The paths of billiard balls on a table can be long and complicated. To understand them mathematicians use a beautiful trick, turning tables into surfaces.

At the Hewlett Packard campus in Bristol, a group of keen researchers are bringing together the worlds of advanced mathematics and fine art. Kona Macphee investigates.

Whatever is so wonderful about point B that makes all the people at point A want to get there? Robert Hunt sits at point C, and muses on the problem.