Oxford Online Maths Club
Welcome to the club! Every Thursday at 16:30, we’ll be livestreaming one hour of maths problems, puzzles, mini-lectures, and Q&A. It’s free, interactive, casual, and relaxed, with an emphasis on solving problems, building fluency, and looking ahead at links to university maths. It's mostly aimed at two sets of people; those who are about to start an undergraduate Mathematics (or joint honours) degree later this year, and those who are thinking of applying later this year to start a Maths degree next year. Whether you’re the only person you know who’s interested in mathematics, or if you’re an entire sixth-form maths club looking for more maths content, we’re here for you! The livestreams are on YouTube, so you can join us live or watch it back later at any time.
Along the way, we’re going to cover some interesting maths problems (of course!), but we’ll also be answering your questions about mathematics at university, about how to prepare, how to apply, and how to bridge the gap from A-level to university. Our regular host is Dr James Munro (admissions coordinator for Maths at Oxford), and we often have current Oxford students or lecturers on the livestream as guests.
Episode 0
In episode 0, we solve a problem with square numbers, learn about quadratic residues, and talk about an Oxford maths interview question about cubics.
Episode 2
In episode 2, we look at some unseen MAT questions with help from David (first-year student), before returning to the square problem from episode 0 and the cube problem from episode 1.
Episode 1
In episode 1, we talk about shapes and about watching YouTube videos quickly, and answer some of your questions. You can download a net of a cube with instructions for designing a symmetric pattern here; Cubes and other shapes
Note for teachers
Each livestream will be on YouTube indefinitely, and the sessions are free for your students to watch whenever. If you want to adapt the content covered in our livestreams for your own after-school maths club, please feel free to contact us on the email address below, and we may be able to give you a copy of any original materials used in our sessions.
Resources (adapted from OOMC livestreams)
Contact us
If you’ve got feedback about the Oxford Online Maths Club, or suggestions/ requests for content, or you’d like to get in touch, please send an email to oomc [at] maths.ox.ac.uk.
Other resources
Looking for more maths? Here are some other things that you might like.
MAT livestream
Problem Solving Matters
PROMYS Europe Connect 2021
Do you like Number Theory? PROMYS Europe is a programme designed to encourage mathematically ambitious secondary school students to explore the creative world of mathematics. This year, PROMYS is running as a 4-week online program that anyone who is at least 16, pre-university, and ordinarily resident in Europe can apply for. The programme itself consists of intensive work on an assortment of challenging problems in Number Theory, with support and collaboration with mentors, returning students, and with undergraduate counsellors. The application process involves some tricky maths problems, which are worth having a go at just for fun, whether or not you decide to apply for the programme. Applications are open from 12 January 2021 at https://promys-europe.org/2021-programme
More links
The STEP support programme is a great set of maths resources, even if you're not going to take the STEP exams. Start here and then work through these; if they're too easy for you, then try these or eventually these. Dr Stephen Siklos's book Advanced Problems in Mathematics: Preparing for University is great, and free.
NRICH has lots of maths problems, investigations, games, and activities.
The Maths department at Oxford has written practice problems and material to help with bridging the gap, which some colleges send out to students to look at over the summer before starting the Oxford maths degree. The Bridging the Gap material has been expanded into the book "Towards Higher Mathematics: A Companion" by Dr Richard Earl.
The maths departmental prospectus has more information about the Oxford maths and joint honours degrees.
Full details of the courses offered as part of the Maths degree in 2019/20 are available here. Please note that the courses offered may change year-on-year, and course details may change. Links to courses in specific years of the Maths degree;
- First year ("Prelims") 2019/20 courses
- Second year ("Part A") 2019/20 courses
- Third year ("Part B") 2019/20 courses
- Fourth year ("Part C") 2019/20 courses
University College at Oxford has compiled a great list of other resources, Staircase 12.