Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition - 2023 Winners Announced
11 Aug 2023
Launched in February 2020, the Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition is a joint venture between Tom Rocks Maths and St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford, which asks high-school students to explain their favourite mathematical topic in an essay aimed at a non-specialist audience. The hope is to give them experience in communicating complex ideas in an understandable manner and also to encourage them to engage with maths beyond the classroom.
The 2023 winners have been announced!
The Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition continues to go from strength to strength with a record 231 entries this year. The consistently high quality of writing continues to leave me astounded and delighted in equal measure. As usual, it was incredibly difficult to select a winners shortlist, with many excellent entries only missing the cut simply to prevent the shortlist from becoming too long! Thank you to everyone that took the time to submit an entry – I found I learned something new from pretty much every essay and had a delightful time doing so. I look forward to an even bigger and better competition in 2024! – Tom Crawford
Student Winner
Jed Skilling: Undeserved Mystery of Complex Numbers
“Jed’s essay is an excellent example of how to introduce an advanced topic to a non-specialist audience whilst also showcasing a novel way to think about complex numbers. I found it very easy to follow, highly intuitive, and thoroughly enjoyable – well done!” — Tom Crawford
Overall Winner
Georgia Skiada: Knowing when to quit
“Georgia’s essay is a perfect blend of entertainment, information and engagement. The variety of mathematical topics covered is highly impressive, made all the even more so by how well they are knitted together into a coherent narrative. I learned a lot and had a great time doing so – well done Georgia!” — Tom Crawford
Honourable Mentions
Hanan Ali: The Search for the USS Scorpion: A Modern Application of Bayesian Statistics
An interesting story and a great example of how maths can be used to solve real world problems.
Kate Robinson: Why 163 is a really cool number (but -262537412680768000 is even cooler)
Uses our love of big numbers to introduce a range of niche mathematical topics.
Evghenii Beriozchin: Laura’s search beyond the land of plurality
A highly entertaining way of presenting an important – but often monotonous – topic.
Hamish Lawson: How your brain perceives numbers
A fascinating read from start to finish – I loved it!
Mai Noubir: The Isoperimetric Problem: From Bull-hide to Bees
A new way of looking at a classical problem, with some real maths to boot!
Gina Pohlenz: Friends on a Grid
An interesting puzzle explained with some neat maths.
Sunny Kahn: Egyptian Fractions
A lovely insight into a part of mathematical history of which I was previously unaware.
Alejandro Schultheiss: About the beautiful mathematics behind stacked chips
A lot of fun to read and a highly intuitive way to introduce coordinate systems.
Yiche Huang: A more real world than the real world
A great insight into both human vision and image compression on computers.
Xiaole Zou: Fascinating Probabilities – Bertrand’s Paradox
Clearly explains one of the most confusing paradoxes in mathematics, which requires great skill.
Zack Ross: What is a Kilogram?
I really enjoyed the informal/chatty nature of the writing – and learned a fair few things about units.
Pierce Zhong: The Point of Pythagoras And The Purpose of Pi
A nice way to link two seemingly unconnected mathematical cornerstones – and a great deal of fun too!
Laksh Sharma: Interesting information about Information Theory
Educational, entertaining and informative. An excellent read.
Jingxi Yao: The Moving Sofa Problem: A Mathematical Puzzle
An excellent discussion of a problem we’ve no doubt all experienced!
Ana Emilia de Orellana: Kakeya’s Needle Problem
A problem I’d previously never heard of which was not only explained clearly and succinctly, but with enough intrigue to leave me wanting more!
Emma Cliffe: Overcoming chaos in our weather forecast
A great way to introduce the topic of chaos theory with real-world examples and explanations of what can often appear as a highly abstract topic.
Ewan Hallatt: A Mathematical Stab in the Dark – the Art of Analytic Continuation
A very clear explanation of an incredibly complex topic. I also have a soft spot for the Gamma Function, which is an excellent choice of example.
Many thanks to everyone who took part and remember – the competition will be running again in early 2024!
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