Articles

  • article

    The right spin: how to fly a broken space craft

    On the 25th of May 1997 a dramatic collision tore a hole into the space station Mir and sent it hurtling through space. As NASA astronaut Michael Foale tells Plus, the fate of Mir and its crew hinged on a classical set of equations.
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    Graphical Methods II: The return of the slime

    In last issue's Graphical methods I Phil Wilson used maths to predict the outcome of a cold war in slug world. In this self-contained article he looks at slug world after the disaster: with only a few survivors and all infra-structure destroyed, which species will take root and how will they develop? Graphs can tell it all.
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    Editorial

    • Plus new writers award - Maths is the language of the universe, so what have you got to say?
    • Reader's corner - 6174 and other mysterious numbers.
    • World Cup maths - How Plus can help you with your football.
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    The power of groups

    Groups are some of the most fundamental objects in maths. Take a system of interacting objects and strip it to the bone to see what makes it tick, and very often you're faced with a group. Colva Roney-Dougal takes us into their abstract world and puzzles over a game of Solitaire.
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    Anything but square: from magic squares to Sudoku

    Get on a commuter train these days and you can virtually see people's brains crunching away at filling the numbers from 1 to 9 into a square grid. As the Sudoku craze shows no sign of slowing, Hardeep Aiden investigates its relatives and predecessors.
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    Symmetry rules

    Everyone knows what symmetry is, and the ability to spot it seems to be hard-wired into our brains. Mario Livio explains how not only shapes, but also laws of nature can be symmetrical, and how this aids our understanding of the universe.
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    Mysterious number 6174

    6174 is a very mysterious number. Yutaka Nishiyama explains why, and how beautiful mathematical oddities can inspire us to discover new mathematics.
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    Editorial

    • What motivates mathematics?
    • Win glory and more as a Plus author!
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    Graphical methods I: Slug wars

    To arm or to disarm? This is the question in Phil Wilson's article, which explores the maths behind a cold war in slug world.