A range of events are being organised at IT Sligo for national Maths Week which runs from October 12th to 20th. Now in its eighth year, Maths Week promotes awareness and understanding of maths in our everyday lives.
On Wednesday, October 16th mathematician Douglas Buchanan will do three ‘Maths Puzzling‘ workshops at 10am, 11.30am and 2pm using lively maths games and activities. Douglas is a recently retired maths teacher, who during his career became an expert at hosting conferences for maths, ICT, and most of all, his internationally-recognised maths team challenges. The workshops will take place in the Canis Major at the Clarion Hotel and are suitable for ages 9 to 14. Places for these workshops must be pre-booked by contacting IT Sligo lecturers Grace Corcoran and Ian McLoughlin at corcoran.grace@nullitsligo.ie and mcloughlin.ian@nullitsligo.ie
At 7pm on Tuesday, October 15th IT Sligo lecturer Cillian O’Murchu will give a lecture on the Financial Maths syllabus for the Leaving Certificate. This lecture is targeted at secondary school mathematics teachers and will illustrate how financial maths is used to solve loan, investment and mortgage related issues. Venue for this lecture is B1086 in IT Sligo.
A workshop on how to use the WIRIS Maths Add-In for Moodle quizzes will be given by IT Sligo lecturer Kevin Collins at 7.30pm on Thursday, October 15th. He will explain how to use equation editor, how to set algebraic questions with random parameters, and how to use graphs in quizzes. The venue for this workshop is E0032 in IT Sligo.
The week will conclude on with the popular annual Maths Pub Quiz in the Harp Tavern on Quay Street at 9pm on Thursday, October 17th. The quiz is open to all and will not be entirely limited to mathematical questions. A table of four will cost €10 and all proceeds will go to the RNLI.
Launching Maths Week nationally, Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock (pictured above), said; “As an economy, it’s critical that we encourage young people to try hard at maths and to understand the importance of maths in opening up a wide range of career opportunities. I am delighted to support Maths Week as a great way of changing public perception of maths and of increasing our mathematical literacy.”
For full details see www.itsligo.ie and www.mathsweek.ie
Dr Steve Humble, otherwise known as ‘Dr Maths’, at Maths Week in IT Sligo in 2012, with students Elijah Abosede, Mark Deehan, Kelly Ann McLoughlin, Kayleigh Smylie, and Dominic Lynch from St Edwards National School in Sligo; and Grace Corcoran, IT Sligo lecturer.