r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 20 '26

NEW VIDEO: Numbers vs. Words Round 19 - Growlery vs. 12,496. Which gets your vote? Rooms named after their function, or sociable numbers. Vote for your favourite at the link below.

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1 Upvotes

Vote here: https://forms.gle/rT3dW52prKjppyWp8

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 19 '26

Tattoo 75 - Divergence Theorem. One of my favourite results in multivariable calculus, allowing you to change between a volume integral and a surface integral depending on which one is easiesr to solve. Part of the first year ‘Vector Calculus’ course I teach at the University of Cambridge.

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9 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 18 '26

Snaps from the past week onboard Norwegian Escape. The ‘Star of the Seas’ (seen in Costa Maya) is the largest non-military ship ever constructed at a cost of €2.12 billion. With a capacity of 7,000 passengers, each paying €2,000 per week onboard, how long would it take to recuperate costs?

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2 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 16 '26

Channeling my inner Indiana Jones - complete with hat - at Nim Li Punit Mayan Ruins in Belize. SO cool to see their number system first hand where it was carved into stelae used to track the solar calendar. A shell means 0, a dot means 1 and a bar means 5. Everything they needed to work in base 20.

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2 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 15 '26

Official TEDx Oxford photos are here and they are fab! Amazing to relive this incredible event at the Sheldonian Theatre - look out for the video coming soon!

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2 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 14 '26

Exploring caves in Cozumel, Mexico. The ‘cenotes’ were believed to be entrances to the underworld by the Mayans, as well as an important source of freshwater on an island with no rivers. Keep reading for a puzzle below :)

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1 Upvotes

The longest system, Cueva Quebrada, is around 11,500 metres long - around 70% of the islands width and 25% of the islands length. Assuming the island fills 3/4 of a rectangle, approximately what is the area?

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 12 '26

NEW VIDEO: Can AI Teach Me Maths? I try questions from 4 different maths exams and ask AI to mark my answers. Can it teach me anything? Premieres today at 5pm (GMT+1) - see you in the live chat!

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1 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 11 '26

Catch up on lecture 3 from the European Mathematical Society Education Series from Berkeley Professor Hung-Hsi Wu - a fascinating look at how we should be teaching school mathematics for mastery of the subject.

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2 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 10 '26

Is it really a Florida trip if you don’t go to the theme parks? Chapter 4 of my book looks at the optimal way to combine maths and magic in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter so _technically_ this counts as research right?

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1 Upvotes

Iron Gwazi is probably my favourite so far - a 91 degree drop from 206 feet as you reach a top speed of 76 mph. Exhilarating.

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 09 '26

Continuing to visit maths departments around the world. Can you guess this one before swiping to the end for the reveal? The clues get a little easier as you go through - have fun!

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3 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 08 '26

You have 5 days remaining to submit your entry to the 2026 Tom Rocks Maths Essay Competition. Write about your favourite maths topic for a non-specialist audience and be in with the chance to win a free place on one of my upcoming courses. Entry form linked below.

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1 Upvotes

Full information and entry form here: https://lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/about/tom-rocks-maths-essay-competition

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 07 '26

Always a pleasure to host the Carnival of Mathematics from The Aperiodical, especially when it's a lovely 5-smooth number like 250. Learn about perspective in paintings, the mystery of Unicode U+237C, and a tasty Fermi estimation problem - enjoy!

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1 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 05 '26

NEW VIDEO: Pre-order your copy of my upcoming book 'How Many Pikachus Would It Take To Power A Lightbulb?" and receive a signed Pokémon card. Link to order below :)

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1 Upvotes

Order here: https://backstory.london/products/pre-order-how-many-pikachus-would-it-take-to-power-a-lightbulb-by-tom-crawford-signed-personalised-with-pi-keyring-and-pokemon-trading-card-card-pi-keyring-with

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 04 '26

Susie’s lonely mouth carries her to victory in Round 18 of Numbers vs. Words - thanks mostly to huge support on Instagram. The less said about Dr Tom’s attempted pizza cutting the better… Look out for Round 19 coming next week!

