First Technology Transfer

Standard and Advanced Technical Training, Consultancy and Mentoring

Enriched preparation for STEP with Python

Duration: 5 Days

This workshop is for “those special young people” who really love maths and computing and can see “what it is all about”. The STEP exam corresponds to a certain extent to what the old Scholarship level and Oxbridge Entrance exam papers were and provides an opportunity for university applicants to demonstrate a more advanced knowledge of maths ability. The idea behind this workshop is to introduce programming as a serious mathematical tool, whilst, at the same time exploring some of the more advanced maths topics included in the STEP requirements.

This workshop will introduce the major Python mathematical computing and numerical analysis packages, Numpy, Matplotlib, Pandas, SciPy, SimPy and PythonSage. These packages are also widely used by those involved in Finance and Data Analytics and this course can be thought of as “opening a door” onto these particular “professions”, and this workshop will explore some of the scenarios and use cases on which computerised trading is based. The course assumes a good basic knowledge of Python programming such as might have been acquired studying GCSE Computer Science and AS Level Computer Science.

The level of the course will be pitched at level that should have been achieved at the end of the first year 6th.

The “fun” part of the course will be exploring the use of the PyGame 2D physics engine, and, if there is time, a brief exploration of the Panda3D game engine. The course assumes a good basic knowledge of Python programming such as might have been acquired studying GCSE Computer Science and AS Level Computer Science, or attending our Getting to Grips with Python summer school workshop.