Author Archives: A Maths Teacher

My favourite prime

I will confess, I got a little excited over the Christmas break when I began hearing of youngsters discussing their favourite prime. For me, it has to be 2 – both the first prime, and also, uniquely, the only even prime. The word prime is derived from the Latin “primis” meaning first (the prime numbers […]

Posted in Numeracy | 1 Response

Top Ten

“Ping” Just before I was due to teach Period 1 this morning my computer chimed, announcing the arrival of (yet another) email. Thinking that I might be able to action and delete it before the lesson began, I clicked to open it. I’m glad I did, its the best email I’ve received all week: Good […]

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Mistakes

  Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention. Mistakes, however, I’ve made (and continue to make) many of them. I made one this morning. I was working through a difficult “ladders” question with an A level Mechanics class, a problem that I had set as a homework and most couldn’t […]

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Lucky, or unlucky?

Here’s the tree at the junction of South Ealing Road and Little Ealing Lane getting blown over this afternoon. Amazing car cam footage by Joanna Wolman. (Some understandable swearing!) pic.twitter.com/zlFcDFuXWX — Jon Ball (@JonBall) July 5, 2020 Whenever I see a clip like this my first reaction – like those in the car (and sorry […]

Posted in Probability | 1 Response

Covid 19 stats, part 4

Some good news. For the first time since mid-March, excess deaths are below the five year average. Regular readers will know that I have been tracking “excess deaths” (based on data provided by Office for National Statistics ) as it strips out any debate as to whether a death was due to Covid 19 or not. […]

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