LIYSF Day 6: Numberphile and the Great Crossword Treasure Hunt (P)

Hi everyone,

Today was a very interesting day, but this post won’t be very long; I have to be awake at 5:00am tomorrow. I’ve also had to spend a significant amount of time this evening with a difficult UFV political situation; I’m not pleased that it has cropped up.

Today started with joining a small group that heard from specialist lecturer Dr. James Grime, a math communicator of Numberphile fame. He talked about methods of encryption and decoding messages, and linked breaking Enigma and Lorenz to how wifi and cell connections work. He also drilled a hole through a Justin Bieber CD (exciting) and then showed how it could still be played (disappointing) due to the error correction built-in to the CD (which again uses a similar technology). He also found several opportunities to sneak in references to this, although I was selected as the student representative to thank him and attempted a counter. Overall, it was a fantastic lecture. Oh, and he had the following line (slightly paraphrased because my memory is not perfect):

“Pure math is an art, like music. In great music, you express things like happiness, sadness, anger. In an elegant math proof, you express ‘I am very clever’”

-Dr. James Grime, LIYSF, 2017 July 31

After lunch, we heard from Professor Sarah Hainsworth, a forensic engineer. She described how her multidisciplinary team found and identified the skeleton of Richard III, including all of the brutal wounds he suffered. It was an intriguing, if gruesome lecture.

Following the lecture, we ate dinner, then the Great Crossword Treasure Hunt began. My team finished very quickly, but one team member made a fatal mistake, running away from our reconvening point rather than towards it, adding 15 minutes to our time. However, we feel that we should win the “best selfie” award hands-down.

I also played some more Ultimate Frisbee. This time, I ended the game with only a cut on my elbow, and no face wounds. I consider that a resounding success.

I need to sleep or I may be unconscious tomorrow with my 5am wakeup. Why, oh why did past Perrin select the site visit (National Space Centre, Leicester) at the location furthest from Imperial College London?