Pupils from across Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire will put their maths skills to the test to predict the winner of the Australian Open 2018.
This Saturday, January 20, more than 50 pupils will take part in TechFest’s ‘Anyone for tennis…and maths?’ event at Robert Gordon University, where industry professional Adrian McBurnie from Enquest will lead the masterclass.
TechFest will host the event as part of the Maths Masterclasses 2017/2018 series, which is supported by The Royal Institution and sponsored by Chevron North Sea Limited.
During the masterclass, pupils will learn how maths can be utilised to work out how likely a player is to win a tennis match, based on their chance of winning an individual point in that game.
Adrian said: “Maths and other STEM subjects are key to so much of our industry’s work and EnQuest is delighted to support this event and inspire young people to develop an interest in maths.
“The upcoming final of the Australian Open presents a great opportunity to introduce the pupils to three mathematical concepts that they can use to predict the winner. It would be wonderful if the masterclasses could help spur some of these pupils to pursue careers based on STEM subjects, and I am delighted to have been invited to present a class.
“This class will begin by using the concept of probability to measure how likely an event is to occur using practical experiments and drawing on examples from real-life oil industry situations.”
Pupils will then learn how to apply geometric progressions when calculating whether Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, would ever catch presenter Adrian McBurnie in a race if he had a 40m head start.
Finally, the students will look at combinatorics to study the number of ways tennis scores can be arranged, before combining all these concepts into one calculation to determine a tennis player’s chances of winning the match if their chances of winning a point are known.
The Maths Masterclasses 2017/2018 series has run since November and provides an exciting opportunity for pupils to learn different maths topics and hear from industry professionals who demonstrate how the skills can be applied to everyday life using stimulating scenarios.
Laura Atkinson, Chevron Upstream Europe’s stakeholder engagement and social investment advisor, said: “Today’s school children are Chevron’s future employees and we aim to promote the importance of STEM subjects through supporting innovative programmes such as TechFest’s Maths Masterclasses.
“The stimulating challenges developed by TechFest are key to enhancing pupils’ experience-based learning and provide valuable insight from industry professionals who inspire them to pursue STEM-based careers.”
This is one of seven masterclasses taking place in the city, with the final scheduled for Saturday, March 10.
Alies Bartelds, acting managing director of TechFest, said: “The purpose of the Maths Masterclasses series is to demonstrate to young people how maths can be applied in everyday life – even in a game of tennis!
“We are very grateful to each of our presenters who use such engaging scenarios to demonstrate their expertise and excite pupils’ interest in STEM subjects.
“We’d also like to thank all of the school children who have taken part in TechFest’s Maths Masterclasses so far and to The Royal Institution and Chevron for their continued support.”
The schools taking part in the Maths Masterclasses 2018 are Peterhead Academy, Turriff Academy, Robert Gordons College, Cults Academy, Aboyne Academy, Westhill Academy, St Margaret’s School for Girls, Ellon Academy, Northfield Academy, Aberdeen Grammar School, Buckie High School, Albyn School, Hazelhead Academy, Inverurie Academy.
Each year, TechFest runs the highly popular TechFest Science Festival which attracts tens of thousands of children and adults to a series of STEM-based events in and around Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, as well as a year-round programme of educational events for schools and young people.
For more information, please visit www.techfestsetpoint.org.uk