This is the conclusion of Perrine Berment's presentation, given on 26 April at the Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, for the "Ma thèse en 180 secondes" (My Thesis in 180 Seconds) competition (video available at ). Perrine Berment, as you might guess, is a mathematician, a doctoral student at the Institut mathématique de Bordeaux, and on that day she won the regional final of the competition. In a very concise but very explicit presentation, carrying the weather metaphor throughout, she describes how, based on test results, she determines the parameters specific to each patient in order to build a model that may be able to predict how their tumor will develop — in effect, giving the doctor a head start on the disease. This prediction, when it works, she tells us, is like "the forecast of bright sunshine after many days of rain."
There's no denying it — in just three minutes, and with a smile, this young mathematician found exactly the words needed to convince her audience not only that mathematics is beautiful, but that it is also useful… and that women have their place in it. Bravo!
