Articles

Saving lives: the mathematics of tomographyNot so long ago, if you had a medical complaint, doctors had to open you up to see what it was. These days they have a range of sophisticated imaging techniques at their disposal, saving you the risk and pain of an operation. Chris Budd and Cathryn Mitchell look at the maths that isn't only responsible for these medical techniques, but also for much of the digital revolution.
Catching primes The primes are the building blocks of our number system, but there's no general formula that will give you all of them. If you want them, you have to hunt them down one by one. Abigail Kirk investigates a method that does just that.
Alan Turing: ahead of his timeAlan Turing is the father of computer science and contributed significantly to the WW2 effort, but his life came to a tragic end. Stefan Kopieczek explores his story.
A glimpse of Cantor's paradisePeter Macgregor explores the beautiful world of the infinite.
Outer space: Venn you can't use VennWhen the famous diagram fails
Number crunching antsLiz Newton finds that having a small brain doesn't stop you doing great things.
Fermat's last theorem and Andrew WilesNeil Pieprzak tells the fascinating story of Andrew Wiles who, with intense devotion and in secret, proved a deceptively simple-looking conjecture that had defeated mathematicians for almost 400 years.
If we all go for the blondeJosé-Manuel Rey revisits a scene of the film A beautiful Mind.
Maths on a planePhil Trinh discovers how maths helps solve the mysteries of flight and love.
Understanding uncertainty: The maths of surprisesYou meet an old friend on holiday, you find your colleague shares your birthday, you win the lottery. Exactly how rare are these rare events? David Spiegelhalter investigates in his regular column on uncertainty and risk.
Editorial
  • I need maths like a carburettor recalibration
  • The 118 188 challenge
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