The Plus New Writers Award 2006: the competition issue

Outer space: How to beat that photocopier

Runner up in the general public category. Great minds spark controversy. This is something you'd expect to hear about a great philosopher or artist, but not about a mathematician. Get ready to bin your stereotypes as Rebecca Morris describes some controversial ideas of the great mathematician David Hilbert.

How to keep up the suspense

In the last article of this three-part series, Phil Wilson shows how simple graphs can tell you a lot about the economy — and not only in Slugworld.

What does a mathematician from the 3rd century BC have to do with tuning musical instruments in 17th century Europe? Benjamin Wardhaugh tells us about one of the more unusual places you might find Euclid's algorithm being used.

What goes up must come down — or does it? Find out how to cheat gravity with Julian Havil.

You've probably seen pictures of the famed Mandelbrot set and its mysterious cousins, the Julia sets. In this article Robert L. Devaney explores the maths behind these beauties and shows that they're loaded with mathematical meaning.

Learn about the aerodynamics of footballs and perfect your free kick.