I’m Tim Lattimer. I’ve worked as a tutor for many years, starting when I was a PhD student. Initially I taught mathematics modules to the mathematics, engineering and physics students, and later on I taught privately – mainly local GCSE and A-Level students, with some university students as well.

After completing my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at Oxford University on fluid dynamics problems. I continued to teach the undergraduates here – mostly tutorials of small groups of up to ten.  I then went on to a career in investment banking, and later in data analysis, applying some of my knowledge in forecasting and machine learning problems. During this period, the only teaching was my children, and that of family and friends. With these, this was occasional work, but it reminded me how much I’d liked teaching, and made me want to go back to it once the time was right.

I have five children, one with special needs who needed a lot of support with communication. I taught them the following subjects without external support: Latin (GCSE and A-level) music theory (ABRSM grade 5) as well as teaching them piano and violin (up to grade 6 and grade 3) and recorder. With the music, I let the real music teachers take over after that, and I’m happy to say that the elder three got four grade 8s between them. Playing piano accompaniment in their exams was a real test of my playing ability!

I love teaching. I love solving problems, and asking and answering the challenging questions that show that a student is deeply thinking about the subject. I believe that exams are important, but a solid grounding is more so, and I prefer to inculcate a deeper understanding than teach to the exam, where time allows. As ever, though, I will be guided by the needs of students/parents.

The name “Lattimer” means Latin translator, so I feel it’s incumbent on me in particular to pass the torch to the next generation. Teaching the children rekindled my old love for the subject. It’s a very different experience to learning French, satisfying but in a very different way. Every sentence is a puzzle.

I teach mainly online, but am available for either using my own house or at student’s, depending on  circumstances. I’m based in Maidenhead so can serve the wider Thames Valley area and parts of West London. I am DBS certified.

Check out the services page for information on my pricing model and T&Cs.

Academic History

• Postdoctoral Research at the University of Oxford
• PhD in Mathematics at the University of Southampton
• MSc in Astronomy at the University of Sussex
• BA in Mathematics at the University of Cambridge
• A-level in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry

Studied French to AO-level and Latin and German to O-level.

Other Interests

I sing in various choirs, I play the piano and violin a little. Additionally, I try and keep up the languages – I can read simple books in French, Spanish and Italian for pleasure. I’ve not been assessed, but would estimate my level as somewhere around B1 in French,  A2 in Spanish and A1 in Italian. I don’t usually teach these subjects but I find them useful in teaching Latin.

Research

Most of my research was done in my PhD / post-doc days. I conducted my research in two Industrial Applied Mathematics departments (Southampton and Oxford) and worked mainly on fluid and solid mechanics problems. More recently I’ve picked up an interest in game theory questions around the provision of public goods, and recently published a paper. I plan to publish more when I get a chance to complete the research, so if you engage me as a tutor you’ll be funding research. My thesis from my Astronomy MSc was on estimating galactic distances and was highly statistical, which came in useful later on.

Publications

• A.D.Fitt and T.R.B.Lattimer (1997), High Reynolds number cross-flow with injection and suction, Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, 50(1), 47-68
• Lattimer, T.R.B. and Fitt, A.D. (1998) Unsteady slot suction from a high-Reynolds-number cross-flow. Journal of Engineering Mathematics, 33(3), 293-310
• P.D.Howell and T.R.B. Lattimer (1999) Modelling bristle bending in brush seals, Mathematical Engineering in Industry, 7(3), 349-359
• A.D.Fitt and T.R.B.Lattimer (2000), On the unsteady motion of two-dimensional sails, IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics, 65, 147-171
• T.R.B.Lattimer and R.Zubrickas (2023),  Refund bonuses and revenue equivalence, Economics Letters, 231:111265