Wrangling and the Tripos | ThatsMaths Wrangling and the Tripos Tags: Education , History The Mathematical Tripos examinations, and the Wranglers who achieve honours in them, are the topic of the That’s Maths column ( TM023 ) in the Irish Times this week. Today (20/06/13) the results of the final examinations in mathematics will be read out at the Senate House in Cambridge University. Following tradition, the class list will then be tossed over the balcony , and the names of this year’s wranglers will be known. The Wranglers could be a rock group or a brand of American jeans, but they are also the students who gain first-class honours degrees in the examinations known as the Mathematical Tripos, the one ranked first being Senior Wrangler. Results read out at the Senate House are then tossed from the balcony [ Photo Wikipedia ] Great prestige attaches to the top few Wranglers, opening opportunities for their future professional careers. To become Senior Wrangler was once regarded as “the greatest intellectual achievement attain able in Britain”. In the past, the rankings in the exams were made public.

Since 1910, only the class of degree has been given, but the examiner tips his hat when announcing the name of the top student. The Old Tripos The notoriously difficult Triops were a test of speed and well-practised problem-solving techniques, and many brilliant students who were inadequately drilled failed to top the class. To have any hope, students needed to be coached like racing thoroughbreds. The “Old Tripos” tested the metal of the strongest students. In 1854, when James Clerk Maxwell was beaten into second place by Edward Routh, the Tripos comprised 16 papers over eight days – more than 40 hours in total. Routh went on to become the most successful coach, training 27 Senior Wranglers. Maxwell made monumental contributions to the theory of electromagnetism. During the nineteenth century, mathematics in Britain lagged behind developments in Germany and France. One of the most inventive and original students who did not make Senior Wrangler was G.H.Hardy, the leading British mathematician of the twentieth century. Hardy placed some blame for Britain’s poor performance on the Mathematical Tripos, stating that they were a poor training for a pure mathematician.

Substantial reforms, introduced in 1909, changed the nature of the Tripos. Prior to that, applications such as Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory had been emphasised. Hardy was largely responsible for the change of focus to more pure mathematics. “Above the Senior Wrangler” There were two individuals who were ranked number one but who did not become Senior Wrangler. One was Philippa Fawcett who, in 1890, was declared to be “above the Senior Wrangler”. Her marks were thirteen percent ahead of the next in line but, while women were permitted to take the examinations, they were not allowed at that time to be members of the University or to receive degrees. The other was the Hungarian-born mathematician George Polya. He had contributed to the reform of the Tripos and, at the request of Hardy, had sat the examination in 1925. To the great surprise of Hardy, Polya achieved the highest mark which, were he a student, would have made him Senior Wrangler. George Stokes and William Thompson, two Irish-born scientists, were both Wranglers. Stokes was Senior Wrangler in 1841.

Thompson, later Lord Kelvin, reckoned himself a “shoo-in” for the honour in 1845. According th legend, he dispatched one of the college servants thus: “Just pop down to the Senate House and see who is Second Wrangler”. The servant returned with the answer: “You, Sir!” Addendum This year's Senior Wrangler is Arran Fernandez, the youngest ever, barely 18 years old. When he started at Cambridge, he was also the youngest undergraduate there since Pitt the Younger. See report in the Cambridge News, Senior Wrangler - Free definitions by Babylon Senior Wrangler Download this dictionary Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge) The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at Cambridge University in England , a position regarded as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain." Video results for the word "Senior Wrangler" The following video provides you with the correct English pronunciation of the word "Senior Wrangler", to help you become a better English speaker.

Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge) Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge) The Senior Wrangler, achiever of “academic supremacy”, is admitted to his degree, 1842 In accordance with tradition, results of the Mathematical Tripos are thrown from the Senate House balcony, 2005 The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at Cambridge University in England , a position which has been described as “the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain.” [1] Specifically, it is the person who achieves the highest overall mark among the Wranglers – the students at Cambridge who gain first-class degrees in mathematics. The Cambridge undergraduate mathematics course, or Mathematical Tripos , is famously difficult. Many Senior Wranglers have become world-leading figures in mathematics, physics , and other fields. They include George Airy , John Herschel , Arthur Cayley , James Inman , George Stokes , Isaac Todhunter , Morris Pell , Lord Rayleigh , Arthur Eddington , J. E. Littlewood , Frank Ramsey , Donald Coxeter , Jacob Bronowski , Lee Hsien Loong , Kevin Buzzard , Christopher Budd and Ben Green .

