The Big Lock-Down Math-Off

Today, Easter Saturday, April 11th, is the first day of The Big Lock-Down Math-Off. In the first match we are up against Andrew Stacey. It is basically Knitting v Superheroes.

The voting for the first match ends at 9 am BST on Monday the 13th

Don’t let maths put you off. Some days there may be difficult things but on other days pitches, like ours, will be very easy to understand. If there is something you like vote for it. You don’t have to vote every time.

The Math-Off is usually an annual event taking place in July. It is a knock-out competition for mathematicians from all round the world. This year it is different. The organiser, Christian Lawson-Perfect, says

Welcome to what has become by default the sporting event of the year! The Big Math-Off is running a little bit earlier this year, to keep us entertained while we’re stuck indoors.

Because it’s unclear how long the lock-down will last, and nobody knows what’s coming one day to the next, this year’s Math-Off is a much less structured affair. Anyone can enter, and every two days for as long as we can we’ll pick two pitches off the queue and pit them against each other. Nobody gets knocked out, the votes don’t mean anything, and we’ll see lots of different bits of maths. It’s the ideal Math-Off!

Our pitch today is very like a blog post I wrote here a few months ago so I won’t repeat it now,

Almost as much fun as the actual competition (or more fun, some would say) is the virtual sticker book that accompanies it. This is run by Matthew Scroggs. He is usually very well organised but I suspect he is probably making it up as it goes along this time. You are allowed to buy stickers each day, with imaginary money, and can then trade them with friends. It gets very competitive. You don’t have to read any of the pitches, or know anything about the Math-Off to be able to take part.

Have fun.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *