This week’s presentation was given by Robin Franklin and was on the topic of mathematical proof.

After first looking at some basic proof by direct argument he quickly moved on to proof by contradiction, using the irrationality of square root of 2 and the base-3 logarithm of 2 as examples. The talk ended by showing the proof of Euler’s Identity using the Taylor expansions of sine, cosine and the natural exponent. Our thanks to Robin for his presentation.

Video – A Night With The Stars

After a brief one-week hiatus due to the Teacher Karaoke event on 3rd October, members of the Maths and Physics Society regrouped to watch Brian Cox’s excellent ‘A Night With The Stars’ programme which aired a few years back.

With the help of several notable guests including Sarah Millican, Simon Pegg, Jim Al-Khalili and Jonathan Ross, Cox explained wave-particle duality and electron diffraction with a simple trough of sand and used a long piece of rope to explain how standing waves form. In a section at the end of the video he went on to discuss the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics.

The video was very interesting and thoroughly enjoyed by all.