Author Archives: TMS

[TMS] Week 7 – TMS Quiz! and EGM

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Dear All,

This coming Monday, there’ll be a TMS Quiz, 7pm at Burrell’s Field Common Room!

Event: TMS Quiz

Date: Monday, 25 November
Time: 7pm – 9+pm
Location: Burrell’s Field Common Room, Trinity College
Why you should come: For the joy and relaxation of quizzing with others! And there’ll be pizza and port/juice as usual~
Hope to see many of you there!
In addition, we will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting next Friday, 29 Nov, 1pm, at the CMS Core. The purpose of the EGM is for the TMS committee to discuss and confirm some minor technical amendments to our constitution, deemed necessary by the student union. All TMS members are eligible to come and vote on these amendments; do let me know if you wish to come.

[TMS] Week 6 – Dr Dominic Yeo

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This coming Monday, we are grateful to have Dr Dominic Yeo deliver a wonderfully probabilistic talk, 7pm at the CMS. And, do hang around for pizza and port/juice after the talk!

Title: From random walks to permutations (and back again!)

Speaker: Dr Dominic Yeo
Abstract: For any procedure of shuffling a pack of cards, it is natural to ask how many shuffles are needed to get close to ‘perfect randomness’. We will explore this question and find some surprising connections with graphs, random walks, and a problem about orienting a collection of roundabouts!
Date: Monday, 18 November
Time: 7pm
Location: MR2, Centre of Mathematical Sciences

As usual, some members of the committee will be walking over to CMS from Great Court at 6.40pm; feel free to join them!

[TMS] Week 5 – Dr Anthony Ashton (+ Lent Undergraduate Talks)

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This Monday, we are delighted to have a Dr Anthony Ashton share about oscillatory integrals at the Winstanley Lecture Theatre! And, do hang around for pizza and port/juice after the talk!

Title: Oscillatory Integrals: from the concrete to the abstract
Speaker: Dr Anthony Ashton
Abstract: Depending on which mathematician you speak to, an “oscillatory integral” might be either: (a) an integral that is difficult to compute numerically; or (b) an abstract object defined in terms of a seemingly divergent integral that can be used to great effect in analysis. In this talk I’ll discuss one way of dealing with oscillatory integrals of the type (a) and look at how those ideas could be used to help understand those oscillatory integrals of type (b).
Date: Monday, 11 November
Time: 7pm
Location: Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Blue Boar Court, Trinity College

Some members of the committee will be walking over to Winstanley from Great Court at 6.50pm; feel free to join them!

In addition, this is early notice that we will be hosting a series of TMS Peer Talks at the start of Lent term! Details as follows:

Event: TMS Peer Talks
When: Start of Lent term
Speakers/Audience: You!
Location: CMS (to be confirmed)
Description: Want to share about a mathematical idea that excites you? Want to hear about interesting mathematical perspectives from your peers? Do sign up to speak, or come along to attend the TMS Peer Talks! We hope to organise an afternoon of accessible bite-sized nuggets.

 

• Talk durations range from 5 to 15 minutes, with brief QnAs and plenty of breaks and snacks.
• The main target audience (and level of assumed knowledge) is IB Maths, but students of all levels are very welcome to speak/attend.
• The intended flavour of talks is not to present original research (which will likely be inaccessible to the broad undergraduate audience), but to present a nice piece of maths (e.g. a fresh perspective on a concept taught in lectures, a toy example illustrating a powerful result, or a brief tour of an area of maths).
• The ultimate goal is for both speakers and audience to have lots of fun over sharing and discussing maths!

Speaker Registration: End of Michaelmas term, during which more details will also be released!

[TMS] Talk- Oscillatory Integrals- from the concrete to the abstract by Dr Anthony Ashton

Week 4 – Prof. Sir David Spiegelhalter + Jane Street Women+ Figgie Night

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Dear All,

Do join us this Monday for a statistics talk by Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, at the Winstanley Lecture Theatre! And, do hang around for pizza and port/juice after the talk!

