Roisin McGrath – Acting Head of Mathematics | Mathematics Teacher

Maths word of the week

Each week, the Mathematics Department will present a new mathematical term to enhance your understanding of mathematical literacy. In your own time, explore the meaning and applications of each term in both mathematical contexts and everyday life. 

Consider creating a list of these words, and by the end of the year, you’ll have your own mathematical dictionary! How cool!

If you have interesting math words you’d like featured in announcements, please email
Ms McGrath.

Ovoid means ………..

A 3D shape shaped like an egg.

The chain rule 

In calculus, the chain rule enables the derivative of one variable against another to be found by using derivatives against intermediate variables.

A modern application is in training neural networks, where the derivatives of the network’s weights against the outputs are determined using the chain rule. Network training algorithms use these derivatives to adjust a network until it behaves consistently with training data. 

Neural networks are now commonplace – they are used to identify spam emails to put into junk folders, select what appears in your social media feed, allow cars to self-drive, and are the basis of tools like Siri and chatgpt. (Kindly contributed by Peter Freed)