After running out of time to answer all of your questions in the original 50k subscriber livestream Q&A, I’ve recorded my answers to the remaining 150 questions for you to enjoy. A HUGE thank you to each and every one of you for supporting online maths content – here’s to the next 50k 🙂

Watch part 1 here.

Full list of questions answered with timestamps:

1:27 Favourite first generation starter Pokémon and favourite maths YouTuber?

2:44 How tall are you?

2:58 What is the course that your students struggle the most with?

4:00 What career paths are possible for a maths major beyond academia?

5:17 Is practice the main solution to improve at maths?

6:30 Would Isaac Newton be able to pass a 2021 A-level?

7:51 How long does it take to do your hair and do you have a personal hair stylist?

8:47 Have you had any weird or wacky things happen in an interview?

10:21 What topic do you think students at GCSE and A-level are generally weak at?

12:42 What’s 10 times Q?

12:55 Would you say going back to university for a BSc at 30+ is too late to go onto do a PhD?

14:00 Do you ever get mature students doing maths at Oxford?

14:47 Why did you choose Oxford?

16:25 Do you have any suggestions for textbooks for learning mathematics?

17:30 Apart from different entrance exams, what are the main differences between maths at Oxford and Cambridge?

20:10 Any advice before starting A-level maths or further maths?

21:34 Blackboard or whiteboard?

21:49 What subject would you have studied at university if it wasn’t maths?

22:28 What is your favourite number?

23:12 What is your favourite equation and how to choose a perfect topic for research?

25:01 Are you interested in cryptography and cryptocurrencies?

25:48 Do you have any fellow mathematicians in Brazil?

26:14 Most fascinating equation?

27:20 Any more collabs with 3Blue1Brown?

27:38 Do you like strawberries?

28:12 Do you know any universities in the Czech Republic? Or any outside of the UK?

28:56 What do you look like?

29:21 Why don’t we understand the distribution of the primes?

30:37 Which football team do you support and any advice on knowing when to quit academia?

32:45 What was it like collaborating with 3Blue1Brown?

33:19 How do you tackle a maths problem if you don’t have knowledge of that particular field?

34:27 Do you have any theorems or formulas named after you?

35:24 Do you have a partner?

35:36 e to the pi or pi to the e – which is better?

36:04 As a student how did you study?

37:17 Why did you leave Oxford after undergrad? And why come back after your PhD?

38:34 Do you enjoy statistics and in particular how it’s used in football?

39:40 Who is your inspiration for your lifestyle in general and your style of teaching?

41:04 Any plans for your first real vacation after the pandemic?

41:42 Is not taking further maths a disadvantage? And general tips for getting into Oxbridge?

43:22 Would you rather be an irrational number or an integer?

44:15 Can you solve Rubik’s cube?

44: 56 Do you think you can make it to 250k subs?

45:05 Are matrices underestimated/underrated on the high school syllabus?

46:32 Did you take part in Olympiads in high school? And why has Cambridge produced more famous mathematicians than Oxford?

47:22 Why do you use a chalkboard and not a whiteboard?

48:00 Can you explain Euler’s Identity?

49:38 Why do Oxford not do contextual offers like most other universities?

50:49 Have you heard of the JEE exam in India?

51:12 How long will you be doing YouTube for?

51:42 How do you read a maths paper?

53:02 Can maths contribute to understanding COVID vaccines?

53:30 Do you know how to play chess?

53:56 Favourite Pokémon and favourite Pokémon battle?

55:14 How hard do you think it is for a foreign student to get into Oxford?

56:30 Which hypothesis or conjecture would you like to see proven before you die?

56:57 Stats or mechanics?

57:30 What maths would I suggest an engineering undergraduate should learn?

58:18 Is there a scalar product for 3 vectors?

59:10 Any recommendations for a sixth former to get an idea of what university maths is like?

59:30 What were my career aspirations during university maths?

1:00:46 Did you enjoy real analysis?

1:01:35 Are you good at mental arithmetic?

