The image Fractured Worlds at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, with Frank Milordi in the centre.

If, like us, you like fractals, then you will love the work of Frank Milordi, aka FAVIO. Milordi is a former Director of Engineering and Technology who creates mind challenging computer images based on the mathematics of chaos and fractals. You may be familiar with his work already, as one of his beautiful fractal images adorns one of the latest Plus postcards.

In addition to work based on those amazing infinitely repeating structures, Milordi has also created a unique form called annihilated fractal, which dominates his art. "The annihilated fractal is a transformation of the base fractal via additional mathematical manipulations," he explains. "The resulting image is a colourful and abstract form that retains elements of the base fractal. The viewer is challenged to discern elements of the base fractal within the visual abstraction."

Some favourite FAVIO images are shown below. For additional information visit his website or write to Frank Milordi, 4261 Careywood Dr, Melbourne, FL 32934 (USA).

Frank Milordi at an exhibition of his work at the Orlando Museum of Art — Shop Gallery.

Infinity within Infinity by FAVIO.

Tornado Spawning by FAVIO.

Space City by FAVIO.

March 14th (3/14) is world Pi day.

Today, March 14th, the world is celebrating that most beautiful and useful of numbers - Pi! Come on in and join the party...

• Tom Körner celebrates (and calculates) Pi with cake
• Vi Hart will take you on a hunt for the works of Shakespeare in the digits of Pi (all in iambic pentameter!) and teach you how to Pi dance
• Alex Bellos has conducted the first ever interview in Pi-lish
• Peter Rowlett remembers the numbers of Pi past
• Numberphile explains Pi in sound, flammable sticks and bouncing balls
• You can discover the Pi Day Magic of James Grime and Brian Brushwood

Why are we all so excited? Well, Pi isn't just any normal number you know... or is it?

How are you going to celebrate Pi Day?

Plus investigating the mathematics of sound waves.

Today is International Women's Day! Plus is run entirely by women who are happily disregarding maths and gender stereotypes, so we're very pleased to join in the celebrations. We've got lots of content by or about women mathematicians on Plus and here are some of our favourites. (And we'd like to ask all remaining dinosaurs to stop sending us emails starting "Dear Sirs"...)

Some mathematical heroines from the past:

• Ada Lovelace - visions of today
• Florence Nightingale: The compassionate statistician
• Against the odds — an article on Emmy Noether
• Female struggle — introducing four pioneering female mathematicians.

Some present-day mathematical heroines from our careers library:

• Tanya Morton: Application engineering manager, MathWorks
• Helen Joyce: Brazil correspondent, The Economist
• Sandy Black: Fashion designer
• Victoria Gould: Actor and mathematician
• Emily Poskett: Government statistician
• Rupa Patel: Financial engineer
• Claudia Centazzo: Business development manager

Articles by and about mathematical heroines from the present:

• Supergravity to the rescue? Meet Renata Kallosh (you can also listen to this interview as a podcast)
• Colva Roney-Dougal on the power of groups
• Carola Schönlieb on digital image restoration
• Sara Garner on evaluating medical treatments
• Caroline Series on Non-Euclidean geometry and Indra's pearls
• Janna Levin on topology and the Universe
• Carla Farsi on mathematics and art
• Josefina Alvarez on Google's search algorithm
• Joan Lasenby on maths and computer generated movies
• Abigail Kirk on Euler's polyhedron formula

Mathematical heroines of the future!:

• Congratulations to the successful UK team from the Chinese Girl's Mathematical Olympiad
• And good luck to all those entering the inaugural European Girl's Mathematical Olympiad!

And just a few of the other female mathematicians whose work we have enjoyed hearing about (and hope to one day feature on Plus!):

• Irit Dinur, who works on computer science, combinatorics and probabilistically checkable proofs – Dinur's talk was the standout lecture at the ICM 2010
• Dorit Aharovnov, who works on quantum computing – another favourite lecture from the ICM 2010

You can listen to some conversations we've had with female mathematicians about their careers and roles in mathematics (these are podcasts):

• Plus at the International Conference of Women Mathematicians — interviews with female mathematicians from around the world who attended the ICWM in India in 2010.
• European women in mathematics — interviews with delegates of the European Women in Mathematics conference which took place in Cambridge in 2007.

And you can find out more about mathematical heroines past and present at the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive and from Agness Scott College.

Who are your mathematical heroines? Tell us by leaving a comment below!

 

The Cambridge Science Festival is on from March 12 to March 25. We've picked out some maths goodies for you.

• A mathematical look at the Olympics — March 12, 6pm-7pm, Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane
  To prepare competitors and spectators for London 2012, Professor John Barrow casts a mathematical eye over a wide range of Olympic sporting events. A little elementary maths can help us appreciate what is going on in a range of running, swimming, jumping, throwing, paddling, lifting, swinging and wheelchair racing events. He will also examine some of the strange scoring systems that sports employ.
• How fast can Usain Bolt run? — March 24, 12.30pm-1.30pm, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Clarkson Road
  How could Usain Bolt improve his world 100 metres sprint record significantly without improving his speed? How fast should he be able to run? Professor John Barrow answers these and other questions in this talk, which also looks at the mechanics of sprinting and the effects of wind assistance, timing accuracy and altitude on sprint times.
• Hands on maths fair, age 5+ — March 17, 12noon-4pm, The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street and March 24, 12noon-4pm, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Clarkson Road
  Games and puzzles for all ages from the University's Millennium Mathematics Project. Pit your wits against the SOMA cube, tangrams, Auntie's Tea Cups or giant dominoes, and sharpen your strategic reasoning skills!
• Maths of sport pentathlon — March 24, 12noon-4pm, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Clarkson Road
  Explore some of the maths hidden in the Olympic and Paralympic Games! Challenge yourself to complete the Maths of Sport Pentathlon, a series of hands-on mathematical activities focusing on Olympic and Paralympic sports and infrastructure.
• On the shoulders of Eastern giants — March 16, 5pm-6pm, Babbage Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site
  We learn at school that Isaac Newton is the father of modern optics, that Copernicus heralded the birth of astronomy, and that it is Snell's law of refraction. But what is the debt these men owe to the physicists and astronomers of the medieval Islamic Empire? Men such as Ibn al-Haytham, Avicenna, Biruni, Ibn Sahl, al-Tusi and Ibn al-Shatir. In this Andrew Chamblin memorial lecture; Jim Al-Khalili will tell the story of these fascinating characters. You need to pre-book, visit the festival website.
• The wonders of biostatistics — March 17, 10am-4pm, drop in, Old Examination Hall, Free School Lane
  Come and explore with us how biostatistics can be used to improve health. Try our four different activities in which your creativity and thinking abilities will help you to solve the challenges we'll give you!
• Alan Turing and the Enigma cipher — March 22, 8pm-9pm, Babbage Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site
  In the centenary year of Alan Turing's birth, Simon Singh discusses the German Enigma cipher machine and how it was cracked by Alan Turing and the other codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. The lecture will include a demonstration of a genuine working Enigma machine. You need to pre-book, visit the festival website.