# LaTex Accents

I always forget how to add accents in LaTex within the standard text. So I have placed some of them here, as much for myself as anyone else.

LaTeX command Sample Description
\{o} ò grave accent
\'{o} ó acute accent
\^{o} ô circumflex
\"{o} ö umlaut or diaeresis
\H{o} ő long Hungarian umlaut
\~{o} õ tilde
\c{c} ç cedilla
\k{a} ą ogonek
\l ł l with stroke
\={o} ō macron accent (a bar over the letter)
\b{o} o bar under the letter
\.{o} ȯ dot over the letter
\d{u} dot under the letter
\r{a} å ring over the letter (for å there is also the special command \aa)
\u{o} ŏ breve over the letter
\v{s}` š caron/hacek (“v”) over the letter

Reference

Wikibooks

# Bilston Community college loses international student license

Bilston Community college, a privately-run college in the Black Country, has lost its “Tier 4 Visa” license. The collage claims that about 60% of its 200 or so students are international.

The rules for this level of visa license are quite strict; for example a college has to ensure students attend classes regularly and that its teaching is of sufficient quality. There are other rules that must be adhered to.

Where we find evidence that sponsors are not fulfilling their duties we will suspend or remove their license.

We can confirm that Bilston Community College had its Tier 4 license revoked on 26 October, with immediate effect.

The UK Border Agency

Bilston Community College

BBC News

# A new post-16 mathematics curriculum focused on real problems

Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) has been asked by Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Education) to develop a mathematics course aimed at sixth formers that focuses on real world problems.

 Image by Sweetness46 As compared to other countries, the UK has relatively low participation on mathematics past 16. The idea is for students who would be unlikely to study A-level mathematics, to continue to study mathematics past GCSE along side other subjects.

Professor Timothy Gowers, of Cambridge University, in his blog, wrote about teaching mathematics to non-mathematicians with the focus on real problems. Many of these ideas will be incorporated into the MEI syllabus.

Professor Timothy Gowers

Professor Tim Gowers’s brilliant blog has sparked huge interest in how we could radically improve maths teaching. I am delighted that MEI is trying to develop the Gowers blog into a real course that could help thousands of students understand the power of mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Michael Gove

A sample problem

A doctor tests a patient for a serious disease that one in ten thousand people have. The test is fairly reliable: if you have the disease, it gives a positive result, whereas if you don’t, then it gives a negative result in 99% of cases. So the only problem with it is that it occasionally gives a false positive. The patient tests positive. How worrying is this?

Reference

Expanding post-16 participation in mathematics: Developing a curriculum to promote mathematical problem solving, MEI press release (opens PDF)