1:02:09 Do you have any tips for fresher’s week?

1:02:58 When are you going to solve Navier-Stokes?

1:03:34 Would you like to try the HKALE pure maths paper?  

1:04:03 Why do we use x and y for axis labels and N for integers etc.?

1:04:24 What is your best advice to learn maths for a 16 year old?

1:04:51 What is your next tattoo?

1:05:27 Which maths topic do you think is advancing the fastest with research?

1:06:15 Which of Newton’s laws of motion are your favourite?

1:06:34 How has COVID changed maths lectures?

1:07:12 How do you feel about schools using YouTube channels to build excitement about maths?

1:07:38 Did you get sunburnt last weekend?

1:07:46 Do you watch Pokétubers?

1:07:57 What genre of music do you like?

1:08:34 What are the most promising research directions in fluids?

1:09:07 Which football team do you support?

1:09:13 Are there ways to visualise abstract concepts like groups, manifolds etc.?

1:10:08 Best maths book for number theory for someone aged 17?

1:10:40 Which degrees and careers should I be looking at with chemistry, physics, maths and further maths at A-level?

1:11:36 Would you ever do a talk with A-level students?

1:11:57 Do you follow any sports and if so, who do you support?

1:12:50 Any advice or resources for someone struggling with calculus?

1:13:30 Cars, motorcycles, or bicycles?

1:14:01 How many languages do you speak?

1:14:48 Is there any theorem or result that you would like to prove?

1:15:22 Are you into any kind of physics and would you like to visit CERN?

1:16:29 Will you marry me?

1:16:41 Do you know any good resources for understanding category theory?

1:17:21 What are the methods to find the inverse of a matrix?

1:18:01 Has teaching made you a better mathematician?

1:18:39 How can I improve my study efficiency?

1:19:35 How many hours did you study a day for A-level?

1:20:21 Does doing 4 A-levels lower the grades to get into Oxford?

1:20:42 How does the velocity of a fluid depend on the width of a pipe?

1:21:56 What do you do when you feel frustrated or self-doubting?

1:23:21 What is your full-time job?

1:24:31 Do you use any kind of electronic device when writing to avoid paper consumption?

1:25:03 Favourite YouTube channels?

1:25:57 What’s your favourite tattoo?

1:26:43 What’s the meaning of the pokéball?

1:27:12 Why is 0/0 not defined?

1:27:40 Glass half-empty or glass half-full?

1:27:46 What were some of your favourite modules from your time as an undergraduate?

1:28:32 Who is your dream collaboration with?

1:29:18 What is your best advice for new university teachers?

1:30:24 What advice would you give to a high school student that wants to study maths?

1:30:57 What’s your favourite song?

1:31:30 Why does a fluid’s velocity depend on the cross-sectional area of a pipe?

1:32:30 What A-levels did you take?

1:32:43 Will you make a video about rewriting a high school maths paper?

1:33:05 What was your childhood like?

1:34:11 Please explain cylindrical polar coordinates?

1:35:16 Is there any country you want to visit after COVID?

1:35:52 What’s the best way to teach maths in an engineering class?

1:36:57 What colour will you dye your hair next time?

1:37:37 Have you ever done a STEP paper?

1:38:28 How did you know you were good enough to pursue a career in maths?

1:40:10 If my grades are low is it a good idea to pursue a degree in maths?

1:40:56 What’s your take on algebraic geometry?

1:41:18 What’s your favourite flavour of ice cream?

1:42:01 Does GCSE further maths help in the transition to A-level?

1:42:35 What is a career that includes maths?

1:43:33 If you were in charge of the world’s education what would you add or remove from the curriculum?

1:45:11 Can you give an example from math 55?

1:45:34 Do you need to have higher IQ to understand maths?

1:46:53 How naïve is it to want to study maths to become a researcher?

1:48:14 How do you get into Oxford or Cambridge for maths?

1:48:36 Algebra versus calculus?

1:49:10 Is further maths A-level only for the naturally gifted or can it be done through hard work?