Senior Wranglers were once fêted with torchlit processions and took pride of place in the University’s graduation ceremony . [2] Years in Cambridge were often remembered by who had been Senior Wrangler that year. [1] The annual ceremony in which the Senior Wrangler becomes known was first held in the 18th century . Standing on the balcony of the University’s Senate House , the examiner reads out the class results for mathematics, [3] and printed copies of the results are then thrown to the audience below. The examiner no longer announces the students’ exact rankings, but they still identify the Senior Wrangler, nowadays by tipping their academic hat when reading out the person’s name. Contents 10 References Others who finished in the top 12 The difficulty of the examinations is illustrated by the identities of some of those who have performed well, but less well than the Senior Wrangler. Those who have finished between third and 12th include Karl Pearson and William Henry Bragg (third), George Green and G. H.

Hardy (fourth), Adam Sedgwick (fifth), John Venn (sixth), Bertrand Russell and Nevil Maskelyne (seventh), Thomas Malthus (ninth), and John Maynard Keynes (12th). History Between 1748 and 1909, the University publicly announced the ranking, [4] which was then reported in newspapers such as The Times . The examination was considered to be by far the most important in Britain and the Empire. The prestige of being a high Wrangler was great; the respect accorded to the Senior Wrangler was immense. Andrew Warwick, author of Masters of Theory, describes the term ‘Senior Wrangler’ as “synonymous with academic supremacy”. [5] Since 1910, successful students in the examinations have been told their rankings privately, and not all Senior Wranglers have become publicly known as such. In recent years, the custom of discretion regarding ranking has progressively vanished, and all Senior Wranglers since 2010 have announced their identity publicly. The youngest person to be Senior Wrangler is probably Arran Fernandez , who came top in 2013, aged 18 years and 0 months.

[6] The previous youngest was probably James Wilkinson in 1939, aged 19 years and 9 months. [7] The youngest up to 1909 were Alfred Flux in 1887, aged 20 years and 2 months [8] and Peter Tait in 1852, aged 20 years and 8 months. [9] Two individuals have placed first without becoming known as Senior Wrangler. One was the student Philippa Fawcett in 1890. At that time, although the University allowed women to take the examinations, it did not allow them to be members of the University, nor to receive degrees. Therefore they could not be known as ‘Wranglers’, and were merely told how they had performed compared to the male candidates, for example, “equal to the Third Wrangler”, or “between the Seventh and Eighth Wranglers”. Having gained the highest mark, Fawcett was declared to have finished “above the Senior Wrangler”. The other was the mathematics professor George Pólya .

As he had contributed to reforming the Tripos with the aim that an excellent performance would be less dependent on solving hard problems and more so on showing a broad mathematical understanding and knowledge, G.H. Hardy asked Pólya to sit the examinations himself, unofficially, during his stay in England in 1924–5. Pólya did so, and to Hardy’s surprise, received the highest mark, an achievement which, had he been a student, would have made him the Senior Wrangler. [10] Derived uses of the term Senior Wrangler’s Walk is a path in Cambridge, the walk to and along which was considered to be sufficient constitutional exercise for a student aspiring to become the Senior Wrangler. The route was shorter than other walks, such as Wranglers’ Walk and the Grantchester Grind, undertaken by undergraduates whose aspirations were lower. [11] Senior Wrangler sauce is a Cambridge term for brandy butter, a type of hard sauce made from brandy , butter , and sugar , traditionally served in Britain with Christmas pudding and warm mince pies .

[12] Senior Wrangler is also the name of a solitaire card game , alternatively known as Mathematics and Double Calculation, played with two decks of cards and involving elementary modular arithmetic . [13] [14] Literary references Fictional Senior Wranglers appearing in novels include Roger Hamley, a character in Elizabeth Gaskell ‘s Wives and Daughters, and Tom Jericho, the cryptanalyst in Robert Harris ‘s novel Enigma , who is described as having been Senior Wrangler in 1938. In George Bernard Shaw ‘s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession , the title character’s daughter Vivie is praised for “tieing with the third wrangler,” and she comments that “the mathematical tripos” means “grind, grind, grind for six to eight hours a day at mathematics, and nothing but mathematics.” In Ford Madox Ford ‘s Parade’s End , the character Christopher Tietjens is described as having settled deliberately for only being Second Wrangler, in order to avoid the weight of expectation that the title would create.

