Martin Liebeck’s A Concise Introduction to Pure Mathematics is one of those books that manages to be genuinely rigorous without ever becoming intimidating. For students who are making their first serious contact with pure mathematics, that balance is everything, and Liebeck gets it right. The book covers a carefully chosen set of topics including logic…
As this school year comes to an end, I find myself reflecting on my first year living and working in Switzerland. This was not just a move from one school to another. It was a change of job, country, continent, routine, climate, professional context and personal life. On paper, it looks like a typical international…
School Leaders, IB Coordinators, and Heads of Mathematics: I believe one of the most important examinations for IB Diploma Mathematics students happens before they ever enter the Diploma Programme. As an IB Diploma Mathematics examiner, I often get asked what the most important mathematics exam is for a student. Most people expect me to say…
Richard Earl’s Towards Higher Mathematics: A Companion is the kind of book that fills a gap most students do not even realise exists until they are already struggling. It sits in that important space between school mathematics and the rigour of a university degree, and it does so with real care and intelligence. The book…
This is not your typical mathematics book, and that is precisely what makes it so valuable. Sofia Kovalevskaya was one of the most remarkable mathematicians of the nineteenth century, and this memoir offers a rare window into the life and mind of someone who fought extraordinary odds to pursue a discipline that, at the time,…
If there is one book I would confidently place on the desk of any student heading into a physics or engineering degree, it is this one. Riley, Hobson and Bence have put together what is, in my view, one of the most comprehensive and well-organised mathematical methods textbooks available at this level. The scope is…
For years, LinkedIn rewarded people who could make simple ideas sound complicated. Not necessarily the people with the best ideas.Not necessarily the people with the deepest expertise. Just the people who could package ordinary thoughts in polished corporate English. Some built entire careers around sounding intelligent without actually saying very much. Now AI has arrived…
I came across Kevin Houston’s How to Think Like a Mathematician a while back and honestly wish someone had put it in my hands much earlier. If you’re teaching maths or advising students who are serious about pursuing it beyond school, this is one of those books worth keeping on your radar, and well worth…
I have taught Mathematics in India, the UAE, Singapore and Switzerland. Each system taught me something the others could not. Here is what I carried forward from each one.
The recent decision by the IB to cancel examinations in parts of West Asia has triggered an important question. Not just for students, but for educators, school leaders, and policymakers. If grades can be awarded without final exams, do we really need them? At first glance, it feels like a moment of clarity. Students spend…