We’re very pleased indeed to publish Does My Vote Count? A Multiplicative Reasoning Project.

It’s free to download from the SMC Articles page or the link above.

This project allows pupils to explore the maths behind different systems for fairly allocating seats in an election. Topics include:

• Proportional representation
• The Alternative Vote system
• The Additional Member system
• Boundary changes and gerrymandering

It includes exercises, three longer investigations, and a case study of the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections. It should interest people who care about mathematics for citizenship, and those who want to build connections between Maths and Modern Studies or History.

Many thanks to the authors Chris Pritchard, Simon Fogiel, Brenda Harden, Phil Knight, as well as to Carol Lyon, Helen Martin, Karen Hart and Allan Duncan, for this excellent resource!

We hope you are keeping safe and well in these challenging times. As you may be aware, the Scottish Mathematical Council has made the difficult decision not to hold our usual conference at Stirling University in Spring 2021 and will instead offer an online/virtual conference. 

Whilst we are sad to have been forced to break from tradition, a virtual conference does offer new and exciting possibilities and we plan to offer three different types of session:

• live presentation 
• pre-recorded presentation 
• professional discussion on a theme of common interest

We would be delighted if you were able to lead a session of your preferred format.  

Should you be willing to do so, please register your interest no later than Monday 9th November 2020 by completing this form.

Thank you,

The SMC Virtual Conference Planning Team

We have made the decision to hold the SMC Conference 2021 as an online event. While this obviously has some disadvantages, it is not clear what the situation will be by the spring and safety has to come first. (Equally, we hope that we will be able to use the online format to make the Conference available to a wider range of people from right across Scotland, and maybe even beyond!)

Please look out for further details, including a call for presenters, in due course.

We are sorry to announce that, due to the pandemic, the Enterprising Maths in Scotland final will not take place this year.

It is up to local authorities whether they feel able to hold local events, but we recognise that it will not be possible in most cases.

We are very grateful to everyone who has supported and continues to support EMiS. We hope that by 2021 it will be possible to resume the competition safely, and we will be doing all we can to achieve this.

Stay safe!

The Scottish Mathematical Council is delighted to announce that Carol Lyon has assumed the role of Chair, with effect from 17 July 2019.

Carol has a wealth of experience as a primary specialist, initially as a classroom teacher and later in positions of leadership at school and local authority level. She has served on the SMC since 2015 and is the inaugural editor of the Scottish Mathematical Council Primary Journal. Her SMC colleagues believe she will bring a freshness and new perspectives to the role and wish her every success.