Maths in the City is an EPSRC funded public engagement project. It has gone so well, that after the funding finishes in October 2012, Marcus du Sautoy's Mathemagicans will take over from this point forward. Seeing as they all were an important part of the project, we might as well make them live with the consequences of their contributions.

Marcus reflects on the project

Meet the team behind Maths in the City. We've even included the people responsible for tweeting those terrible jokes.

The project team

The Maths in the City project is led by Marcus du Sautoy, the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.  The team behind Marcus are members of the Technology–Assisted Lifelong Learning (TALL) unit of the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education.

• David Balch is Senior Web Developer for the TALL unit. He created this website and is the brains behind Maths Dave. Get your own Maths Dave to take on mathematical advertures around the city on our resources page.
• David White is Senior Manager (Development) for the TALL unit. He is creative director for Maths in the City project and wobbly cameraman. He can also be heard giggling in the background of some of the videos on this page.
• Rachel Thomas is the Public Engagement Officer for Maths in the City. Her role includes helping the students discover their own ways of telling mathematical stories, bringing together all their great ideas to write the walking tours and convincing them that hunting for maths is the best way to warm up on a mind-numbingly cold day in London.
• Sara Tindall is Project Manager for the TALL unit and for this project. Responsibilities include ensuring that the students volunteering with the project have ready access to pizza, brownies and the occasional fruit platter.

Mathematical walking tours of London and Oxford: Concept design and authors

Marcus and Rachel worked with students studying maths at the University of Oxford to design and write the mathematical walking tours of London and Oxford. If you've enjoyed the contents of these tours, it's thanks to Amy Mason, Andrew Turner, Katherine Korner, Thomas Woolley and Kit Yates.

Walking tour guides

All our guides are students studying maths at the University of Oxford. Our tours in 2012 were led by the following people:

• Andrius Vaicenavicius is studying Mathematics. If he could have a superpower, it would be the ability to walk through walls. His favourite thing about maths is: "I love, a Nim game. I like the story behind this game (in 17th or 18th century people used to play it for money with a usual starting position 3-5-7). I love its elegant solution (suprisingly changing into binary and adding without carrying) and astonishing generality (any impartial combinatorial game is equivalent to some stage of a nim game).  After seeing this game, I had no doubts about studying mathematics."
• Chloe Martindale is studying Mathematics. If she could have a superpower, it would be invisibility. Her favourite thing about maths is "the geometry of four or more dimensions."
• Clare Tanner recently finished her Maths degree and is now completing a PGCE through the Teach First programme. She is currently quite busy, so we have made up the following biography. If she could have a superpower, it would be to be able to grant the Maths in the City project team any wish they might have. Her favourite thing about maths is "being able to hang out with the Maths in the City project team."

• Irving Shark is studying Maths and Statistics. If he could have a superpower, it would be the ability to fly. His favourite thing about maths is: "Probability. It's my dream to use it to find a secret method of beating casinos at their own game, then make millions at Las Vegas."
• Jinquan Chen is studying Maths and Philosophy. If he could have a superpower, it would be Super maths skills. (Some of us believe he already has this, and is hiding it beneath a mild-mannered undergraduate persona.) His favourite thing about maths is: "everything!".
• Jocasta Patel is studying Maths and Statistics. If she could have a superpower, it would be the ability to be in more than one place at the same time. Her favourite thing about maths is: "Geometry." (Need she say more?)
• Laura Gallimore is studying a DPhil in Mathematics. Like Clare, is is quite busy at the moment too. This is what we have made up about her: If she could have a superpower, it would be to provide the Maths in the City project team the lavish lifestyle they truly deserve. Her favourite thing about maths is "that I get a computer at work that I can tell to switch on and start running data while I eat toast at home."
• Laura Watkins recently finished her Maths degree and is looking forward to opportunities to working with children and maths. If she could have a superpower, it would be the ability to read people's minds. Her favourite thing about maths is "how it helps me be a super savvy shopper and hunt out the best bargains!"
• Mohit Dalwadi is studying a DPhil in Mathematical Biology. If he could have a superpower it would be telekinesis. (This would mainly be used to manipulate roulette wheels and play Matilda-style tricks on people. And for nobler causes too, probably.) His favourite thing about maths is "the rock and roll lifestyle it allows me to live."
• Seungjai Lee is studying a DPhil in Mathematics. If he could have a superpower, it would be the ability to teleport. His favourite thing about maths is "number theory." (Good job too, he's about to spend the next three years studying nothing else!)
• Simon Game is studying Mathematics. If he could have a superpower, it would be the ability to manipulate time, mainly to get himself out of those late nights spent working to meet a deadline. His favourite thing about maths is "Fluid Dynamics. It's great for things like winning the Formula 1 championship and avoiding a nuclear meltdown. The equations are massive, but so is the sense of satisfaction you get from solving them."

• Thomas Woolley is a post-doc researching Mathematical Biology. If he could have one super power it would be the ability to produce clones of himself. He would then be able to get everything done on time. His favourite thing about mathematics is that " I have applied it to understanding strategies of surviving a zombie apocalypse."

• Tobias Teo is studying Mathematics. If he could have a superpower, it would be the ability to grant himself more superpowers. His favourite thing about maths is "The imaginary number. At first I thought it was all in my mind, but everyone uses the imaginary number, from studying fluid flow to air traffic control. So I can't be the only crazy one."

Maths in the City online

All our online team are also students studying maths at the University of Oxford, plus one chap from Newcastle. If you've been following us on Facebook and Twitter, these people are responsible for all the new and interesting things you learned.

• Christian Perfect is a mathematician/programmer at Newcastle University, researching group theory and making web-based maths things. If he could have a superpower, it would either be working colour vision or the ability to dissuade people from making puns on his surname. His favourite thing about maths is the panoply of innocuously-named topics, like the "hairy ball theorem" and the "theory of buildings". Also the word zenzizenzizenzic.
• Laura Watkins recently finished her Maths degree and is looking forward to opportunities to working with children and maths. If she could have a superpower, it would be the ability to read people's minds. Her favourite thing about maths is "how it helps me be a super savvy shopper and hunt out the best bargains!"
• Philip Gardner has just finished his Masters in Mathematics. If he could have a super power it would be control over time. Not only would this negate most other superpowers, but would allow him to become mathematically famous for "discovering" all of mathematics currently known. His favourite thing about Maths is "that it is completely universal".