In his Discworld series of novels , Terry Pratchett has a character called the Senior Wrangler, a faculty member at the Unseen University , whose first name is Horace. The compiler of crosswords for The Leader in the 1930s used ‘Senior Wrangler’ as a pseudonym . [15] Coaches The two most successful 19th-century coaches of Senior Wranglers were William Hopkins and Edward Routh . Hopkins, the ‘Senior Wrangler Maker’, who himself was the 7th Wrangler, coached 17 Senior Wranglers. Routh, who had himself been the Senior Wrangler, coached 27. [16] Another, described by his student (and Senior Wrangler) J.E. Littlewood as “the last of the great coaches”, was Robert Alfred Herman . [17] Senior Wranglers and runners up, 1748–1909 During 1748–1909, the top two colleges in terms of number of Senior Wranglers were Trinity and St John’s with 56 and 54 respectively. Gonville and Caius was third with 13.

Senior Wranglers since 1910 also include: David Hobson [53] (Christ’s College) (1940s) Peter Swinnerton-Dyer [54] (Trinity College) (1940s) Michael Hall [55] (Trinity College) (1950s) Colin Myerscough [56] (Churchill College) (1960s) See also Wooden spoon (award) Notes ^ In years where there was a tie, individuals tied have been shown as Senior Wrangler, with the next placed candidate(s) as Proxime Accessit; strictly speaking, if n individuals are tied as Senior Wrangler, any runner up is (n+1)-st Wrangler . ^ Thomas Jones, the Senior Wrangler that year, acted as his tutor. ^ Also senior classic. ^ According to legend, Kelvin was so confident he had come top that he asked his servant to run to the Senate House and check who the Second Wrangler was. The servant returned and told him, “You, sir”! Kelvin was reportedly beaten largely on the basis of Parkinson’s superior exam technique. The result was reversed in the Smith Prize.

^ Routh found more fame subsequently as a coach of other Senior Wranglers. Indeed for twenty-two consecutive years from 1862, one of his pupils was Senior Wrangler, and he coached twenty-seven in all. His first pupil in 1856 was Third Wrangler, and in 1858 both the Senior and Second Wrangler were coached by him. [22] ^ First Jewish Senior Wrangler. A special grace was passed to allow him to be graduated using a special form of the wording in order to not offend his religious beliefs. ^ Forsyth was one of the men who were principally responsible for the reform of the Tripos system that led to the end of the Tripos ranking. ^ Regulations were changed to split the class list into Parts I & II, and Part III. The examinations for the former were held in June and retained the ordered class list (in contrast to Part III), so two sets of results exist for this year. Wrangler (University of Cambridge) - iSnare Free Encyclopedia Wrangler (University of Cambridge) For other uses, see Wrangler (disambiguation) .

A student is named as Senior Wrangler in 1842, an accolade 'synonymous with academic supremacy'. At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the third year of the University's undergraduate degree in mathematics . The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler , the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on. At the other end of the scale, the person who achieves the lowest exam marks while still earning a third-class honours degree (and therefore, more to the point, who achieves the lowest exam marks while still earning an honours degree at all) is known as the wooden spoon . Until 1909, the University made the rankings public. Since 1910 it has publicly revealed only the class of degree gained by each student. An examiner reveals the identity of the Senior Wrangler 'unofficially' by tipping his hat when reading out the person's name, but other rankings are communicated to each student privately. Therefore, the names of only some 20th-century Senior Wranglers (such as Crispin Nash-Williams , Christopher Budd , Frank P.

