law of small numbers

the twilight of French mathematics

Cédric Villani on COVID-19 [and Zoom for the local COVID-19 seminar]

From the “start” of the COVID-19 crisis in France (or more accurately after lockdown on March 13), the math department at Paris-Dauphine has run an internal webinar around this crisis, not solely focusing on the math or stats aspects but also involving speakers from other domains, from epidemiology to sociology, to economics. The speaker today was [Field medalist then elected member of Parliament] Cédric Villani, as a member of the French Parliament sciences and technology committee, l’Office parlementaire d’évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques (OPECST), which adds its recommendations to those of the several committees advising the French government. The discussion was interesting as an insight on the political processing of the crisis and the difficulties caused by the heavy-handed French bureaucracy, which still required to fill form A-3-b6 in emergency situations. And the huge delays in launching a genuine survey of the range and diffusion of the epidemic. Which, as far as I understand, has not yet started….

“À l’université, j’étais le matheux qui savait parler aux statisticiens.”

This weekend edition of Le Monde had [most of] Cédric Villani as its cover story. Mostly about his new career as a representative of Orsay at the French Parliament. And a member of the presidential majority. But the weekend edition being the weekend edition, it cannot escape its glossy tendencies and rather than focussing on the political agenda and achievements of the député, including a radical restructuring of the maths curriculum in French high schools, or maybe even his position on the harsh stance of the Macron government on migrants and refugees, Le Monde spends most of the article on the extra-ordinary personality of Villani.  Paris-Match-like. Which leads to quote as the one below, where I find myself at a loss on how to interpret this “ability to speak to statisticians”…!

the decline of the French [maths] empire

In Le Monde edition of Nov 5, an article on the difficulty of maths departments to attract students, especially in master programs and in the training of secondary school maths teachers (Agrégation & CAPES), where the number of candidates usually does not reach the number of potential positions… And also on the deep changes in the training of secondary school pupils, who over the past five years have lost a considerable amount of maths bases and hence are found missing when entering the university level. (Or, put otherwise, have a lower level in maths that implies a strong modification of our own programs and possibly the addition of an extra year or at least semester to the bachelor degree…) For instance, a few weeks ago, I realised for instance that my third year class had little idea of a conditional density and teaching measure theory at this level becomes more and more of a challenge!