Articles

Maths in a minute: Asymptotic expansions

Approximating a function with a divergent series.

The power of small things: Resurgent asymptotics

If you ignore exponentially small terms they can come back to bite you.

Stokes's phenomenon: An asymptotic adventure

How a question about rainbows led to an entire field of mathematics.

Maths in a minute: Maths and music

Explore the connections between maths and music!

The unity of mathematics: a meeting in honour of Sir Michael Atiyah

Mathematicians from across maths and physics and around the world gathered to celebrate Sir Michael Atiyah.

Winter is coming: Where are we going?

What can we expect from the pandemic this winter and autumn?

On the road to dark energy (with chameleons)

We may be a little closer to a direct detection of dark energy thanks to a new result that came about, in a sense, by accident.

Black Heroes of Mathematics 2021

This inspiring conference featured speakers from Africa, the US, the Caribbean and the UK. Here are some highlights.

Keeping people safe at large events

How can sporting events, concerts, or festivals be kept safe in the face of rising COVID-19 infections?

Maths in a Minute: Category theory

A quick introduction to an abstract concept that's useful in anything from genetics to cosmology.

Maths in a Minute: The wagon wheel effect

Have you ever noticed the strange phenomenon of wheels appearing to move backwards while the vehicle is moving forwards? Aadit Jain explains why!

Opening the black box

The organisers of a new INI programme explain why we need to know more about the maths behind machine learning and deep neural networks.

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

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

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

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

  • 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.

  • 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.