irrational number
This issue of Plus is largely a matter of chance. We find an almighty coincidence and try to model it, explore whether statistical media headlines illuminate or mislead, and try to get our head around league tables. On a more certain note, we examine string theory, which many people think explains everything, look back at one of the greatest mathematical works ever written, and try to pin down the number five.
In the fourth and final part of our series celebrating 300 years since Leonhard Euler's birth, we let Euler speak for himself. Chris Sangwin takes us through excerpts of Euler's algebra text book and finds that modern teaching could have something to learn from Euler's methods.
For millennia, puzzles and paradoxes have forced mathematicians to continually rethink their ideas of what proofs actually are. Jon Walthoe explains the tricks involved and how great thinkers like Pythagoras, Newton and Gödel tackled the problems.
Outer space: How to beat that photocopier
