Maths-fuelled fiction

Image above – Assoc Prof Michael Milford (source: Adam Harper QUT)

Assoc Prof Michael Milford, a roboticist from QUT, has developed a program aimed to encourage the thrill of maths, through a series of books with maths and science concepts embedded in the plot.

Milford, from QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty, works in robotics, neuroscience and computer vision. The 2015 Queensland Young Tall Poppy has written innovative high-school text books for the last 15 years.

It was his experience teaching university students that prompted him to create Math Thrills. 

The Math Thrills school pack includes five paperback copies of the teen thriller Code Bravo, written by Milford and young adult writer J.C. Pollari, five illustrated study guides, e-books, 26 downloadable education worksheets and access to extensive animated online tutorials.The pack best suits readers aged 12-18.

The program is being offered free to schools around Australia thanks to a $25,000 AMP Tomorrow Fund grant.

“As an educator and a father, I believe scientific and mathematical literacy are important goals for our increasingly high-tech society,” said Milford, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow with the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision.

“That’s why I created Math Thrills – I want to make mathematics an exciting part of our daily consumption of movies, books, games, news and social media.”

Milford hopes to initially reach 20,000 students with his resource kit.

Schools are invited to register for their free pack through the Math Thrills website.