Ben Sparks is a Youtuber with over 10,000 subscribers and often has appeared on the popular channel Numberphile.
He hosted a session for a
group of students from SPS and SPGS united by a love of mathematics. Split into
two halves, the initial period was a talk covering a broad range of mathematics
- including history and philosophy. Mathematical peaks sighted included
irrational numbers, the discovery (invention?) of zero, complex numbers, and the
Mandelbrot set. Students were delighted to be met by a QI-esque klaxon and
flashing word whenever their answers had been anticipated.
After a short break, and some snacks, the students spent some time solving a range of problems related to irrational numbers and folding A4 paper. (Although the highlight here was possibly Ben's metric system supremacist rant). Finally, Ben Sparks finished off with a sprinkle of magic. Michael (6th) played a starring role as assistant and volunteer to Ben's mind-reading trick and later as straight man to his memory performance. A few algebraic tricks followed, which have been spotted around the school since. If asked to think of a two-digit number and square it, consider choosing a smaller rather than a larger number to increase the difficulty of the trickster trying to take a square root. (And perhaps this is a suggestion for how the "trick" might be done).
- Mr Morris
