Here is the first section of the History of Mathematics GCSE (Elizabethan England paper) that I announced yesterday. This is the ‘quickie’ section, with six multiple choice questions. I’ll publish the answers tomorrow morning, along with the meatier Section B. You may now turn over...

What if there were a GCSE for History of Mathematics? I've been imagining the Elizabethan England module and will be handing out a sample exam paper at the @histassoc.bsky.social conference in Gateshead. Below is the cover page. I'll publish Section A tomorrow.

Maths teachers - help! I'm looking for a London school that's interested in hosting a session about maths & Civil Engineering. Details: - A one-hour session with short presentations from 3 young civil engineers and Q&A. - Aimed at Y12s - Late Sept/early Oct ideal Email me if interested.

We have an exhibitor stall at the @histassoc.bsky.social conference in Gateshead this weekend, to make the case for bringing History and Maths together. We'll have games, an old timekeeping device, DIY astrolabes, a 16thC map, a quiz with cool prizes, & a workshop from @robeastaway.bsky.social .

Here's my latest blog about everyday maths in a GP surgery: robeastaway.com/blog/gp-math... Real-world maths isn’t always neat, it's often surrounded by redundant information, uses technical language, and has real consequences if you get it wrong.

I just 'cold' emailed somebody whose book I'm reading, and began my email: "I’ve just started reading your book and am really enjoying it." After sending the email I realised this is exactly the phrasing that AI-generated phishing emails use. AI sounding human is bad, but the reverse is worse.

What was numeracy and maths education like 500 years ago? I discussed Shakespeare's mathematical education on the latest episode of the History of European Theatre podcast. www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com/much-ado-abo...

LIV Golf takes its name from the Roman numerals for 54. Originally LIV featured 54 golfers playing 54 holes. Now, exactly 54 months after LIV was first announced, comes the news that Saudi Arabia is going to withdraw its funding. Sporting symmetry. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/a...

Interesting to read this latest research on mixed attainment classes in maths. Ten years ago we faced a choice as parents between one school with mixed maths sets and one with streaming. I wrote about it in a blog at the time. robeastaway.com/blog/streaming

What if some maths was formally part of the History curriculum? History gives maths more context and its stories can captivate students. @teakayb.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy and I are at the @histassoc.bsky.social conference in May, aiming to talk to hundreds of history teachers. www.haconference.com

Very happy for Much Ado to be regarded as a history book. My dream is for it to be on the reading list for GCSE History (Elizabethan England)

The paperback of Much Ado About Numbers is published in the USA today, Shakespeare's birthday. Fun fact: Chapter 9 reveals that Shakespeare probably used an early pencil - but it was not "2B", it was probably a "9B" on the graphite scale. @folger.edu bookshop.org/p/books/much...

In July treat your Year 9s, 10s or 12s to an interactive Much Ado About Numbers show at: - Shakespeare North (nr Liverpool) - Alleyns Theatre (Dulwich). English teacher: “I’ve never seen so many Year 9 students engaged in Shakespeare AND Maths". Details here: mathsinspiration.com/much-ado-sum...

In 1909, John Venn (the diagram guy) invented a machine that can bowl googlies. Matt Parker and I tested out a replica built by engineers at Cambridge University. youtu.be/2E424Itot8s

Should you go first in a penalty shoot-out? Which lane would you choose in a 400 metre final? And should you work on your tennis serve? Some myths debunked in my article for AB magazine. abmagazine.accaglobal.com/global/artic...

In a happy coincidence, new paperback editions of of my two least mathsy books come out in the USA this month - from different publishers. Apart from their English-ness I don't think Shakespeare and Cricket have much in common. (Cricket Explained is the US title for What Is A Googly?)

2B or not 2B? Evidence that Shakespeare may have used a pencil, made from Lake District graphite. Read more in Stationery News (where else?). #PencilDay www.stationerynews.net/2b-or-not-2b...

"There were 500,000 protestors in London" said the organisers. "50,000" said the police. Estimating crowd size is notoriously difficult, but a factor of ten difference is just ridiculous. (And I'm not taking sides here.) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On 28th/29th March as part of national Shakespeare Week I'll be doing four public talks on 'The Maths of Shakespeare's London' at MathsWorld (near Tate Modern). Details here: mathsworld.com/events/Shake...

Sunday cricket just three or four weeks away now (anyone starting earlier than Easter/April??) Have a look at our website and get in touch if we can help you with a small grant towards getting any friendly games on googlyfund.co.uk Please share in your🏏 networks

Manchester doing a great impersonation of Manchester this evening.

I'm on my way to a school in Stretford in Manchester, roughly in between the two Old Trafford grounds, but I won't be talking football or cricket. Instead I'll be doing my 50 minute interactive talk about Shakespeare and Elizabethan mathematics, for the entire Year 9 cohort (200 of them). Love it!

What if some maths was formally part of the History curriculum? History gives maths more context and its stories can captivate students. @teakayb.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy and I are at the @histassoc.bsky.social conference in May, aiming to talk to hundreds of history teachers. www.haconference.com

Here's part of an A level formula sheet. It tells you how to solve a quadratic. Students have this with them in their exam, so they don't have to memorise it. Whatever next?! Er...actually this is from the SMP Advanced tables book, 1975 (first edition 1966). Plus ca change.

