Maths Careers: The Secrecy Scare
This collection contains a range of teaching materials to support the Maths Careers article 'The Secrecy Scare' by Hazel Lewis.
The resource collection includes a link to the full article, resources to explore prime numbers as well as ideas teaching primes in real-life contexts.
The Secrecy Scare
"We are always being told to keep our data safe, so why would anybody want to ban encryption?
One of the most important applications of mathematics in the last 100 years has undoubtedly been work related to encryption and code breaking. At the end of the Second World War Alan Turing’s team at Bletchley Park helped crack the Enigma Code and helped shorten the war by an estimated two years, with their work leading to the development of the first computers."
Factors and Multiples
Students are required to build a sense of number and a sense of how numbers work. This package contains resources to help students understand what prime numbers are and how they can be used with reference to common factors and common multiples. Students are required to understanding these as the intersection and union of the prime factors, and other classifications of number, including product notation.
iSquared Magazine Issue 2
This edition of iSquared magazine features:
The key to a secure future - David Mireles Morales explores why public-key cryptography is vital for confidential communications in the digital age.
Numberphile: Encryption and HUGE numbers
"Banks, Facebook, Twitter and Google use epic numbers - based on prime factors - to keep our Internet secrets. This is RSA public-key encryption."
GCHQ Careers
Interested in information on a career as a mathematician at GCHQ? Then take a look at their website.
Maths career profiles
This booklet has been provided by More Maths Grads and it is designed to highlight the versatility of mathematics and to show that a degree in the mathematical sciences can take students anywhere; it can open doors, from developing software technologies to being a professional rugby league player. Working on exciting and innovative projects, mathematicians are highly valued and an essential element of any successful team.
