Upper Sixth Former and Pythagoreans Society President Dylan Morgan-Jones took maths to a whole new level on Friday 21 April when he welcomed into school bestselling mathematics author and journalist, Alex Bellos.
Dylan, whose love of maths truly flourished after reading Alex’s book ‘Alex Through the Looking Glass’, wrote to his maths hero back in November to invite him into school. To Dylan’s surprise, Alex jumped at the chance and a date was soon arranged.
Alex delivered a series of lectures throughout his afternoon in school. The first was to all Upper School boys in assembly, where he introduced himself and gave everyone a puzzle to solve. This was followed by a special session aimed at Remove boys, and a session geared for our younger prep school boys. The main session of the day, however, was hosted by our Pythagoreans Society comprising of over 100 pupils from Bedford School, Bedford Girls’ School and Bedford Modern, and joined by a group of maths-eager pupils from Mark Rutherford. 
Alex’s talk for this event was entitled Adventures in Numberland and centred around characters that Alex has met around the world who bring mathematical ideas to life. Subject areas ranged from the cognitive psychology of numbers to number systems, from abacuses to magic squares – to name just a few!
Dylan explained, “Alex’s talk to the Remove Form was brilliant. He gave us puzzles and problems to solve that were designed to trip you up a bit, but which really made you think carefully and logically. The talk at Pythagoreans Society went into the psychology of numbers, which was pretty cool.”
Dylan, who came to Bedford School for Sixth Form, is studying Maths and Further Maths and plans to go to University on an Army Scholarship. Since he and his fellow leaders have been at the helm of the Pythagorean’s Society, it has exploded in popularity and is quite literally bursting at the seams with pupils from Bedford Girls’ School and Bedford Modern School eager to join the burgeoning number of members.
Dylan says, “For an optional maths society, these numbers are huge – it’s bigger than it’s ever been. Working with the other schools gives you a wider perspective, with talks from further afield. We all mix and work together to solve different maths problems. It’s great.”