I was utterly gobsmacked to learn recently about Joseph Bertony, the man who designed the crucial arch that made possible the fabulous ‘sails’ for the iconic Sydney Opera House.

What an amazingly inspiring life story! What amazing mathematical prowess he possessed. He did 30,000 calculations by hand for the design of the sails. These were checked later by the only computer available at the time in Australia to deal with these kind of calculations and yes, Joseph’s calculations were accurate. He had not made a single error.

The sails of Sydney Opera House are beautiful. I felt so emotional the first time I saw them. It is wonderful to learn about the engineer. You can read more about Joseph by following this link:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47880938?ocid=wsnews.chat-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin

Maths really is such a cool and beautiful subject. Without the maths, nobody would have dared to build it!

Here is a photo I took of the Sydney Opera House showing the sails from the Manly ferry.

‘I put into practice what you recommended Rosemary, and my daughter’s maths results have doubled since!’ said one delighted parent after attending my author talk at Lytchett Matravers library on 11th January. She also found my book Help Your Child With Numeracy: Age 7-11 very helpful.
It really is very simple how parents can help and support their children with maths. It all starts with realising that, as a parent, your love, care and support has possibly the biggest positive influence on your child’s achievement.
Take a look at my home page for more tips!
There are two other author talks in the pipeline – I will keep you posted! Have fun!