Professor Richard Craster

Richard's Research Project

“My research project is about a game known as Sim. You can play it on the train with a paper and a pen. With two players, start by placing six points on a piece of paper so they form the points of hexagon. Then, each player takes turns drawing lines connecting two points together, and the first player to draw a triangle loses.

There’s actually a theory that can shows that no game of Sim can end in a tie – someone has to win and someone has to lose. But if you tweak the number of players or points on the piece of paper, that may not be the case anymore.  
 
Year 12 students will explore the mathematics behind a seemingly simple game like Sim. They can choose to understand what determines whether a tie is possible in different variations of Sim, as well as develop their own strategies about the best way to win.  
 
I like the idea of introducing abstract mathematical concepts to students in the form of games. Not only is it fun and engaging, and gets students playing against each other and learning in the process, but some of the best mathematicians were also obsessed with games. 
 
I also think the research project teaches students about mathematical problems that don’t necessarily have solutions. How do we study these problems and understand valuable things about them when there’s no set answer?” 
 
Richard’s journey to Mathematics

“I am not sure there was a big moment where I discovered mathematics or even a part about school which I didn’t enjoy much. Eventually I discovered science in general, had an inspirational teacher, and found what they taught very interesting. Mathematics seemed fundamental to all of science and I felt that by understanding it well, then I could have more options later, so I chose Mathematics as a degree – a pragmatic argument which I think is still true!

It was at university that I really started to become seriously interested in mathematics itself. Seeing deeper ideas and their interconnections was fascinating and then I became a bit more serious!"