Title: The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk, and Luck
Speaker: Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter
Abstract: We all have to live with uncertainty about what is going to happen, what has happened, and why things turned out how they did. We attribute good and bad events as ‘due to chance’, label people as ‘lucky’, and (sometimes) admit our ignorance. I will show how to use the theory of probability to take apart all these ideas, and demonstrate how you can put numbers on your ignorance, and then measure how good those numbers are. Along the way we will look at three types of luck, and judge whether Derren Brown was lucky or unlucky when he was filmed flipping ten Heads in a row. [Professor Spiegelhalter’s latest book is The Art of Uncertainty, How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck (Penguin, 19 Sep 2024)!]
Date: Monday, 4 November
Time: 7pm
Location: Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Blue Boar Court, Trinity CollegeSome members of the committee will be walking over to Winstanley from Great Court at 6.50pm; feel free to join them!
In addition, in two weeks, Jane Street is holding an in-house Figgie Event for Women+! Here’s the details:
This will be a 1/2 day-long event that gives you the opportunity to learn and play a competitive card game alongside Jane Street traders. Figgie is a game designed by and played by Jane Streeters, meant to simulate elements of markets and trading. The game is fast-paced, exciting, and extremely fun. If you haven’t heard about Figgie before, you can read more here.
Spaces are limited, so we recommend registering sooner rather than later. Also, feel free to spread the word to your friends who you think could be strong applicants! We’d love to hear from them. Just be sure to share the registration link with them! This event is aimed at people who identify as women+.
If you are selected to attend this event, we will contact you with further details and instructions about booking your travel (which we will cover the cost of).
Event: Women+ Figgie Night @ London
Who: Anyone who identifies as women+
Location: Jane Street London Office [If selected, Jane Street will cover travel costs for the day.]
Description: This half-day event in our London office is designed to give you an insight into Figgie, a trading simulation game. Come along, eat some delicious food, speak with full-time Streeters, and become an expert in Figgie!
Date: Thursday, 14 November
Time: 3.30pm – 8pm

Week 3 – Prof. Imre Leader

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This coming Monday, we are delighter to have Professor Imre Leader deliver a combinatorics talk at the CMS. And, do hang around for pizza and port/juice after the talk!

Title: Tournaments
Speaker: Professor Imre Leader
Abstract: Most tournaments are of two types. There are all-play-all tournaments, like many chess tournaments or the group stages of football tournaments, and there are knockout tournaments where one loss eliminates you, like most tennis tournaments or the final stages of football tournaments. We will discuss some interesting things that happen in each of these two.
Date: Monday, 28 October
Time: 7pm
Location: MR2, Centre of Mathematical Sciences

As usual, some members of the committee will be walking over to CMS from Great Court at 6.40pm; feel free to join them!

In addition, the TMS is also partnering with Quant Intuition (https://www.quantintuition.com/), who are kindly offering free access to their educational resources for all TMS members! Contact the membership secretary (Blaise Mo, bm628@cam) for the access code (for identity verification purposes, use your @cam email address, or your email address registered on the TMS mailing list).

Week 2 – Prof. John Lister + Jump Trading Pub Quiz

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This coming Monday, we are excited to have Professor John Lister deliver a talk about viscous fluids! And, do hang around for pizza and port/juice after the talk. Details as follows:
Title: Spreading Golden Syrup
Speaker: Professor John Lister
Abstract: If a tank containing 9000 m^3 of molasses collapses 50 m away from you, how fast do you need to run? What if it is 100 m away? I will solve this and other problems through an introduction to the equations of viscous flow, the lubrication approximation and self-similar solutions to nonlinear differential equations for events that start (or finish) with a catastrophe. Featuring golden syrup. No previous knowledge of fluids necessary.
Date: Monday, 21 October
Time: 7pm
Location: MR2, Centre of Mathematical Sciences
And on Tuesday, our sponsor, Jump Trading, is hosting a pub quiz. Details as follows:
Jump Trading is a leading algorithmic trading firm that builds predictive models and sophisticated technology to automatically execute trades on financial exchanges around the world. Interested in learning about the intersection between technology and trading? Join Jump’s team of quants and recruiters for a talk and pub quiz at 7.00pm on Tuesday 22 October at Trinity College Bar.
Event: Jump Trading Pub Quiz
Date: Tuesday, 22 October
Time: 7pm
Location: Trinity College Bar
Hope to see many of you there!
Calendar invites:

Week 1 Update – Talk Cancelled + Social

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Due to unforeseen circumstances, tomorrow’s talk (by Prof. Béla Bollobás) is cancelled. Apologies for the short notice.
In place of it, we’ve decided to organise a chill Social and Board Games Night! Details as follows:
Event: Social and Board Games
Date: Monday, 14 October
Time: 7pm-9pm
Location: Burrell’s Field Common Room, Trinity College
Provisions: Snacks and drinks (including port!)
For those who aren’t from Trinity but wish to join us, the easiest way to get in is via the Burrell’s Field Porters’ Lodge (note: different from Trinity’s main plodge) or by following a member of college. For any further worries, do contact me or another committee member.
Some of the committee will also be meeting beside the fountain at Great Court at 6.45pm to walk over; do look out for them if this is more convenient for you!

Mich. Week 1 – Prof. Béla Bollobás (+ Termcard, Discord Server)

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Hi everyone! We are delighted to have Professor Béla Bollobás start the ball rolling this coming Monday. Here are the talk details:
Title: Geometry, Number Theory, and Combinatorics: Recent Progress on Old Problems
Speaker: Prof. Béla Bollobás
Abstract: It is always fascinating to see progress on mathematical problems that had remained intractable for years. In this talk, which should be understandable to freshmen, and of interest to all mathematicians, I shall give one or two recent examples of this.
Date: Monday, 14 October
Time: 7pm
Location: MR2, CMS
In addition, here’s the TMS Termcard, listing the Michaelmas talks and events. Locations of subsequent talks will be confirmed closer to the date. There are also some sponsor events in the works; stay tuned for further updates!
Finally, we are excited to open the TMS Discord Server, a digital social hub for members to connect and socialise over maths and non-maths alike, outside of the weekly talks! To join, check the mailing list for the invite link, or contact the Membership Secretary, Blaise Mo (bm628).

New Committee

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Following the AGM held on Saturday, a new TMS Committee has been elected for 2024/2025:

President: Eleanor MacGillivray
Vice-President: Arunav Maheshwari
Secretary: Dylan Toh
Treasurer: Samuel Liew
Membership Officer: Blaise Mo
Constable: Fredy Yip

Over the coming days, you should receive details concerning ticketing for the TMS Annual Dinner, and information about the Garden Party and the Annual Cricket Match will arrive in due course.

On a personal note, I’ve grateful to have been part of the Committee over the past year, and I’ve enjoyed sharing with you all the activities of the TMS. The fact that the AGM had significant attendance and several competitive elections should certainly bode well for the future of the society. I’m glad to be handing over my role to Dylan, who I’m sure will do an excellent job for the next year, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the TMS evolves under the new committee.

– Jason.

Annual General Meeting

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The society’s AGM will be taking place on the 27th of April at 4:30pm in the Blue Boar Common Room. We plan to offer refreshments and pizza to those attending. Elections will be held for the following committee positions:

  1. President: The President shall coordinate the Committee and invite speakers.
  2. Vice-President: The Vice-President shall book the rooms and aid the President, stepping in as necessary.
  3. Secretary: The Secretary shall send weekly emails and publicise events to our members.
  4. Treasurer: The Treasurer shall organise sponsorships, apply for College funding and make sure we don’t go bankrupt!
  5. Membership Officer: The Membership Officer shall manage membership and organised socials.
  6. Constable: The Constable (usually an ex-officer) shall aid the Committee in its functions.

As responsibilities are broadly shared across the committee, most positions will not have a significant time-commitment, and each committee member can effectively contribute to shaping the functions of the TMS. For further information about particular roles, please feel free to contact any of the current committee members.

Only Trinity members may stand for election; if you wish to run for a position, you should prepare a brief speech and notify the President (fy276) of your intention to run in advance of the AGM. I would highly recommend those interested to consider running – so that the traditions of the society can both be preserved and improved upon in future.