Ramsey , Donald Coxeter , Kevin Buzzard , Jayant Narlikar , George Reid and Ben J. Green ) have become publicly known. Another notable was Philippa Fawcett . She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge which had been co-founded by her mother. In 1890, Fawcett became the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams. Her score was 13 per cent higher than the second highest score. When the women's list was announced, Fawcett was described as "above the senior wrangler", but she did not receive the title of senior wrangler, as at that time only men could receive degrees and therefore only men were eligible for the Senior Wrangler title. The results were always highly publicised, with the top scorers receiving great acclaim. Women had been allowed to take the Tripos since 1881, after Charlotte Angas Scott was unofficially ranked as eighth wrangler. The strain of preparing for Tripos could lead to mental breakdown . Students found it necessary to build up their physical endurance .

It was noted that "virtually every high wrangler (for whom records exist) participated in some form of regular physical exercise to preserve his strength and stamina." [1] Obtaining the position of a highly ranked Wrangler created many opportunities for the individual's subsequent profession. They would often become Fellows initially, before moving on to other professions, such as law, the Church, or medicine. [2] Throughout the United Kingdom and the British Empire, university mathematics professors were often among the top three Wranglers. [2] The order of Wranglers was widely publicised and shaped the public perception of mathematics as being the most intellectually challenging of all subjects. According to Andrew Warwick, author of Masters of Theory, the term 'Senior Wrangler' became "synonymous with academic supremacy".

Contents 6 External links Past wranglers See also: a list of Senior Wranglers since 1910 and a list of Senior Wranglers and Second Wranglers, 1748-1909 Top marks in the Cambridge mathematics exam did not always guarantee the Senior Wrangler success in life; the exams were largely a test of speed in applying familiar rules, and some of the most inventive and original students of Mathematics at Cambridge did not come top of their class. Bragg was third, Hardy was fourth, Sedgwick fifth, Malthus was ninth, Bertrand Russell was seventh, Keynes was 12th, and some fared even worse: Klaus Roth was not even a wrangler. Joan Clarke , who helped to break the Nazi Enigma code at Bletchley Park, was a wrangler at Cambridge and earned a double first in mathematics, although she was prevented from receiving a full degree based on the university's policy of awarding degrees only to men. [3] That policy was abandoned in 1948.

The present Astronomer Royal , Martin Rees , a wrangler, would go on to become one of the world's leading scientists, while also holding the posts of Master of Trinity College (Cambridge) and President of the Royal Society.[ clarification needed ] Optimes Students who achieve second-class and third-class mathematics degrees are known as Senior Optimes (second-class) and Junior Optimes (third-class). Cambridge did not divide its examination classification in mathematics into 2:1s and 2:2s until 1995[ citation needed ] but now there are Senior Optimes Division 1 and Senior Optimes Division 2.[ citation needed ] In fiction "Wrangler" is a jargon term applied to codebreakers in some of John Le Carré 's spy novels, such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . Thomas Jericho, the main character of Robert Harris 's book Enigma , was Senior Wrangler in 1938. In Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, reference is made to the fact that Christopher Tietjens came out of Cambridge as "a mere Second Wrangler".

In Rumer Godden 's In This House of Brede , Dame Agnes is noted to have been Eighth Wrangler before entering the abbey. Notes ^ Andrew Warwick (2003) Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics, page 197, University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-87374-9 D. O. Forfar (1996/7) What became of the senior wranglers?, Mathematical spectrum 29, 1-4. a survey of the subsequent careers of senior wranglers during the 157 years (1753–1909) in which the results of Cambridge’s mathematical tripos were published in order of merit. Peter Groenewegen (2003). A Soaring Eagle: Alfred Marshall 1842-1924. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. ISBN 1-85898-151-4 . gives the story about Rayleigh; Alfred Marshall was the commoner who came second to Rayleigh. C. M. Neale (1907) The Senior Wranglers of the University of Cambridge.

Available online Andrew Warwick (2003) Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-87374-9 a very thorough account of the Cambridge system in the 19th century. Appendix A lists the top 10 wranglers from 1865 to 1909 with their coaches and their colleges. External links The History of Mathematics in Cambridge | Faculty of Mathematics The History of Mathematics in Cambridge Login Mathematics has been studied at Cambridge for a long time. The first figure of note is Robert Recorde (born about 1550) who is credited with the invention of the equality sign "=". He wrote several textbooks in the form of dialogues, but his last book ends with the author being arrested for debt. Those with less antiquarian interests start their history a century or so later with Wallis , Barrow and Newton . (All three luminaries had interesting non-mathematical careers. Wallis broke codes for the parliamentary side in the civil war. Barrow was noted for his strength and courage, and once when travelling in the East saved his ship by his own prowess from capture by pirates .

