The Black-Scholes model is a mathematical equation invented by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes that first appeared in their seminal paper of 1973 opening a new wave of selling and buying financial contracts. This economic formulation was well received and recognized to be effective by the financial community to the extent that it won Black and Scholes a noble price in 1997. However, on the 19th October, 1987 – The Black Monday, the world experienced a severe shock when the markets suddenly crushed bringing to light the flaws in the mighty celebrated Black-Scholes model. The number one mistake in the model was the assumption that a given contact could be priced at the same volatility level irrespective of the strike price – the price a contract owner had to pay at the expiry date of the contract. A more economic perspective is discussed here.

I was so excited the first time I read Ian Stewart’s book entitled “The 17 equations that changed the world“. The book is written in simple and easy to understand language with interesting practical examples for applications. I immediately wrote to Ian Stewart requesting if I could reproduce his work in form of posters in both English and French to be used at AIMS-IMAGINARY in Senegal in 2015 (see here). I remember his only reply was “please proceed but I won’t be able to attend since I have prior committments”. Business Insider published a list of these equations emphasing further how intuitive they are (see here). I do strongly believe every school in the world be it elementary, college, secondary, technical, university, you name it, should have these posted up or painted on the walls of their science departments/offices, classrooms, laboratories etc; in all langauges applicable.…

Angelina Lutambi was born into a peasant family in Tanzania’s Dodoma region, where HIV/AIDS has decimated much of the population. Her future could easily have been bleak – but Angelina had a keen aptitude for maths. She financed her own schooling by selling cold drinks with her siblings and was awarded a grant to study at the University of Dar Es Salaam.

Read more here

Salahdin Daouairi unlocks a numerical model puzzle based on a finite discrete system that is key to understanding and interpreting physical laws of the universe. Read more here.

John Urschel (NFL Player) to Pursue his PhD in Math at MIT (See link). This should be inspiring to all young learners in school/university who think it is not possible to mix sports and “seemingly” difficult subjects like Math that require lots of attention. Actually math is some kind of sport too, it requires practice to fully grasp the concepts. More interesting is what Math can do to help you get your sports right according to the University of Cambridge Math and Athletics Blog (See link).

The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) has done various interesting research about mathematics and how it relates to society. You might find their findings interesting. Check them out: Click here

Almost every nation in Africa is inspired by South Africa in terms of economic growth. But wait a minute, is South Africa really up there, well let’s see! In the recent world economic forum Global Information Technology Report of 2015, on mathematics and science education rankings, South Africa emerged as the worst country from the ranking. Refer to Link 0.

Actually, it is indeed astonishing that in the global rankings conducted by OECD every 2 years in the fields of science, reading and mathematics, there isn’t a single representative from Africa.  Is it because the continent is still under developed? well not directly but yes, it has something to do with it. The fact of the matter is that there seems to be a one-to-one correspondence between education (particularly math and science) and economic development as discussed in the OECD findings see: Link 1, Link 2.

Apparently the Bayesian Theory proves to be one of the most powerful concepts man has ever invented. It appears to be a strong pillar for most applied sciences. Find out more about why it is worth understanding from the link at Scientific American.