Apart from the Olympic Games and Alan Turing's centenary, 2012 will see another important event: the 15th birthday of Plus! To get into party mood, here are the 5 most popular Plus articles since current records began. A big thank you to the wonderful and generous people who have contributed these and all other Plus articles!

Number 1: Adam Smith and the invisible hand
Adam Smith is often thought of as the father of modern economics. In his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Smith decribed the "invisible hand" mechanism by which he felt economic society operated. Modern game theory has much to add to Smith's description.

Number 2: Mysterious number 6174
6174 is a very mysterious number. This article explains why, and how beautiful mathematical oddities can inspire us to discover new mathematics.

Number 3: Why is the violin so hard to play?
Number 3: As anyone starting out knows, the violin is a difficult instrument. It takes time before the novice player can expect to produce a musical note at the desired pitch, instead of a whistle, screech or graunch. This article explains why.

Number 4: The life and numbers of Fibonacci
Fibonacci not only gave us the famous number sequence but also introduced the decimal system to Europe.

It isn't often that a mathematical equation makes the national press, far less popular radio, or most astonishingly of all, is the subject of a debate in the UK parliament. However, as this article describes, in 2003 the good old quadratic equation, which we all learned about in school, reached these dizzy pinnacles of fame.

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It's dark and grey this time of year, that's why we cheer ourselves up with lovely sparkly tinsel and colourful baubles. But if that isn't enough for you, here's another chance to bask in some glorious colour.

Maths behind the rainbow
The only good thing about a wash-out summer is that you get to see lots of rainbows. Keats complained that a mathematical explanation of these marvels of nature robs them of their magic, conquering "all mysteries by rule and line". But rainbow geometry is just as elegant as the rainbows themselves.

Colouring by numbers
How does a computer understand the colours to be displayed on the monitor's screen? It's all about red, green and blue and numbers written in a special way.

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Everybody needs a little love on a cold, wet Monday morning, so here's some for you with lots of kisses from the Plus team!

Kissing the frog: a mathematician's guide to mating
What's your strategy for love? Hold out for The One, or try and avoid the bad ones? How long should you wait before cutting your losses and settling down with whoever comes along next? We investigate and save the national grid in the process.

Baby robots feel the love
It's not just us humans who can love and be loved!

Love's a gamble
Not sure what present to give to that special person? Here's some help from game theory.

Maths on a plane
How maths can help solve the mysteries of flight and love...

It may seem a bit un-romantic, but when it comes down to it, dating is all about strategy. Find out what happens if, like in the film The beautiful mind, everyone goes for the blonde, and if it's possible to be too attractive.

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Oooh! It's only 222 days until the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games! Eagerly clutching our virtual tickets to the women's handball quarter finals, we've been going around gathering some Olympic material for you. Here's what we found.

How the velodrome found its form

The Velodrome, with its striking curved shape, was the first venue to be completed in the London Olympic Park. Plus talked to structural engineers Andrew Weir and Pete Winslow from Expedition Engineering, who were part of the design team for the Velodrome, about how mathematics helped create its iconic shape.

Leaning into 2012

Rising like a giant pringle from the Olympic Park construction site, the Velodrome is the first of the 2012 London Olympic venues to be completed. With its sweeping curved roof and beautiful cedar clad exterior the Velodrome is a stunning building. But what most of the athletes are excited about is the elegant wooden cycle track enclosed inside, the medals that will be won, and the records that might be broken, in the summer of 2012.

No limits for Usain

Usain Bolt, the "fastest man on the planet", aims to get his 100 metre world record of 9.58 seconds down to 9.40 seconds. What has mathematics got to say about this quest?

The maths of gold medals: Four Olympic thoughts

It's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts. At least, that's what the Olympic creed would have us believe. But, like it or not, what the media and governments focus on is the tally of gold medals. This article explores some of the maths of gold.

Making gold for 2012

This year leading researchers in sports technology met at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London to demonstrate just how far their field has come over recent years. The changes they make to athletes' equipment and clothes may only make a tiny difference to their performance, but once they're added up they can mean the difference between gold and silver.

To see all our articles on the Olympic Games, including the last ones in Beijing, click here.

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