide take part in the Kangaroo, usually including around 5,500 pupils invited to take part after sitting the UK Intermediate Challenge.

Queen Elizabeth’s School has won a national online Mathematics competition, beating off the challenge of hundreds of other schools.

The winning team, made up of four sixth-formers, dropped just one point in the eight rounds of the University of Manchester’s MathsBombe, scoring 119 points out of a possible 120.

Headmaster Neil Enright: “My congratulations go to this team on an almost perfect performance. The competition attracted a large field of teams from leading schools across the state and the independent sectors, and it demanded both speed and deep mathematical understanding. This victory therefore represents a considerable achievement.”

The winning team comprised Year 12 pupils Bashmy Basheer, Kishan Patel, Nico Puthu and Niam Vaishnav. Notwithstanding the team’s name, maiNlyNiam, Kishan was the captain.

Organised by the university’s Mathematics department and supported by the Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Trust (a charity named after a mathematician and Lord Mayor of Manchester, who died in 2014 aged 101), the competition attracted entries from more than 600 schools.

From January, every two weeks a new set of problem was released online. The puzzles spanned the whole spectrum, from logic puzzles in pure Mathematics to applications of Mathematics in real-world settings.

The maximum 15 points were available to the first team to solve the problem and to other teams solving it within an hour of the first team. Other points were awarded on a sliding scale, depending on the time taken to solve each problem. The rules forbade any assistance from teachers and also prohibited collaboration between teams.

An online leaderboard enabled teams to keep track of their progress throughout the duration of the event. Kishan said this proved to be a spur to his team’s success: “The competition from the other teams encouraged us to answer the questions as quickly as possible.” Niam added that the four friends had enjoyed the opportunity to tackle challenging problems that differed from those they normally faced in the classroom.

Other teams entered by QE also performed creditably, with one, BombVoyage, taking 43rd place, having solved six of the eight puzzles and scored 70 points.

Here is an example of one of the problems, with the solution below:

Grobnog the Goblin King was sitting on his throne consulting with Torqmaga the Inquisitor. “Your Majesty, we’ve been infiltrated by a rogue group of Goblins,” said Torqmaga. “They call themselves Nilbogs. Physically they are identical to Goblins, but – unlike true Goblins – they always tell the truth.”

“Our whole society is founded on Goblins being evil and lying whenever they can!” said Grobnog. “We need to identify these interlopers!”

Torqmaga handed over a piece of paper. “I’ve tortured all of your subjects to find out who is a Goblin and who is a Nilbog. I can assure you that under my questioning, everybody was true to their real nature: every Nilbog told the truth and every Goblin lied.”

Grobnog inspected the list. “What does ‘or’ mean here? Does it mean ‘one or the other or both’?” he asked.

Torqmaga nodded. “Yes, your Majesty, it’s the logical meaning of the word ‘or’. It seems that torture turns Goblins and Nilbogs into very logical monsters. I’m sure you can work out from their statements below who is a Goblin and who is a Nilbog.”

Agmiz “Fragdag would definitely say that I’m a Goblin.”
Bord “Exactly one of Iz and Molk is a Nilbog.”
Cherguff “Those good-for-nothing layabouts Dolk and Lold are the same type of monster as Molk.”
Dolk “Stop the torture! Bord and Yobblot are both Nilbogs or both Goblins!”
Erkaz “I may hate his guts, but Toxplok and I are the same type of monster.”
Fragdag “Quonk and Xinik are Nilbogs.”
Gneeg “Zisbut and I are different types of monster.”
Hrunk “Gneeg is most definitely a Goblin.”
Iz “Molk is a Nilbog and deserves everything Grobnog will do to him.”
Jop “Bord would say that Fragdag is a Nilbog.”
Klaatak “Lold is a traitorous Nilbog!”
Lold “Ronx is a loyal Goblin! Will you let me off the rack now?”
Molk “Erkaz never tells me the truth, she’s a typical Goblin.”
Norbet “All I’ll say is that Wizmok is a Goblin or Zisbut is a Nilbog.”
Oinq “Agmiz and Quonk are loyal to Grobnog! They’re both Goblins!”
Plegkurk “Dolk and Hrunk are either both Nilbogs or both Goblins.”
Quonk “Oinq, if he ever stopped eating, would say that I’m a Nilbog.”
Ronx “Xinik and Bord are both evil Nilbogs.”
Squee “Lold is a typical Goblin – he owes me 200 silver pennies!”
Toxplok “That little toerag Cherguff would say I’m a Nilbog.”
Udonk “Iz would say that Ronx was a Goblin.”
Vuird “Ronx would say that Udonk is a Nilbog.”
Wizmok “What can I say? Iz is a Nilbog or Norbet is a Goblin. Will that do?”
Xinik “I know that if you ask Ronx then he’d say Squee is a Nilbog.”
Yobblot “Klaatak and Squee are both Goblins.”
Zisbut “Hrunk is a goblin — the most disgusting I’ve ever met.”

