Mathematics seems like an odd hobby to have but I remind people that it isn't so much different to doing a puzzle in a newspaper. This is how it all started again for me, because one evening I thought there must be more interesting things to puzzle over than yet another sudoku. I also blame Marcus du Sautoy and his program "The Story of Maths". His infectious interest in prime numbers has now given me the same bug and it reawakened my fascination with mathematics.
Why matrices reloaded? Well, apart from the obvious pun on the Keanu Reeves film, this is the second time I have been trying to study some maths seriously. The first time was when I was doing an astrophysics degree at Queen Mary College in London and then my priority was all about astronomy. I did go on to try the Part III mathematics course at Cambridge, but clever though I thought I was, I wasn't that clever and I failed the course. Not deterred, I did do a PhD in cosmology at Durham and subsequently a few years in research.
However, that was over 20 years ago now and this time my interest is not so much in astronomy as mathematics. Having got the prime numbers bug, I wanted to see if I could still hack it in maths and two years ago I signed up for the entry level mathematics courses MST121 and MS221 at the Open University. It seems that the old neurons are still firing ok, as I passed both courses, getting a distinction in MS221 and getting my certificate in mathematics.
So now I am signed up for a new course starting in January 2012. This is M208 Pure Mathematics. My aim at the moment is to see if I can get the diploma which consists of M208 and MST209 Mathematical Methods and Models. These two courses form the bulk of the second year BSc degree.
After this, who knows. I want to be able to strike a balance between learning new skills and having the ability to investigate things for myself. I call it 'fireside' mathematics and it is what interests me the most.
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