Salopians impress at annual David Harrison Maths Prize

A large audience were intrigued and entertained about all things mathematical this week, as Salopians competed for the annual David Harrison Maths Prize. 

The competition is for the best short presentation on a mathematical topic and is open to all pupils in the school.

This prize is endowed by Mr and Mrs Peter Harrison in memory of their son David, who was Head of Mathematics from 1995 to 1996, and who tragically died in the mountains of Alaska in the summer holidays of 1996. 

Each talk, which could be up to twelve minutes long, was judged on the mathematics that was discussed, and also on how it was presented. The winner was chosen by members of the Mathematics Faculty along with the guest judge, Mr Mark Twells, who will certainly be a familiar name to many!

This year’s winner was Richard W (Rb, IV) on his presentation entitled ‘Is Maths a Matter of Fact, or Faith?’.

The other participants and the titles of their talks were:

• Reggie B (Rb, III) on ‘Optical Illusions’
• Dason T (Rt, IV) on ‘Unveiling the Enigmatic Algorithms of ChatGPT’
• Kate V (G, LVI) on ‘Simpson’s Paradox: How to Lie with Statistics’
• Kanami F (MSH, LVI) on ‘Spirographs and Celestial Mechanics’

A special thank you must go to Dr Oakley, who organised the competition, reviewed all the entries and mentored the finalists to produce such a high standard of presentations.  Richard W, in particular, had been a finalist last year, and the quality and maturity of his presentation was exceptional for a fourth former.  

Martin Johnson, Head of Mathematics, praised not only Richard’s bold choice of a subject – Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem, which is usually taught in undergraduate courses on mathematical logic – but also the clear and accessible way in which he explained it to the wider audience.

Well done to all who took part!