Resources

Explore a simpler version of the Prisoner Problem as featured in Matt's video. What's the probability that the prisoners will survive? What is it that makes their strategy a good one?

In the video, Matt and friends trace out a Trefoil knot by travelling on the London Underground system. A Trefoil knot is the simplest non-trivial knot. Can your students find a different Trefoil, or a more complex knot, on the London Underground?

In the video below, Matt gets to fly in a helicopter in the name of maths. For particular propellor rotation speeds and video camera frame rates, it can look like the propellors of a helicopter are not moving at all and the helicopter is floating in mid-air. Explore the maths behind this by watching Matt's video and trying our activity.

In the video below Matt introduces us to the Picture Hanging Puzzle: how can you hang a picture over some hooks so that if any one of the n hooks comes out, the picture will fall to the ground? Can your students find a solution when n=2, or when n=3?

We celebrate Pi Approximation Day on 22nd July (22/7) because as a fraction this is an approximation to Pi. Celebrate Pi Approximation Day by finding other, more accurate, rational approximations to Pi using the continued fractions method.

In the video below, Matt explores an internet meme about logarithms. Here we've made some questions for students to have a go at before watching the video.

Watch Matt Parker's Pi Day 2019 video (below) where he estimates π using moments and a famous result proved by Euler. Here are some additional problems based on Euler's sum.

Here is a classroom activity to help you enjoy Thirdsday! Thirdsday celebrates the number 1/3 and occurs when January 3rd (or 1/3 when written as a US date) falls on a Thursday, as it does in 2019. The activity for your students is about an intriguing sum that gives us 1/3.