Your task is to work out which of the 26 monsters above are goblins and which are nilbogs.
Enter your answer as a sequence of 26 letters: G (for Goblin), N (for Nilbog) arranged in the order of the 26 goblins/nilbogs listed above. If you think that Agmiz is a Nilbog, Bord is a Nilbog, Cherguff is a Goblin, Dolk is a Nilbog, …, Zisbut is a Goblin then you should enter your answer as NNGN…G.

Solution:

Refer to each Goblin or Nilbog by the first letter of its name. If a monster is a Goblin then we’ll write that it always lies; if the monster is a Nilbog then we’ll write that it tells the truth. By saying two monsters are the same we mean that they are either both Goblins or both Nilbogs.

The clues are then:
A: F says A always lies
B: Exactly one of I, M tells the truth
C: D and L are the same as M
D: B = Y
E: T = E
F: X and Q tells the truth
G: Z != G
H: G always lies
I: M tells the truth
J: B says F tells the truth
K: L tells the truth
L: R always lies
M: E always lies
N: W always lies or Z tells the truth
O: A and Q both always lie
P: D = H
Q: O would say Q tells the truth
R: X and B both tell the truth
S: L always lies
T: C would say T tells the truth
U: I would say R always lies
V: R would say U tells the truth
W: I tells the truth or N lies
X: R would say S tells the truth
Y: K and S both always lie
Z: H always lies

1. Consider clue I. If I is telling the truth then M always tells the truth. If I is lying then M is lying. Hence I = M (but we don’t know whether they both lie or both tell the truth).
2. Clue B says that I != M. Hence B is lying.
3. Clue R says that B tells the truth. Hence R must be lying. (Note that we can’t say anything about X from clue R.)
4. Clue L says that L must be telling the truth. Hence K is also telling the truth (K’s clue) and S is lying (S’s clue).
5. Clue Y says that both K and S both lie. But K tells the truth. So Y is lying. As both B and Y are lying, Clue D is true; hence D tells the truth.
6. Consider clue X. Suppose that X lies. If X is lying then R would actually say that S lies. We know that R lies, this would actually mean that S tells the truth. But we know S lies, so our assumption that X lies is wrong. Hence X tells the truth.
7. Consider clue F. Suppose that F is telling the truth. Then clue F tells us that X tells the truth (we already knew this) and Q tells the truth. Clue Q then tells us that O would say that Q is telling the truth (which indeed Q is), so O must also be telling the truth. Clue O tells us that both A and Q both lie. But this contradicts the fact that we’ve just argued that Q is telling the truth. Hence our assumption that F is telling the truth is wrong, so F must be lying.
8. As F is lying, it’s not true that both X and Q tell the truth. We know that X does tell the truth. So this tells us that Q must be lying.
9. Knowing that Q is lying, clue Q tells us that O would actually say that Q lies. This is indeed the case, hence O is telling the truth.
10. Clue O now tells us that A lies.
11. Consider Clue J. We know B lies. As F lies, B would indeed say that F told the truth. Hence J is making a true statement, so is telling the truth.
12. Consider Clue M. We’ll consider the two cases (M tells the truth, M lies) separately. First suppose that M tells the truth. Then E must lie. Clue E says that T and E are different, hence T must tell the truth. Now consider the other case where M lies. In this case, clue M says that E is telling the truth; it then follows from clue E that T is also telling the truth. Hence, no matter whether M is telling the truth or lying, we must have that T is telling the truth.
13. Clue T tells us that C is making a true statement. Hence C tells the truth.
14. Clue C tells us that M is the same as D and L (who are both telling the truth). Hence M is telling the truth. Clue M then tells us that E is lying.
15. Clue I is making a true statement about M. Hence I tells the truth.
16. Consider clue U. Monster I tells the truth, and R does indeed lie. Hence U is telling the truth.
17. Consider clue V. Suppose V tells the truth. Then R would indeed say that U tells the truth. We know that R lies, so this would mean that U lies. But U tells the truth, a contradiction. Hence V must lie.
18. Consider clue Z. Suppose Z tells the truth. Then H lies. Clue H then tells us that G tells the truth. Clue G tells us that Z and G are different. But we’ve just argued that both Z and G tell the truth, a contradiction. Hence Z must lie.
19. Clue Z then tells us that H tells the truth.
20. Clue H then tells us that G lies. (Just to check: G lies, so clue G tells us that both Z and G are the same, which indeed they are.)
21. As both D and H tell the truth, clue P implies that P tells the truth.
22. Consider clue W. Suppose W always lies. Then clue W tells us that monster I always lies and N tells the truth. But we already know that monster I tells the truth, a contradiction. Hence W must tell the truth. (Note that, even though we know W tells the truth, clue W doesn’t tell us anything about whether N lies or not.)
23. Finally, consider clue N. If N is telling the truth then either W lies or Z tells the truth. But W tells the truth and Z lies, so neither of these possibilities can happen. Hence N must be lying.
Hence (denoting T for ‘telling the truth’ and L for ‘lying’) we can assign

