Faces of Mathematics

Alexandre Borovik

Anyone who wishes to set up a Specialist Free Mathematics School has to give some thought to the public image of the future school and to the public image of its students. In particular, the branding of specialist mathematics schools as "elite" (as this has already happened in English newspapers) is unhelpful. Even more important is the self-image, individual and collective, of students in the school: what they will think about themselves. One of the harder challenges of the Specialist Free Mathematics School Project is to make sure that the new Schools and the right kind of their prospective students will find each other. But will they? Look at publications and websites promoting mathematics to children: a mathematically inclined boy or girl will not recognise himself or herself in the bland generic images of children that fill the pages and screens. Both mass media and educational organisations appear to be unaware of how mathematics changes facial expressions of its learners. In all these glossy brochures you would not find a photograph of a child who was actually engaged in serious thinking when his or her photo was taken. I would like to show a few photographs taken by me in July 2010 in the Nesin Mathematics Village in Turkey, at a lecture for schoolchildren and their teachers. Hopefully, they illustrate this point: mathematics changes people. And it changes people's faces.

I start with a general view of the lecture theatre, to give some idea of the ambience and surroundings. Boys and girls in the audience are a selfselected bunch: they came to the Summer School because of their interest to mathematics.

Let us look at the audience face-by face, starting with a boy solving a problem at the blackboard (next photo).

Cool confidence. Mathematics can be cool, and it is cool because it can give a learner dead cool self-confidence.

The boy's confidence is even more impressive because he speaks to a hawk-eyed university lecturer (Dr Muge Kanuni, Bogazii University).

A boy in the audience. Notice the degree of habitual calm concentration shown on his face and in the body language.

This girl is remarkably focused on mathematics at the blackboard.

And she is recognised by her friends as a leader.

The front row: geeks and schoolteachers.

Two geeky kids (who were younger than the rest of the bunch) met at the Mathematics Village and discovered each other. (This photo is made on the same day in the canteen.)

The boy in the purple shirt follows the solution at the blackboard and simultaneously courts the girl -- successfully, judging by the look of his rival.

The democracy of mathematics: in Turkey, teachers are highly esteemed, but here they are the esteemed among equal.

Sheer mental power. The boy follows every tiny detail and is slightly irritated by the slow development -- which can be detected only from his (very slow) fidgeting with the pen.

Some members of the audience started to loose concentration, but this boy is in the fight mood.

Now it is his turn at the blackboard. Look at his body language: he holds chalk like a knife. He goes for the kill. This boy has the killer instinct of a nature born problem-solver. I hope my small gallery shows that young mathematicians can be beautiful, bright, confident, have interesting and attractive personalities -- but, at the same time, they do not look generic. I also hope that these pictures contribute to a better understanding of what kind of students will make the Specialist Mathematics Free Schools project a success.

alexandre.borovik@gmail.com 9 February 2012