How can mathematics make you a millionaire, and create robots and animation? Dick Ahlstromexplains
Frightened of maths? Does calculus make you quake? Do percentages make your blood run cold?
Maths Week is almost upon us and now is your chance to form a new acquaintance with the numbers game.
Maths-related events are planned for up and down the country during Maths Week, which runs from Monday October 15th until Friday October 19th.
The aim is to overcome the resistance many people feel towards the subject, says Maths Week co-ordinator, Eoin Gill.
"How often do you hear people say 'I can't do maths' and yet they can all count their change. People do maths every day without realising it," says Gill who also jointly manages the Centre for Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (Calmast) with Sheila Donegan at Waterford Institute of Technology.
Maths Week includes a varied mix of events all designed to put people at ease with the subject. It is an all-Ireland effort and involves host venues and organisers on both sides of the Border. Most of the island's universities and institutes of technology are involved, as well as a number of the colleges of education.
There will be talks on whether maths can make a millionaire out of you and an interactive event on mathematics and robots.
There is a lecture on how maths makes film animation so powerful and also one on the history of numbers.
Many of the events are geared towards secondary school students, but there is something for everyone in the programme, Gill suggests.
There are also top speakers with interesting stories to tell. Stadium designer Paul Shepherd will talk about his work on the new Lansdowne Road stadium.
Dr François Charette will talk about the Islamic mathematical legacy at an event in the Chester Beatty Library.
The week's events run in October each year to mark an important date in the international mathematics calendar. The week always incorporates October 16th, the date in 1843 on which Ireland's greatest mathematician William Rowan Hamilton devised a mathematical system called Quaternions.
Quaternions have become important in the study of quantum mechanics, but they also have application in creating game system characters such as Laura Croft of Tomb Raider.
Hamilton had his Quaternion "Eureka moment" while on a stroll along the Royal Canal from his home at Dunsink Observatory into the city centre.
For this reason the staff and students of the department of Mathematics at NUI Maynooth organise a Quaternion Walk that retraces Hamilton's Royal Canal route.
Members of the public are invited to participate in this free walk which includes talks and information about Hamilton and his work. To book a place on the walk contact Dr Fiacre Ó Cairbre at Maynooth at 01 708-3763.
The information you need to participate in Maths Week can be found on the dedicated web site, www.mathsweek.ie and this site also provides contact information and explains how to book events