Articles

Editorial
  • Plus looks different! - Redesigning the website

  • Beauty is truth, truth beauty - The aesthetics of mathematics

  • Readers' corner - Rolling with money revisited: The Pyramid Puzzle
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Beckham in his prime numberThe number chosen by the England captain for his Real Madrid shirt is rich in mysterious connotations. But mathematician Marcus du Sautoy backs a new theory to explain why Beckham has plumped for number 23.
Careers in, and with, maths
Outer space: Independence DayHuman beings are famously prone to error, and proof-readers are, after all, only human. But who picks up the errors a proof-reader misses? John D. Barrow challenges readers to estimate the errors that aren't found from the errors that are.
Plus Magazine
Editorial
  • Optional maths - should students be able to give up maths at age 14?
  • Outer space - In what will now be a regular feature, mathematician and cosmologist John D. Barrow shares some maths that's amused and intrigued him.
  • Readers' corner- More Strange activities for last issue's Ship of Fools!
Andrew Wiles
How maths can make you rich and famous: Part IIOne million dollars is waiting to be won by anyone who can solve one of the grand mathematical challenges of the 21st century. In the second of two articles, Chris Budd looks at the well-posedness of the Navier-Stokes equations.
The crystal ballIf you had a crystal ball that allowed you to see your future, what would you arrange differently about your finances? Plus talks to the Government Actuary, Chris Daykin about the pensions crisis, and how actuaries use statistical and modelling techniques to plan for all our futures.
A whirlpool of numbersThe Riemann Hypothesis is probably the hardest unsolved problem in all of mathematics, and one of the most important. It has to do with prime numbers - the building blocks of arithmetic. Nick Mee, together with Sir Arthur C. Clarke, tells us about the patterns hiding inside numbers.
Model behaviourTo study a system, mathematicians begin by identifying its most crucial elements, and try to describe them in simple mathematical terms. As Phil Wilson tells us, this simplification is the essence of mathematical modelling.
Editorial
  • Stats in court
  • Letter from a mathematician
How maths can make you rich and famousOne million dollars is waiting to be won by anyone who can solve one of the grand mathematical challenges of the 21st century. But be warned...these problems are hard. In the first of two articles, Chris Budd explains how to hit the bigtime.
  • Maths in a minute

    Want facts and want them fast? Our Maths in a minute series explores key mathematical concepts in just a few words.

  • Chocolate and mayonnaise
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    What do chocolate and mayonnaise have in common? It's maths! Find out how in this podcast featuring engineer Valerie Pinfield.

  • From clicks to chords
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    Is it possible to write unique music with the limited quantity of notes and chords available? We ask musician Oli Freke!

  • The lungs of the Earth

    How can maths help to understand the Southern Ocean, a vital component of the Earth's climate system?

  • SBIDER Presents: Shining a light on COVID modelling
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    Was the mathematical modelling projecting the course of the pandemic too pessimistic, or were the projections justified? Matt Keeling tells our colleagues from SBIDER about the COVID models that fed into public policy.

  • Mathematical snapshots: Daniel Kreuter

    PhD student Daniel Kreuter tells us about his work on the BloodCounts! project, which uses maths to make optimal use of the billions of blood tests performed every year around the globe.