Newton took a very public part in the university's quarrel with King James II.) The spectacular success of Newton's work had the fortunate effect of establishing the prestige of mathematics in Britain and Cambridge and the unfortunate effect of blinding British mathematicians to progress in mathematics elsewhere. The parochial century that followed was not a very glorious period for Cambridge or British mathematics. However, it witnessed a slow but important change described in the next paragraph. Over the years, the syllabus of the Medieval university had lost its relevance and the disputation by which it was examined became a mere formality. Sometime around 1725, a voluntary examination was instituted to help order the better students. At first, the examination was oral and consisted of questions on mathematics and some philosophy. Later, the candidates wrote their answers but the questions were dictated and finally, in around 1790, the questions were printed. Thus was born the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, the grandparent of every university examination in the world.

The examinations were held in January in the Senate House — a building which happens to be a very beautiful one, with a marble floor and a highly ornamental ceiling; and as it is on the model of a Grecian temple, and as temples had no chimneys, and as a stove or fire of any kind might disfigure the building, we are obliged to take the weather as it happens to be. Sometimes the ink froze in the inkwells. Since the Mathematical Tripos was the only way in which students could show intellectual prowess, it was taken by many who went on to achieve distinction in other areas. A suitable example, given our present address, is provided by Thomas Clarkson who helped lead the fight against the slave trade. Even when examinations in other subjects became available, the Mathematical Tripos continued to produce people like Keynes and Bertrand Russell who gained eminence in very different fields. In the 1820s, a group of young mathematicians including Babbage (of the Analytical Engine) modernised the Tripos to take account of the work of continental mathematicians and the glory days of the examination began. The details changed but, as described by Galton, the examination lasted five and a half hours a day for eight days.

Those in the top class were (and still are) called Wranglers in an echo of the old system of disputation. The candidates were listed in order of marks with the top candidate being 'Senior Wrangler' the next 'Second Wrangler' and so on. In one list that Galton was allowed to consult, the Senior Wrangler got more than 7,500 marks, the lowest Wrangler got about 1,500 marks and the lowest candidate to get honours (obtaining 'the wooden spoon') got 300 marks. Although the owner of the wooden spoon had 100 people above him, he in turn outclassed 300 'poll men' who failed or, more usually, did not attempt to obtain honours. (Galton was a poll man.) The Tripos became something of a national event with substantial betting on the outcome. When, in 1890, Miss Fawcett was placed 'above the Senior Wrangler' (i.e. beat all her male competitors) this, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, 'materially advanced the cause of higher education for women and naturally gave her mother the greatest satisfaction'.

It may be doubted that a system in which the best students spent three years training to solve problems against the clock represented the ideal way to teach mathematics. However, this system was the nursery for the great flowering of British physics in the 19th century. Its products included Maxwell (2nd Wrangler), Kelvin (2nd Wrangler), Stokes (Senior Wrangler) and Rayleigh (Senior Wrangler). On the pure side it produced Sylvester (2nd Wrangler) and Cayley (Senior Wrangler). Pearson, the father of modern statistics, was a 3rd Wrangler. The 19th century Cambridge system concentrated on undergraduate teaching. Although good research was admired, it was not viewed as a professional duty and the university was not expected to provide support for it. A different view developed in France and then, still more strongly, in the great German universities. Over the course of the 20th century, Cambridge mathematics moved to align itself first with the German model of a research driven university and then with the successor model presented by the major (post 1950) US universities.

