Mathematical Association

Mathematical Association
Abbreviation	MA
Formation	1871
Legal status	Non-profit organisation and registered charity
Purpose/focus	Professional organisation for mathematics educators
Location	259 London Road, Leicester, LE2 3BE
Region served	UK
Main organ	MA Council (President - David Acheson)
Affiliations	Association of Teachers of Mathematics (based in Derby)
Website	MA

The Mathematical Association is a professional society concerned with mathematics education in the UK.

History

It was founded in 1871 as the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching and renamed to the Mathematical Association in 1897. It was the first teachers' subject organisation formed in England. In March 1927, it held a three day meeting in Grantham to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Sir Isaac Newton, attended by Sir J. J. Thomson (discoverer of the electron), Sir Frank Watson Dyson - the Astronomer Royal, Sir Horace Lamb, and G. H. Hardy.

In the 1960s, when comprehensive education was being introduced, the Association was in favour of the 11 plus system. For maths teacherstraining at university, a teaching award that was examined was the Diploma of the Mathematical Association, later known as the Diploma in Mathematical Education of the Mathematical Association.

Function

It exists to "bring about improvements in the teaching of mathematics and its applications, and to provide a means of communication among students and teachers of mathematics". Since 1894 it has published The Mathematical Gazette. It jointly hosts the British Congress of Mathematics Education conference each April with the ATM, situated at different universities each year.

Structure

It is based in the south-east of Leicester on London Road (A6), just south of the Charles Frears campus of De Montfort University.

Aside from the Council, it has seven other specialist committees.

Regions

Its branches are sometimes shared with the ATM:

• Birmingham
• Cambridge
• East Midlands
• Glasgow
• Gloucester
• Liverpool
• London
• Marches
• Meridian (southern England)
• Sheffield
• Sussex
• Yorkshire

Past presidents

Past presidents of the MA have included:

• 1910–1912 H H Turner
• 1912–1913 E W Hobson
• 1914–1915 A G Greenhill
• 1916–1917 A N Whitehead
• 1918–1919 T P Nunn
• 1920 E T Whittaker
• 1921 J M Wilson
• 1923 T L Heath
• 1925–1926 G H Hardy
• 1927–1928 M J M Hill
• 1929–1930 W F Sheppard
• 1931–1932 A S Eddington
• 1933–1934 G N Watson
• 1935 E H Neville
• 1936 A W Siddons
• 1937 A R Forsyth
• 1938 L N G Filon
• 1939 W Hope-Jones
• 1946–1947 Warin Foster Bushell

See also

• Mathematical Association of America
• London Mathematical Society
• Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

References

• Siddons, A. W. (1939). "The Mathematical Association—I". Eureka 1: 13–15. 
• Siddons, A. W. (1939). "The Mathematical Association—II". Eureka 2: 18–19. 
• Michael H Price Mathematics of the Multitude? A History of the Mathematical Association (MA, 1994)

External links

• Mathematical Association website
• Complete list of Presidents of the Association
• The MA's online shop
• Annual conference

News items

• Addressing the downward spiral of UK maths education in February 2004
• Proposal to split Maths GCSE into two in August 2003