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Kit Yates

@Kit_Yates_Maths

Kit Yates is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and codirector of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath

<p>According to the Environment Agency, there were 3.6 million hours of sewage spills into English rivers and seas in 2023</p>
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I’m so fed up of swimming in sewage that I’m going to buy my own lake

<p>Manchester City will take on Manchester United in the FA Cup final</p>
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How I beat the bookies for the FA Cup this weekend... using maths

<p>The environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage says everyone in the UK deserves a beautiful coastline </p>
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What happened when I took legal action for a right to swim sewage-free

<p>Without clarification from Kensington Palace, the news agencies were left with little choice but to withdraw the ‘manipulated’ picture </p>
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Kate Middleton is the latest victim of the ‘Streisand effect’

<p>There are likely to be multiple people out there who will be a good match for us, and with whom we can be happy</p>
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Here’s how mathematics can help you find the love of your life

<p>Rather than have their XL bullys put down, owners may now choose to keep their pets as ‘house dogs’ – with potentially disastrous consequences </p>
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How the ban on XL bully dogs could trigger even more attacks

<p>To me, ‘girl math’ feels a bit more troubling than the previous trends</p>
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Here’s why the new ‘girl math’ trend just doesn’t add up

<p>Choosing not to prepare for a given eventuality is an implicit prediction about the future</p>
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Here’s what we can do to prepare for the next pandemic

<p>An aptronym is a name which is particularly suited to its owner</p>
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What your name really means and how it can affect your life

<p>Are you a 50, a 30, a 15 or a ‘chance it with a low protection oil’? </p>
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Why you’ve probably been using sunscreen all wrong your whole life

<p>There are sound mathematical reasons why two parties battling it out – a duel so to speak – is not good for democracy</p>
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The hidden dangers of two-party politics

<p>Poor numeracy can have hidden and wide-ranging impacts </p>
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Why are we so proud of being ‘bad at maths’?

<p>In total, around 90,000 people applied for asylum in the UK in 2022</p>
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Suella Braverman’s numbers on small boats are completely wrong

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Suella Braverman’s numbers on small boats are completely wrong

<p>In total, around 90,000 people applied for asylum in the UK in 2022</p>
<p>This incident suggests we suffered under the worst possible leader at the worst possible time </p>
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Boris Johnson’s maths mistake is a total embarrassment

<p>Should we hold geography, for example, to the same exacting standards of utility we expect of maths? I don’t remember the last time I put my hard-won knowledge of oxbow lakes to use </p>
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When will you ever need to use maths in real life? The answer is easy

<p>I am confident that there is almost nothing for which the imperial system is better than the metric system</p>
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We must fight shrinkflation – but let’s get the maths right first

<p>I was invited to join the scientific advisory group, Independent SAGE, which in turn advised the government </p>
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I’m a Covid expert. Why do people hate us?

<p>I was invited to join the scientific advisory group, Independent SAGE, which in turn advised the government </p>
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I’m a Covid expert. Why do people hate us?

<p>I think this is key to understanding the diverse answers to the question – semantics</p>
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How many holes are there in a straw? The answer may surprise you

<p>The contest to see who will become our next prime minister increasingly looks like a race to the bottom</p>
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Liz Truss’ maths tweet reveals something about the race for Number 10

<p>I’m not sure I’ve seen you quite so devastated before</p>
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A letter to someone I love – whose heart is breaking

<p>Hospitals are feeling the effects of the latest Covid wave </p>
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A Covid wave is sweeping Britain again – how worried should we be?

<p>There are fewer than 100 days left to spend any of the old paper £50 notes that you might have saved</p>
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Alan Turing’s legacy is helping to shed light on the secrets of life

<p>Why does each game, each set and indeed each match begin at ‘love all’? </p>
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Game, set, maths: On the origins of Wimbledon’s tennis scoring system

<p>The answer seems to be that we are living in a society that is implicitly (or worse, explicitly) giving girls the message that they are not as good as boys in these subjects </p>
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So, Katharine Birbalsingh – girls do like hard maths after all

<p>I first met Nick when I was six years old, and we quickly became good friends </p>
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The enduring and surprising power of your first best friend

<p>Why does each game, each set and indeed each match begin at ‘love all’? </p>
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Game, set, maths: On the origins of Wimbledon’s tennis scoring system

<p>The answer seems to be that we are living in a society that is implicitly (or worse, explicitly) giving girls the message that they are not as good as boys in these subjects </p>
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So, Katharine Birbalsingh – girls do like hard maths after all

<p>I first met Nick when I was six years old, and we quickly became good friends </p>
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The enduring and surprising power of your first best friend

<p>Johnson will limp on for now, technically safe from a further leadership challenge for another 12 months</p>
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The PM won his confidence vote by a smaller margin than you think

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The PM won his confidence vote by a smaller margin than you think

<p>Johnson will limp on for now, technically safe from a further leadership challenge for another 12 months</p>
<p>The inch, based on the length of a thumb, and the foot based on, well, the length of a foot, are inherently associated with human scale</p>
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Why the metric system is objectively better than imperial measurements

<p>Maths should not be characterised by the drudgery associated with learning the times tables</p>
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Be honest – are you afraid of the ‘M-word’?

<p>I realised that the algorithm was performing exactly as expected</p>
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The ‘Don’t Vote Tory’ hashtag is not what it seems

<p>This isn’t the first time bees have been put to the mathematical test</p>
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Can bees count? That’s a more complicated question than you’d expect

<p>This isn’t the first time bees have been put to the mathematical test</p>
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Can bees count? That’s a more complicated question than you’d expect

<p>Culture minister Nadine Dorries offered a take 16 minutes later that was exactly the same as her boss </p>
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What is the math on two Tory MPs tweeting the exact same thing?

<p>I genuinely believe maths and physics belong to us all, women and men both</p>
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How true is it that girls just ‘don’t like’ hard maths?

<p>As a professional mathematician, it’s not uncommon for people to have overinflated expectations of your abilities and your desire to use them</p>
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A Rubik’s cube taught me a lesson about performative mathematics

<p>A lot of court cases face a conundrum over types of probabilities </p>
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A mathematical conundrum dividing opinions in Ed Sheeran’s court case

<p>Mathematicians are getting excited about today’s date: 22 February 2022</p>
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Today is ‘Twosday’ – an extremely exciting day for mathematicians

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