Landmarks in this process include the publication of Hardy's A Course of Pure Mathematics (still, as a glance at Amazon will show, a best seller after nearly a century) and the abolition of the order of merit in the Mathematical Tripos in 1909. Present day exams are hard but not ferocious. Under the old system, the best placed Wranglers could take a further exam in some of the higher branches of mathematics for a Smith's prize. When Kelvin found an interesting result in three dimensional calculus, he communicated it to Stokes who set it as a question in the Smith's prize exam. It is now known as Stokes' theorem. The Smith's prize exam evolved into the present Part III , a one year postgraduate qualification taken by about 200 students from all over the world. From 1885, Smith's prizes (now supplemented by Rayleigh and Knight prizes) were given for an essay in mathematics instead. Today, this usually presents the student's own work after 4 terms of research. Past winners include Turing, Coxeter, Ingham, Hodge and Hoyle. Although a Faculty like that of the 1930's which included Dirac, G. I.

Taylor, Sir Harold Jeffreys, Phillip Hall, Hardy, Littlewood and Mary Cartwright could hardly be faulted on the grounds of research, the supporting structure seems strange to modern eyes. The Faculty met from time to time to decide who should lecture on what, but there was no communal building and everyone worked in their own college. In about 1960, the Faculty was finally organised into departments. These were housed in a very lightly converted old printing house and offices formerly owned by CUP and then awaiting demolition to make way for a new road. After 40 years, it became clear that, not only was the road never going to be built, but the growth of the Faculty had rendered the premises grossly overcrowded. In an extraordinarily short time, enough money was raised to move both departments to splendid new buildings in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (CMS) off Clarkson and Wilberforce Roads. (Wilberforce was another Cambridge anti-slavery campaigner.) Of the £61.4 million required for the whole building project, a total of £30.8 million, or 50%, came from private sources. Another £14 million came from public funds, and the rest from within Cambridge.

Over the last hundred years, the Faculty has grown slowly but steadily and has become more and more international in its staff and students. We hope and expect that these trends will continue. As a result of these and other factors, some of which were discussed above, Cambridge has come to resemble other great mathematical centres much more than it used to. We think, however, that it retains its commitment to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level together with a certain mild eccentricity. A search in the Mactutor archives for articles including the word 'Cambridge' will give a good idea of the mathematicians associated with Cambridge but does not include several important physicists. A search for articles including the word 'Wrangler' will give a good idea of the mathematicians who were undergraduates at Cambridge. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography web site can only be accessed by subscription but, if you can access it, a search for biographies including the word 'Wrangler' will reveal the place this distinction occupied in British life.

(A search under 'Optime' gives some of those who attained honours at a lower standard.) The reading of class lists in the Senate House The Mathematical Tripos is the oldest written examination in this University, and very likely the oldest in any university in the world. Its origins date back to the 18th century, but we do not know exactly when the custom of publicly reading out the results began. The earliest reference to it that I have found is dated 1856; so we can be confident that the ceremony has been in existence for over 150 years. Until 1909 the list was read in order of merit, beginning with the Senior Wrangler, the candidate who had obtained most marks in the examination, and ending with the lowest-placed Junior Optime.

(Incidentally, the tradition of presenting a giant wooden spoon to the lowest Junior Optime was never part of this ceremony; the spoon was made and decorated by his friends during the interval between publication of the results and the graduation ceremony, and presented to him when he received his degree.) In the second half of the nineteenth century, competition between candidates for the Senior Wranglership was intense, and often attracted attention outside the University, including betting on the outcome. However, some candidates could be over-confident. In 1880 the great J.J. Thomson, later Cavendish Professor of Physics and Master of Trinity, was so sure of success that he could not be bothered to come to the Senate House for the ceremony, but sent his gyp along instead. When the gyp returned to Trinity, J.J. asked him "Tell me, who was Second Wrangler this year?" - to which the reply was "You were, sir." Incidentally, the person who beat J.J. was no mere nonentity; he was Joseph Larmor of St John's, later Sir Joseph and for many years Lucasian Professor of Mathematics [1] .

When women were first admitted to the University, they were allowed to take University examinations but were not classed or admitted to degrees; their names appeared as interpolations on the list. Thus, if a woman was ranked among the Wranglers, she would be described as being "between the nth and (n+1)st Wrangler", for the appropriate value of n. In 1890 great consternation was caused when Miss Philippa Fawcett of Newnham was placed "above the Senior Wrangler" - the only time in the years down to 1909 that this happened. After 1909, reforms to the Tripos, introduced at the instigation of a group of dons among whom G.H. Hardy [2] was prominent, meant that the list was no longer published in order of merit, but the Faculty continued the tradition of publicly reading the class-list. And when Part III became a separate examination in 1934, having previously been a mere Schedule to Part II, the reading of the Part III class-list was added to that of Part II.

