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blurry image of people

Friends and strangers

Sometimes a mathematical object can be so big that, however disorderly we make the object, areas of order are bound to emerge. Imre Leader looks at the colourful world of Ramsey Theory.
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Playing the laying a pale egg game

Some birds, including sparrows and herring gulls, lay their eggs so that the last one to come out is a shade or two lighter than the others. You might suppose that laying eggs requires some effort and that the colour of the last egg is a sign of an exhausted mother. But this practice might be of evolutionary advantage.
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train

Model Trains

As customers will tell you, overcrowding is a problem on trains. Fortunately, mathematical modelling techniques can help to analyse the changing demands on services through the day. Tim Gent explains.

Article

Measure for measure

Can you imagine objects that you can't measure? Not ones that don't exist, but real things that have no length or area or volume? It might sound weird, but they're out there. Andrew Davies gives us an introduction to Measure Theory.
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Swirling colours

Maths on the tube

During World Mathematical Year 2000 a sequence of posters were displayed month by month in the trains of the London Underground aiming to stimulate, fascinate - even infuriate passengers! Keith Moffatt tells us about three of the posters from the series.

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Mathematical mysteries: What colour is my hat?

This is a game played between a team of 3 people (Ann, Bob and Chris, say), and a TV game show host. The team enters the room, and the host places a hat on each of their heads. Each hat is either red or blue at random (the host tosses a coin for each team-member to decide which colour of hat to give them). The players can see each others' hats, but no-one can see their own hat.
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Mathematical mysteries: Zeno's Paradoxes

The paradoxes of the philosopher Zeno, born approximately 490 BC in southern Italy, have puzzled mathematicians, scientists and philosophers for millennia. Although none of his work survives today, over 40 paradoxes are attributed to him which appeared in a book he wrote as a defense of the philosophies of his teacher Parmenides.
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Stellar heartbeats

Astronomers have for the first time listened to the heartbeat of a star other than our own Sun.
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Population ex-explosion?

Along with nuclear proliferation and the deteriorating condition of the natural environment, human population growth has become an issue of significant public concern during the past century. With the global population increasing at an ever-accelerating rate, how can the world continue to support its freight of humanity?
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The buzz on bumblebees

The common bumblebee is a familiar visitor to European gardens. At first sight there's nothing particularly remarkable about this small furry interloper, but it has been a source of mathematical controversy for nearly a century.
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Bank notes and a cheque

Rogue trading?

The dangers of trading derivatives have been well-known ever since they were catapulted into the public eye by the spectacular losses of Nick Leeson and Barings Bank. John Dickson explains what derivatives are, and how they can be both risky, and used to reduce risk.