The Imitation Game – clip #5 – Alan Turing's 'uesless machine'

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A campaign, backed by the family of Alan Turing, warns that students learning  ‘pure maths’ is on the decline because it is threatened by a focus on other subjects. Pure maths is the study of concepts, and Alan Turing demonstrated his expertise in the subject when he broke the Enigma code in WW2.

There are now growing concerns that the opportunity to study pure mathematics is becoming more and more limited. This is because universities are focusing more on the aspect of finance, as they are gravitating towards topics like computing and artificial intelligence.

Speaking to The Guardian, Rachel Barnes, Alan Turing’s great niece said: “We must keep funding and supporting pure maths, the subject at which my great uncle excelled and which was the bedrock his achievements were built on.

“I believe it is vital that young people who show a talent for pure maths should be able to study it at its highest level at university. This will keep our country leading in the area of mathematics and also science.”

The Protect Pure Maths campaign started after the University of Leicester closed their pure maths department altogether.

According to the campaign, only 35 out of the UK’s 174 universities offer pure maths degrees despite the number of students studying maths at A-level rising 10 percent between 2015 and 2020.

Maths is in fact the most popular A-level subject according to the study, and the subject is one of the most competitive for graduate earnings.

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Marcus du Sautoy, professor of science at Oxford University, said: “Maths that doesn’t have an obvious application can suddenly be key to pressing issues facing society or humanity.

“All maths matters. Pure maths and applied maths are intertwined and having one without the other doesn’t really make much sense. Both contribute so much to the economy, society and our everyday lives – whether that is in the workings of GPS satellites, encrypting the contents of your mobile phone, the algorithms that drive online dating or even modelling the Covid pandemic.

“We need maths departments to offer the widest range of courses to maintain British excellence in maths and fuel the discoveries of the future.”

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