The sixth group of essays from the 2023 Teddy Rocks Maths Competition. The showcase will take place throughout June and July with the winners being announced at the end.

The competition is organised with St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford and offers a cash prize plus publication on the university website for the winners. It will be running again in early 2024 so be sure to follow Tom (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to make sure you don’t miss the announcement!

This essay explores the moving sofa problem: what is the largest shape that will fit around a 90 degree corner?

This essay looks back at the history of cryptography and how prime numbers became the guardians of our online data.

Joshua investigates the use of aerodynamics in the design of Formula 1 racing cars.

Conrad describes a novel method for solving quadratic sequences using matrices.

This essay tries to answer four seemingly ridiculous questions using maths.

This essay explores the fluid dynamics of the human body.

Daniel searches for fractals in the world around us.

This essay tries to help visualise the immense size of a googol.

This essay looks at how maths is used in everyday life.

This essay explores the Monte Carlo method and its many applications.

This essay takes a peek inside the black box of machine learning.

This essay highlights the many uses of probability theory when managing a computer network.