Great Mathematicians 7 – Pythagoras

December 9, 2019

Much of what we know about Pythagoras is conjecture. We do know that he was born on the Greek island of Samos in about 570 BC and died in about 495 BC. Around about 530 BC he founded what can only be called a rather bizarre sect in Croton, in Italy: it was...

It’s all in the detail

October 9, 2019

Mathematics, as you will know from Theory of Knowledge, is at the top of the tree of knowledge. It is self-referential – that is, its theorems do not need to be proven by reference to the real world, but instead by starting with other axioms and theorems. Of...

The new IB Diploma Maths syllabus

August 19, 2019

All IB Diploma students have to follow a maths course at either standard or higher level. Until now, there were three choices: Maths HL, a tough(ish) course for good mathematicians; Maths SL, better for those who didn’t want the standard of maths required at the...

Optical Illusions

August 14, 2019

There are many types of optical illusion but, in every case, the brain is being fooled by what the eyes see. In a short blog such as this I can only show a small set of examples from a limited number of categories but, if you are as fascinated by these as I am, a...

Hypothesis testing made easy

June 7, 2019

Carrying out a hypothesis test often causes confusion. Here’s how it works. Some hypothesis tests start with a known fact, such as “25% of patients treated for a particular disease will suffer side effects.” A drug company may then claim that...

How to revise for your Maths exam…

March 25, 2019

Last month I made some suggestions for a revision plan. Now, having decided you’re going to spend a 3 hour session revising Maths, how should you set about it? Since the only thing you will be asked to do in the exam is answer Maths questions, then surely the...