Lower Sixth student delivers fascinating talk on Order Theory

Lower Sixth student, Aman de Silva, recently delivered a thought-provoking talk in Maths Society, all about Order Theory.

Order Theory is the analysis of a defined relationship between elements within a set.

He explains, “I chose the topic because I wanted to learn about an area of Maths which is diverse and has wide applications. Order theory also introduced me to new terminology, and linked to many other interesting areas.

“It had a really great turnout! Approximately 30 people came, from both the Lower and Upper Sixth, and the Upper Sixth were in a separate classroom, watching a live-stream, so they could interact with me and ask questions as well. I was particularly pleased that my audience was made of not only A-level maths students, but also students who don’t study Maths.

“The thing I like most about Math Soc is that it encourages us to learn about a wide variety of topics, and the talks are always really interesting. Not only did I learn about Order Theory, but I also learnt about presentation styles and public speaking. Talking in Math Soc really helps build my confidence and understanding in Maths.”

Aman says that his interest in this topic was furthered by exploring some papers on applications of order theory to Social Science and Physics, where the techniques and applications of order theory can be used to manipulate data. He is also studying Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry for A-level and intends to study a STEM discipline when he leaves Trinity.

“Aman’s talk was carefully structured to make us think more deeply about the notion of a set and some of the paradoxes that then arise.  The reader might want to consider the town in which the barber shaves every man who does not shave himself.  Who then shaves the barber?  Aman then led us to more abstract ways of thinking about ‘orderings’ and the properties of ordered sets; much of this work is fundamental to a first-year undergraduate course.  Week look forward to this week’s presentation from Varun Ravikumar on ‘Integer Partitions’,” said Mr Barlow.