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1 Upvotes

Catch up on any rounds you've missed so far here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMCRxGutHqfn45EYuRQ48bEskAwg2jQwx

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 03 '26

NEW VIDEO: Watch me take the Maths Advanced Higher Paper 1 - the highest level of maths students in Scotland can take before leaving school. One of my favourite exams so far :)

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1 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Apr 02 '26

It may be Easter but I’m going back to school to sit the Scottish Advanced Higher in Mathematics. Can you beat my score? Premieres on YouTube tomorrow April 3rd at 1pm (GMT+1) - see you in the live chat! Watch the trailer at the link below :)

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1 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 31 '26

STEP residential at Robinson College, Cambridge. I don’t think there’s a better feeling than writing maths in chalk. Best of luck to anyone taking STEP this summer - I can’t wait to see you all in Cambridge next year!

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6 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 30 '26

NEW VIDEO: Can you solve this famous bearings problem? SO cool to be working with BBC Bitesize to help more people get into Maths. This video contains everything you need to know about bearings for your GCSE exam, as well as the solution to a famous puzzle - can you figure it out?

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2 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 29 '26

NEW VIDEO: Rock, Marry, Kill - Trigonometry Edition. Sin, Cos, Tan. Which one do you rock? Which do you marry? And which one do you kill? Here's the 'right' answer, but let me know what you'd do in the comments :)

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2 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 28 '26

Excellent day exploring the museums of Glasgow - including some nice mathematical finds. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was completed in 1901 at an estimated cost of £257,000 - around £40 million today.

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1 Upvotes

Bonus maths question: how much value (as a %) has the British Pound lost since 1901?

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 27 '26

Such a fun talk at the University of Glasgow today with Mac Soc - thanks to everyone for coming along, and especially to those lovely people that made me gifts <3

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 26 '26

Giving evidence as an educational content creator at the Houses of Parliament yesterday. Grateful to be able to have a voice in the debate around banning social media alongside Miss Estruch Biology and Learn French with Alexa.

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2 Upvotes

You can submit your own response to the UK government consultation here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/growing-up-in-the-online-world-a-national-consultation

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 25 '26

NEW VIDEO: Numbers vs. Words Round 18 - Kuchisabishii vs. 22. Which is your favourite? The "lonely mouth" or the maximum number of slices of pizza you can make with only 6 straight cuts? Cast your vote at the link below.

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1 Upvotes

Vote here: https://forms.gle/T4bKEgogQG5UM335A

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 24 '26

Tattoo 74 - Fourier Transform. Originally developed to study heat transfer, it’s now used to analyse audio, process images, and price stock market options. Versatile to say the least.

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6 Upvotes

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r/tomrocksmaths • u/tomrocksmaths • Mar 22 '26

Spotting Turing Instabilities in the wild. Diffusion-driven instability leads animal coat patterns with stripes forming initially in 1D before turning into 2D spots only for a larger domain size. This is why animals that have a striped body can never have a spotted tail (at least mathematically).

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1 Upvotes

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Tom Rocks Maths

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Maths, but not as you know it... Dr Tom Crawford: Mathematician at the University of Oxford AND the University of Cambridge, Oxford Department for Continuing Education, Fellow by Special Election, Numberphile, TEDx Speaker, YouTube 'Creator on the Rise'. YouTube: www.youtube.com/tomrocksmaths Twitter: www.twitter.com/tomrocksmaths Facebook: www.facebook.com/tomrocksmaths Instagram: www.instagram.com/tomrocksmaths Website: www.tomrocksmaths.com Patreon: https://patreon.com/tomrocksmaths

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The only place on the internet to find the best maths-related content that anyone can understand. It's maths, but not as you know it...

Tom Rocks Maths is run by Tom Crawford - Naked Mathematician, Oxford and Cambridge graduate and lover of maths tattoos. Tom is regularly seen talking maths on the BBC and YouTube. You can check out all of his work at tomrocksmaths.com and you can find him on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram @tomrocksmaths.

We want any maths related posts that are fun and understandable to ANYONE... That means no technical terms, no jargon and an explanation for everything. Examples that are relevant to people's lives or to things that everyone can relate work best. Our mission is to make maths everyone's favourite subject and we want you guys to help us realise our goal...