Articles

The holographic principle

Over the last few decades physicists have been developing a curious idea. Perhaps the world we inhabit is a hologram, lacking a crucial feature of the world as we perceive it: the third dimension.

Maths in a minute: Mathematical models

A basic introduction to the most powerful tools in science and engineering.

e for exponentialAt the beginning of an epidemic the number of infected people grows exponentially. But why does the number e appear in descriptions of this growth?
What is the generation time of a disease?

To work out how a disease will spread you need to know the time between infections.

How can maths fight an epidemic?

How can we use mathematics to model the spread of a disease?

The doubling time of a disease

The doubling time of a disease is the time it takes for the number of cases of the disease to double. How do you calculate it?

The growth rate of a disease

What is the growth rate and what does it tell us about an epidemic?

R and herd immunity

What is herd immunity and what does it have to do with a number called R?

Maths in a minute: Algorithms

The word "algorithm" has probably got more usage over the last few years than it has in its entire history. But what exactly is an algorithm?

Maths in a minute: Exponential growth

What do we mean when we say that something grows exponentially?

Maths in a minute: Conditional probability

Find out why the formula we use to work out conditional probabilities is true!

New understanding of a neglected disease

New research reported at this year's Black Heroes of Mathematics conference is changing lives around the world.