Mr P’s Maths Column

International Women in Mathematics Day – May 12, 2025

May 12th is a joyful opportunity for the mathematical community to celebrate women in mathematics. The celebration takes place worldwide every year, with the date chosen to coincide with Maryam Mirzakhani’s birthday. The goal of the day is to inspire women everywhere to celebrate their achievements in mathematics.

As mentioned, May 12th is the birthdate of Maryam Mirzakhani. The following excerpt is taken from the ‘May12’ initiative website:

Who is Maryam Mirzakhani?

Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian mathematician and a Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University. She was one of the world’s leading experts in geometry and dynamical systems. Her beautiful and astonishing results and her life and career are an inspiration for everyone, women and men, to pursue their dreams in science. She died tragically from cancer in 2017 at the early age of 40.

In 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani was awarded the Fields Medal for her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces, becoming the first woman, and the first Iranian, to be recognised for her mathematical achievements by this top mathematical prize.

In the few interviews she gave, Mirzakhani spoke eloquently of the beauty of mathematics and her joy in doing it.

International Women in Mathematics Day is spearheaded by a website platform called May 12 Initiative, whose goal is to inspire women everywhere in the world to celebrate their achievements in mathematics.

https://may12.womeninmaths.org/why

Lastly, here is website that highlights some of the incredible female mathematicians worldwide over the years:

https://thirdspacelearning.com/blog/famous-female-mathematicians/

Parent problem of the week

There are 12 kids in a classroom. 6 kids are wearing socks and 4 are wearing shoes. 3 kids are wearing both. How many are barefoot?

Solution to last week’s problem

Master Yoda was asked which is his favorite number. He replied:

“All numbers powerful they are! Connected to the force they are. When divided by 6 my number remainder 5 gives. When divided by 5 remainder 4 it gives. When divided by 5 remainder 3 it gives. Less than 100 my number is.”

What is Master Yoda’s number?

This is quite a difficult question. Master Yoda’s number gives a remainder one less than the number it is divided by. If we call that number ‘x’, then ‘x+1’ is divisible by 6, 5, and 4. The common multiple of 6, 5, and 4 that is less than 100 is 60. So, x+1=60, and by solving for x, we get x=59.

So Master Yoda’s number is 59.