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
LLTTLLLTTTTTT LTTLLLTTLTTLL

Reverting back to ‘Goblins always lie’ and ‘Nilbogs always tell the truth’ this gives

ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
GGNNGGGNNNNNN GNNGGGNNGNNGG

so the required answer is GGNNGGGNNNNNNGNNGGGNNGNNGG

QE pupils beat off competition from 30 other schools to win the regional round of the Team Maths Challenge.

The four boys from Years 8 and 9 secured victory over Merchant Taylors’, in second place, and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’, who came third. They now go through to the national finals in London’s Royal Horticultural Halls in June – the third time that a QE team has reached this stage in the prestigious UK Mathematics Trust contest.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I congratulate our boys on a resounding success, which demonstrated not only their mathematical prowess and their ability to think clearly under pressure, but also skills in communication and teamwork.”

The team was led by Year 9 pupil Dan Suciu and comprised Shimaq-Ahamed Sakeel Mohamed, also of Year 9, together with Year 8 boys Bhunit Santhiramoulesan and Agrim Sharma. They scored a winning total of 223 points out of 236 in the event, which was hosted by Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls in Elstree.

The competition aims to offer pupils a means of expressing and developing their enjoyment of Mathematics, with problems that are mostly accessible, yet still challenge those with more experience. The event involves four rounds:

• Crossnumber – one pair of contestants is given the ‘across’ clues and the other pair the ‘down’ clues
• Shuttle – pairs solve problems where the answer to the previous question feeds into the next question
• Relay – again working in pairs to solve problems, but also involves movement around the room in a race against the clock
• Group round – working as a team of four to solve ten problems.

Captain Dan said after the event: “We were delighted to win and really pleased that our hard work paid off, especially in the Shuttle Round. We’re all really looking forward to the next round.”

Sixth Form mathematicians saw a genuine Enigma machine at work at Maths Fest 2018, where the wartime device was the star of the show.

Thirty-eight Year 12 mathematicians attended the event at the Piccadilly Theatre in the West End and saw the demonstration of encoding and decoding. Another memorable moment came when one of the speakers burst into song!
Now in its third year, Maths Fest 2018 was set up by long-established Mathematics speakers, Matt Parker and Rob Eastaway, who “thought it was time there was a Maths festival for schools run entirely by passionate mathematicians”.

The first speaker, James Grimes, who is part of the Millennium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge, spoke about codes and ciphers and about the importance of cracking codes throughout history, from Julius Caesar to internet security, with the Enigma machine providing an exciting climax to his presentation.

Aoife Hunt, an industrial modelling expert, demonstrated how she uses statistics and crowd-flow models to make sure large venues are safe. She showed how three particular graphs (reciprocal, quadratic and ‘normal’) are vital in her work.

Ben Sparks from the Further Maths Support Programme at the University of Bath gave an insight into spirals and circular motion inspired by the 1968 Michel Legrand song Windmills of Your Mind.

Round, like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel

Mathematics teacher Phil Brady, who accompanied the boys to the event said: “He ended his session by singing for us – a real treat. The festival, which was hosted by Matt Parker in his usual witty manner, was both impressive and great fun.”

The event also featured Maths Slam, an opportunity for some of the students to go on to the stage to talk for three minutes about an interesting aspect of maths. QE boys Binu Perera and Uday Kataria gave a presentation on ‘How to hold a pizza’.

“Apart from the various talks scheduled for the day, Maths fest was a fantastic opportunity for us to speak about an interesting mathematical idea in front of over a thousand Year 12 students,” said Binu. “We decided to talk about Gauss’s theorema egregium because, whilst being fun to both present and research, it is an understated, yet simple, mathematical concept that is fundamental to our everyday lives,” added Uday.

Seb Lee-Delisle, a creative coder who works on large-scale installations, described how to transform a simple animated point into an impressive multicoloured firework display and showed how this was the basis of his professional laser displays.

The show was closed by Hannah Fry, a senior lecturer in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL. She demonstrated how to generate random (and not-so-random) numbers to produce a four-digit winning lottery number. Mr Brady’s ticket was just four away from being a winner!