Just a short note to mention that today's Discussion Group is indeed happening; Ben Simpson will present us with his findings about category theory. Don't miss it!

A short notice: there is a discussion group tonight by Cosmin about some topics in the combinatorics of subdivision, for example on the subject of subdividing a square into even or odd numbers of congruent triangles. But it's going to be good! See you there!

The Warwick Mathematics Society is hosting a special event - a maths Knowitalls contest!

If you're familiar with the BBC2 show Knowitalls, this is the same idea. In the different rounds, each contestant is given a mathematical topic and he has a small amount of time to say everything he knows about the topic.

In the first round, the idea is to come up with as much information as possible, and to mention some of the key points that the jury will have prepared in order to get some sweet bonus points.

In the second round, you will need to come up with one of the key points as fast as possible.

In the third round, you have to come up with as many examples as possible of a given type.

Everyone is more than welcome; we try to make things fair by giving harder topics to third/fourth years than to first or second years. The idea is simply to have fun by trying to remember some nice mathematical facts in familiar areas, not to embarass anyone. But giving impossibly hard questions to Cosmin is also always a fun thing to do; you'll find he doesn't know much about differential geometers after Riemann, for example. Also don't worry if you don't know anything about fiber bundles, we're reserving all those questions for one particular person.

We had a test run with a few regulars last Monday and it proved tremendously fun - as long as you take it lightly, you'll be sure to amuse yourself too! Please be sure to come!