Jonathan Payne
@drpmaths.bsky.social
Maths teacher* now working on United Learning’s Maths Excellence Fund programme.
I made some question generators and other tools in the past (mostly superseded by others’ better things): https://www.questiongenerator.co.uk
*former teacher if you insist
I made some question generators and other tools in the past (mostly superseded by others’ better things): https://www.questiongenerator.co.uk
*former teacher if you insist
The two grey areas can be shown to be equal using some algebra. It seems like there should be a nice geometric argument (e.g. with cutting and rearranging), but I can't find one. Am I missing something obvious?
November 21, 2025 at 12:21 PM
The two grey areas can be shown to be equal using some algebra. It seems like there should be a nice geometric argument (e.g. with cutting and rearranging), but I can't find one. Am I missing something obvious?
Very pleased with my mathematical broccoli/cauliflower. Just the one out of 8ish plants seemed to work
November 15, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Very pleased with my mathematical broccoli/cauliflower. Just the one out of 8ish plants seemed to work
Why do I not believe you?
November 14, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Why do I not believe you?
Reposted by Jonathan Payne
Telling students stuff is sensible. But if you’re *just* telling them, you’re not really teaching.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
The “Just Tell Them” Trap
How direct instruction gets mistranslated as 'teacher talk,' lecturing and all sorts of other dull bobbins
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Telling students stuff is sensible. But if you’re *just* telling them, you’re not really teaching.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Reposted by Jonathan Payne
During our #MathsConf39 session, Jason and I revealed our new project: The History and Maths in Education Network (historyand.mathsy.space) which aims to facilitate discussion and sharing of resources & ideas amongst folks interested in using history themes to enrich maths education.
🏛️🎓 #MathsToday
🏛️🎓 #MathsToday
Home
historyand.mathsy.space
October 11, 2025 at 8:46 PM
During our #MathsConf39 session, Jason and I revealed our new project: The History and Maths in Education Network (historyand.mathsy.space) which aims to facilitate discussion and sharing of resources & ideas amongst folks interested in using history themes to enrich maths education.
🏛️🎓 #MathsToday
🏛️🎓 #MathsToday
Reposted by Jonathan Payne
I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday.
As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.
As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.
September 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday.
As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.
As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.
Reposted by Jonathan Payne
Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
September 14, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
Reposted by Jonathan Payne
It’s official - “Nigel Farage is right, don’t vote for him” is a demonstrably awful strategy for Labour. Boosts salience of immigration, costs votes on the left, doesn’t persuade any voters on right (why would they accept a crap knock-off when they can have the original?)
We have a paper on how Labour's strategy is disastrous.
There's an exclusive coverage in @newstatesman.com
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
There's an exclusive coverage in @newstatesman.com
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
September 5, 2025 at 7:32 AM
It’s official - “Nigel Farage is right, don’t vote for him” is a demonstrably awful strategy for Labour. Boosts salience of immigration, costs votes on the left, doesn’t persuade any voters on right (why would they accept a crap knock-off when they can have the original?)
I know the usual thing is to point out interesting properties of the *current* year, but interesting to note that 2027 (+2029) will be the first twin prime year for 30 years
August 29, 2025 at 10:22 AM
I know the usual thing is to point out interesting properties of the *current* year, but interesting to note that 2027 (+2029) will be the first twin prime year for 30 years
Reposted by Jonathan Payne
This is my flag.
August 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This is my flag.
This is a terrifying sentence
July 11, 2025 at 6:25 PM
This is a terrifying sentence
Was playing with generalising a question from the new Edexcel EMC when I cam across this interesting fact. Nice to be able to come up with a question which combines algebraic proof and coordinate geometry. All just-about GCSE level
July 4, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Was playing with generalising a question from the new Edexcel EMC when I cam across this interesting fact. Nice to be able to come up with a question which combines algebraic proof and coordinate geometry. All just-about GCSE level
Pretty significant misconception to be stating as fact in an official textbook from an exam board
June 20, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Pretty significant misconception to be stating as fact in an official textbook from an exam board
'Interesting' understanding of how birthdays work from ChatGPT here...
May 22, 2025 at 4:17 PM
'Interesting' understanding of how birthdays work from ChatGPT here...
ABCD is an isosceles trapezium and ADEF is a square.
Find the size of angle ABF.
Find the size of angle ABF.
April 25, 2025 at 10:45 AM
ABCD is an isosceles trapezium and ADEF is a square.
Find the size of angle ABF.
Find the size of angle ABF.
Does quadrilateral ABCD have a pair of perpendicular opposite sides?
April 24, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Does quadrilateral ABCD have a pair of perpendicular opposite sides?
A neat fact about quadrilaterals I found out about today: If the diagonals are perpendicular and equal length, then the midpoints of the sides form a square
April 9, 2025 at 9:46 AM
A neat fact about quadrilaterals I found out about today: If the diagonals are perpendicular and equal length, then the midpoints of the sides form a square
What's funny about these four fractions? I guarantee you'll hate it
February 13, 2025 at 1:02 PM
What's funny about these four fractions? I guarantee you'll hate it
A combinations/listing question disguised as a ratio question:
Given four numbers a,b,c,d such that:
- Two of the numbers are in the ratio 1:2
- Two are in the ratio 1:3
- Two are in the ratio 1:4
How many possibilities are there for the ratio a:b:c:d ?
Given four numbers a,b,c,d such that:
- Two of the numbers are in the ratio 1:2
- Two are in the ratio 1:3
- Two are in the ratio 1:4
How many possibilities are there for the ratio a:b:c:d ?
February 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
A combinations/listing question disguised as a ratio question:
Given four numbers a,b,c,d such that:
- Two of the numbers are in the ratio 1:2
- Two are in the ratio 1:3
- Two are in the ratio 1:4
How many possibilities are there for the ratio a:b:c:d ?
Given four numbers a,b,c,d such that:
- Two of the numbers are in the ratio 1:2
- Two are in the ratio 1:3
- Two are in the ratio 1:4
How many possibilities are there for the ratio a:b:c:d ?
Been playing with tree fractals. The ratio needed between line lengths to make this line up properly was a pleasant surprise
January 23, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Been playing with tree fractals. The ratio needed between line lengths to make this line up properly was a pleasant surprise
This is an interesting pair of percentage calculations
January 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
This is an interesting pair of percentage calculations
A fun combinatorial question: Given a<b<c<...<h<i, how many ways are there of arranging a-i in a 3x3 grid such that every row and every column is in ascending order?
January 8, 2025 at 1:32 PM
A fun combinatorial question: Given a<b<c<...<h<i, how many ways are there of arranging a-i in a 3x3 grid such that every row and every column is in ascending order?
It looks like bluesky’s moved past the phase where every other post was about people leaving twitter. So I’m a bit late to the party in doing a ‘deleted twitter and moved properly to here’ post…
January 3, 2025 at 6:51 PM
It looks like bluesky’s moved past the phase where every other post was about people leaving twitter. So I’m a bit late to the party in doing a ‘deleted twitter and moved properly to here’ post…