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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

@missradders.bsky.social Nice maths Q on Only Connect (if you are still collecting them).

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Why has Piddington declared itself a principality? Doesn’t it need a prince for that?

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Email comes from a Year 13 A level maths student who is on holiday abroad somewhere. Not quite sure how to answer …

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

See what you think of this question from 2023

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

It is in the spec (but I had to check).

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Some of my students pointing out that two questions on the Edexcel Paper 1 yesterday are identical to Madasmaths questions. I guess Edexcel examiners were bound to run out of ideas eventually. #Alevelmaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Edexcel Core Pure 2 paper likely topics #ALevelMaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Nice quadratic inequality question, at least I like it. #ALevelMaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Just checking, if anyone who does Edexcel Further #ALevelMaths could confirm: am I right in thinking that this question is not on the Core Pure syllabus? It came from madasmaths.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I’m in love with these photos by Misan Harriman at a free exhibition at Hope 93 (on Eastcastle Street just behind Oxford Street).

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Edexcel data (someone posted this last autumn)

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

For anyone interested in history/WW2 or stories of real people going through extraordinary times, sometimes shocking and often moving, this is a fantastic book. Just finished it but going to call it one of my favourite reads in 2025.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Got it! It looks great, even more useful than the first book.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

I recommend this movie. Thrilling and funny and entertaining. And incredible soundtrack.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I am stuck if any kind soul can help. In the Edexcel Core 1 chapter on roots of polynomials Ex4C Q9, you end up with these four equations, which I haven’t been able to solve. Solution bank just ‘spots’ the solution, which isn’t very satisfactory. #ALevelMaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

If you are at all interested in WW2, in what Britain was like in the late 30s and during the war, in debunking some myths and learning some history, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Lots of pleasing mathematical spirals in these plants in a garden in Cornwall.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Just read The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. Fantastic. About about a gay boy/man growing up in Ireland in the 50s/60s, later living in Amsterdam and New York before returning to Ireland. So passionate, powerful and moving, but also one of the funniest novels I have ever read.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Nice puzzles by Alex Bellos in the Guardian today.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

I like the one @susanwhitehouse.bsky.social shared the other day. Full version on UM.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Here are the answers. And also a practice cryptic crossword which you can use before giving them it as an introduction. drive.google.com/file/d/1aHoZ...

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

I have a problem with this Q from Edexcel Paper 1 #ALevelMaths (I attached the beginning). 1) the result is not true ‘for any number’ but only for integers. 2) you cannot write any squared number as 5n or 5n+1 where n is a natural number. How about 1? That is 5(0) +1 but 0 is not a Nat number.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

My take on yesterday’s Edexcel Core 1 paper is that it was a fair paper, not too easy, not too hard. Quite a lot of topics still to come in Core 2. #AlevelMaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

And now the Romanian president too!

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

I answered ‘no’ to the @teachertapp.bsky.social question “Do you have a coach at school?” But I think I may have misunderstood the question.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Someone posted this question a while back under #AlevelMaths If you assume that 3 + √2 is also a root, then it’s easy. But can we assume that? Couldn’t it have one root 3 - √2 and two complex conjugate roots? The question gives the same answer if you don’t make the assumption but longer working.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

As @howiehua.bsky.social would say, here I am: a maths teacher at Harvard.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Happy Pi Day. At my daughter’s school they had a special Bake Off competition. #MathsToday #ALevelMaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

A revision activity for Core Pure Further #ALevelMaths. Any suggestions for any more?

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

My copy looks like this, but I suspect it’s the same

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

The famous International Ecstasy Units

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Do you remember this Orland Gough question?

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

We are doing implicit differentiation at the moment and enjoyed this challenge question. #ALevelMaths

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

At the Royal Festival Hall tonight for a Mozart concert. I guess there are a lot of people here who are new to classical music, and that’s a good thing, but there is a lot of this about.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

At the royal Festival Hall tonight for a Mozart concert. I guess there are a lot of people here who are new to classical music, and that’s a good thing, but there is a lot of this about.

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John Rubinstein @jrub.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

In Y13 Further #MathsToday we wrestled with this shadow question on 2D impacts. We enjoyed it but some needed to lie down in a darkened room afterwards. #ALevelMaths

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