The final addition to the readings was made as recently as 2011, when the examination for the Master of Advanced Study in Mathematics formally became a separate examination from Part III, with its own list of successful candidates (although of course they still take exactly the same papers as the Part III candidates). For well over fifty years after the 1909 reforms, the class list for Part II contained a special note, not found in any other class list, to the effect that "the names in each class are printed in alphabetical order". However, they have not always been read in alphabetical order. I well remember the 1989 ceremony: to understand what follows, you need to know that, as with all class lists, the names are printed in three columns. The Chairman of Examiners for 1989 decided that he could keep his place in the list more easily if he read across the three columns, rather than down each column in turn. Unfortunately he didn't tell anyone he was going to do this.

So when he began with the Wranglers, and the first name he read was Allan, there was no surprise; but when the second name he read was Hunt, one could feel the wave of panic spreading round the Senate House as those with names in the range B to G, who had been confident of getting Firsts, began to wonder if they could really all have missed out. But then, when the third name read was Plowman, everyone relaxed again, because it was clear that whatever the Chairman was doing he wasn't following alphabetical order. Starting in 2017, exam results will no longer be made public. Consequently, the custom of reading out the Mathematics class lists is ended. The above remarks were prepared by Professor Peter Johnstone, Chair of Part II examiners, and read by him in the Senate House prior to the last reading out of Part II and III class lists on 16 June, 2016.

[1] This anecdote has been attached to a number of other great men, including J.J.'s namesake William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) in 1845, and Louis Mordell (who was actually Third Wrangler) in 1909; but J.J. Thomson seems the likeliest candidate. [2] who had been Fourth Wrangler in 1898 © 2017 University of Cambridge Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge) - Free definitions by Babylon Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge) Download this dictionary Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge) The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at Cambridge University in England , a position regarded as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain." Video results for the word "Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge)" The following video provides you with the correct English pronunciation of the word "Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge)", to help you become a better English speaker.

Information Processing: The Wranglers Information Processing Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will Favorite posts Twitter: @steve_hsu About Me Thursday, July 02, 2009 The Wranglers Some time ago I came across the essay What became of the Senior Wranglers? , which describes the history of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos examination. Interesting excerpts follow below, but I recommend the whole thing. Difficult exams like the Tripos or present-day international Olympiads in math and science are one of the best ways to identify truly exceptional talent. As discussed below, the tests are able to distinguish between talents at the very far tail of the distribution. But even these exams are only inexact predictors of future success. It's clear that special preparation has an important impact on performance (successful Wranglers typically hired private tutors, see below), and that forcing students to focus on overly technical and narrow exam problems isn't necessarily the best way to measure (or foster) creativity or research ability (see Hardy's criticisms below). Still, the list of Senior and Second Wranglers is an impressive one!

During the one hundred and fifty seven years (1753-1909) in which the results of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos were published in order of merit and divided by class of degree into Wranglers (1st Class), Senior Optimes (2nd Class) and Junior Optimes (3rd Class), great prestige attached to those students who had come out in the top two or three places. The securing of the top position as Senior Wrangler was regarded, at the time, as the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain and the Senior Wrangler was feted well beyond Cambridge and accorded pre-eminent status among his peers - indeed years in Cambridge were often remembered in terms of who had been Senior Wrangler in that year. It is curious therefore that no systematic study has ever been made, in so far as the author is aware, of what became of these Senior Wranglers in later years after their triumph. This article may shed a little light on the matter. Until 1850, Mathematics in Cambridge was dominant over all other University subjects so much so that it was obligatory, astonishing as it now seems, for students who were studying for honours in Classics, first to have taken the Mathematical Tripos.

Because of the prestige attaching to the position of Senior Wrangler and the college from which the Senior Wrangler came, the students, especially the most promising, were subjected, like thoroughbred racehorses, to the most intense training for the Tripos race. The training was in the hands of private ‘coaches’ and not the University professors as often students attended very few lectures and, for example, Charles Babbage gave no lectures in the eleven years, 1828-39, during which he was Lucasian Professor. The best of the coaches, because of their reputation, were able to select the most able students thus perpetuating their reputation for success. The most famous private tutor was William Hopkins (1793-1866) who himself had been 7th Wrangler in 1827 and was a person of distinction outside his coaching activities being President of the Geological Society 1851-53 and President of the British Association 1853.