It was really good to be the guest on the 'Your Brain On Climate' podcast with @powellds.bsky.social, a chance to talk in depth about the importance of numeracy when dealing with emotionally charged topics like climate change www.yourbrainonclimate.com/1817605/epis...

SHAKESPEARE BY NUMBERS - A free public talk On 10th March at 5pm, @freeburian.bsky.social and I are doing a joint talk on how numbers influenced Shakespeare. The venue is the London Interdisciplinary School in Whitechapel. A limited number of seats available, message one of us if you'd like to come.

I’ve been guest on three very different podcasts recently: Your Brain on Climate - numeracy to fight politicians www.yourbrainonclimate.com/1817605/epis... More or Less - Delap's maths trick www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p... Shakespeare Unlimited - maths 500 years ago www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...

I just bought a new toy - it's a fully working giant slide rule that was used for classroom demonstrations in the 1960s. This is what people used for doing tricky calculations, before electronic calculators took over in the late 1970s.

@adamrutherford.bsky.social in case you missed it, we uncovered Delap's mathematical secret, and mentioned Ipswich too.

Liam Delap of Chelsea FC can work out cube roots in his head. Is he a maths genius, or does he have a trick up his sleeve? I investigated with @timharford.ft.com on this week's More or Less. You can listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

Whether you like maths or Shakespeare or both (🙋🏻‍♂️) or neither, this interview with @robeastaway.bsky.social is a fascinating listen.

We often pigeonhole people as either a "maths " or an "arts“ person, but in Shakespeare’s time this divide didn’t exist. I spoke with @Folger.edu about why looking at Shakespeare through the eyes of a mathematician can help students to appreciate both disciplines. www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...

In NSW Australia there are three leaving-school maths exams: Standard, Extension 1 and Extension 2, which roughly equate to our AS, A level and Further. Here's the 2024 Extension 1 paper. I like the quickie questions at the start, which test a range of maths skills www.nsw.gov.au/sites/defaul...

Ok, people saying “myself” instead of “me” is getting irritating now. I blame you, #Traitors

Have you ever heard of "Transient Global Amnesia"? No, I hadn't either, until the 24th July last year, when it happened to me. For a day I forgot everything. Here's the story: robeastaway.com/blog/amnesia

Not been to the new MathsWorld in London yet? Come along on the evening of Thursday 29th Jan. I'm doing a talk on the maths of Shakespeare's London and it's also a chance to play with all the puzzles and exhibits. mathsworld.com/events/Shake...

So happy to be back in nets, the season is just three months away

Step into Shakespeare's London as never before, an evening talk on Thursday 29th January at the amazing new MathsWorld venue, not far from the Globe mathsworld.com/events

We were delighted to host “Shakespeare’s Hidden Numbers” at the library, a fascinating talk by Rob Eastaway, author of Much Ado About Numbers. The session had students laughing and seeing Maths/The Bard in a whole new light. Thank you @kes-mathematics.bsky.social for this opportunity!

29th January, 7pm - I'm doing a talk at MathsWorld London about the Maths of Shakespeare's London. Elizabethan History meets Shakespeare and mathematics. Also a great chance to visit this fabulous new venue which is close to Tate Modern. Advance booking required. mathsworld.com/events/Shake...

Every so often I get a really unusual enquiry about maths. Yesterday it was a call from 5Live, asking for my views on the shape of the table used by the Cabinet. Blog below but TL;DR it's an irregular octagon, but an ellipse would be better. robeastaway.com/blog/cabinet...

Yesterday as a follow-up for @bbc5live I picked five numbers of 2026. They are 48, 78, 2026 itself, 3452 and half a trillion. (TLDL: we need more maths graduates and the World Cup won't be as good as the last one) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/..., starts about 01:45 in.

BBC Radio 5live asked me to pick five numbers of the year. They are 6, 33, 2025 itself, 1 trillion and 67 (sorry). My chat with Marianna Spring starts just over 30 mins in. Happy New Year. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Despite the headline, this is NOT a 'trillions to one' story (that would be the odds of a pre-specified, named person winning twice). This sort of story is newsworthy, but probability theory says we should expect it to happen every so often - and it does! www.bbc.com/news/article...

I loved performing my Much Ado About Numbers show for Year 10s at the Rose Theatre in Kingston yesterday - a theatre based on the plan of the original @roseplayhouse.bsky.social in Southwark. "Swear not by the moon...That monthly changes in her circled orb" (Romeo & Juliet)

I just needed to use Pythagoras in everyday life! We are using tape to mark up a 3-mens morris board on stage. The board need to be about 2.5m square. How much tape do we need? (I make it ~22 metres).

In her SparxMaths homework, I watch a GCSE pupil being asked to fully expand the expression (3x + 5)^4 . To ensure she doesn't cheat with AI she has to answer correctly online AND write out all her workings on paper. Sorry, this isn't maths, it's five minutes of pointless number-crunching.

Top tip: If you're a bill poster, be careful to get the join in the right place. Apply now for your Klarna "debt card". [seen on LinkedIn]

Was Shakespeare an accountant? TL;DR - yes he probably was. Here's my evidence: abmagazine.accaglobal.com/global/artic...