Second Form cracked codes at Bletchley Park on a Maths trip
BackPupils in the Second Form were taken on their first ever Maths trip to Bletchley Park, home to the codebreakers of WW2. They learnt huge amounts about how Bletchley Park was used both before and during the war, what kinds of codes were cracked there and, of course, about the life and work of Alan Turing, one of the great mathematicians based at the site.
The boys also showed their mathematical prowess in cracking multiple codes to unveil the name of an infamous spy! To finish the day they were allowed to use one of the Enigma machines used in the war and also see one of the Bombe computers (used to decipher the Enigma code) in action, solving the problem of sorting through a staggering 15,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations and identifying the correct one.
On the way back to Reed’s in the coach the boys watched The Imitation Game, a film based on Alan Turing’s time at Bletchley Park and were delighted to see so many recognisable features from the day they had just enjoyed!
Terry Ha, Maths Department