In 1849 it was said of Hopkins that in the 22 years since his degree he had taught 17 Senior Wranglers, 27 Second or Third Wranglers and 200 Wranglers in total. As William Hopkins continued to turn out Wranglers well after that date his final tally must have been much higher. Hopkins' Wranglers included Clerk Maxwell, Cayley, Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Stokes and Tait. It can be seen with the benefit of hindsight that the greatest of Hopkins' pupils was Clerk Maxwell, but remarkably Hopkins recognised this even when Maxwell was an undergraduate saying "he is unquestionably the most extraordinary man I have met with, in the whole range of my experience". Galton, who had a nervous breakdown while preparing for the Tripos, analyzed the exam results in his book Hereditary Genius. (See after p.46 here .) In earlier discussions here and here I advanced the claim that modern selection processes are more effective than in the past, with more participants and better access to training. One can quantify this by looking at the scores on, e.g., the International Mathematical Olympiad, which is pretty much as hard an exam as one can devise.

Due to the worldwide reservoir of competitors, one finds fairly tight clumping of individuals near the top -- there are often perfect scores, and many nearly perfect ones. (See 2008 scores .) Contrast this with the Tripos score distribution described below, with its outliers and large range of outcomes. One would be tempted to classify a Senior Wrangler who far outdistanced his competition as a potential Genius, whereas a competitor who falls within the clump of IMO Gold Medalists tends not to stand out very much from his or her peers. The actual marks were never published but Sir Francis Galton in his book 'Hereditary Genius' refers to having obtained marks in respect of three years (unspecified, but probably around the 1860's). In one of these years, out of a total possible mark of 17,000, the Senior Wrangler obtained 7634 marks, the second Wrangler obtained 4123 marks, the lowest Wrangler obtained around 1500 marks and the lowest candidate receiving an honours degree (Junior Optime) obtained 237 marks.

In the second of these years the Senior Wrangler obtained between 5500 and 6000 marks, the Second obtained between 5000 and 5500 and the lowest Junior Optime received 309 marks. In the third of these years when, according to Galton, the Senior Wrangler was conspicuously eminent, he obtained 9422 marks and the Second 5642 marks. Galton makes considerable play of the large discrepancy between the marks obtained by the Senior Wranglerand by the lowest Wrangler. It can be seen that the Senior Wrangler would typically obtain less than 50% of the marks, the lowest Wrangler less than 10% and the lowest honours candidate less than 2%! This seems to the author a rather curious result and it is not clear what conclusions are to be drawn from it. It suggests that the candidates covered a very wide ability range, that the level of the lowest Wrangler and the lowest honours man was really rather poor by to-day's standards (perhaps university life was more relaxed and the average student did not apply himself very hard?) and that the papers were too long and hard even for the best students.

Curiously, there seem to have been more great physicists among the Wranglers than pure mathematicians! Among the Wranglers are to be found those who, along with Michael Faraday (1791-1867), William Rowan Hamilton (1805-65) and James Prescott Joule (1818-89), secured for the UK world leadership in physics and mathematical physics in the second half of the 19th century, namely: James Clerk Maxwell viii (1831-79), 2W 1854. William Thomson ix(1824-1907), 2W 1845, later Lord Kelvin. George Stokes (1819-1903), SW 1841, later Sir George Stokes. John William Strutt (1842-1919 ), SW 1865, later Baron Rayleigh, Nobel Prizefor Physics1904. John Couch Adams (1819-92), SW 1843, predicted theoretically the existence of the planet Neptune(also predicted independently by Le Verrier in France).

George Green x (1793-1841),4W 1837, first introduced the concept of potential in a paper of 1828. Peter Guthrie Tait xi (1831-1901), SW 1852, author with Lord Kelvin of the epoch-making book 'Treatise on Natural Philosophy'.

Question: At Cambridge the ‘Senior Wrangler’ is the top performer at what?
Answer: Mathematics