Articles

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    The mathematics of your next family reunion

    The festive season can only mean one thing... getting together with the family! You might not be able to choose your family, but at least now you'll know exactly what you share in common!
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    Decoding Da Vinci: Finance, functions and art

    Dan Brown in his book, The Da Vinci Code, talks about the "divine proportion" as having a "fundamental role in nature". Brown's ideas are not completely without foundation, as the proportion crops up in the mathematics used to describe the formation of natural structures like snail's shells and plants, and even in Alan Turing's work on animal coats. But Dan Brown does not talk about mathematics, he talks about a number. What is so special about this number?
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    Understanding uncertainty: Visualising probabilities

    Probabilities and statistics: they are everywhere, but they are hard to understand and can be counter-intuitive. So what's the best way of communicating them to an audience that doesn't have the time, desire, or background to get stuck into the numbers? This article explores modern visualisation techniques and finds that the right picture really can be worth a thousand words.
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    Maths behind the rainbow

    Keats complained that a mathematical explanation of rainbows robs them of their magic, conquering "all mysteries by rule and line". But rainbow geometry is just as elegant as the rainbows themselves.
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    Exploding stars clinch Nobel Prize

    Marianne Freiberger

    When Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity he noticed something disturbing. According to his equations, gravity should cause the Universe to contract until it eventually collapses in on itself in a big crunch. This idea jarred with Einstein, so he introduced a repulsive component of gravity into his equations which exactly balanced the attractive one, giving an elegantly static Universe. The term became known as the cosmological constant.

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    mathematical reality
    dark energy
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    cosmological constant
    expansion of the universe
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    A fly walks round a football

    What makes a perfect football? Anyone who plays or simply watches the game could quickly list the qualities. The ball must be round, retain its shape, be bouncy but not too lively and, most importantly, be capable of impressive speeds. We find out that this last point is all down to the ball's surface, the most prized research goal in ball design.
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    Meet the gyroid

    What do butterflies, ketchup, microcellular structures, and plastics have in common? It's a curious minimal surface called the gyroid.
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    Outer space: A very peculiar principle

    If you manage a large organisation, then people will come and go. There are always decisions to make about promoting people, promising newcomers versus experienced middle managers, all of whom are aspiring to move up the corporate ladder. But is it better to promote the least competent rather than the most competent? Some new research suggests that it may be.