One of the beautiful things about maths is that every concept is part of a bigger picture — a picture that grows over time, transcends traditional boundaries, and often informs a range of real-world applications. The collections below aim to present some of these mathematical jigsaws by bringing together content exploring specific topics from different perspectives and at varying levels of depth.
Collection

Teacher package: Infinite series

One of the first bits of school maths that gives us a real glimpse of infinity are infinite series: those never-ending sums that may nevertheless add up to a finite number. For this teacher package we've brought together all our articles on these beautiful objects.
Collection
Icon

Science fiction, science fact: reports from the frontiers of physics

What is time? What is space? Are there parallel universes? Join Plus and FQXi on a journey exploring these and many more questions on the frontiers of physics. What do you think is science fiction and what do you think we close to proving are science facts? Find out more about scientific developments in these areas, ask your own questions and debate the answers!
Collection

Teacher package: Logic

In some sense, all of maths should come under the label "logic", but mathematical logic has shown that mathematics isn't entirely logical. Makes sense? If not, then this teacher package may help.
Collection
bauble

The 2010 Plus advent calendar

It's not long until Christmas! To help you pass the time (or ease your nerves if you're stressed), we bring you the Plus advent calendar with a mathsy goody from the Plus archive lurking behind each door. Find out what's behind today's door...

Collection

Teacher package: Mathematics in sport

This teacher package brings together all our articles that have to do with sport, from cricket to football and from the sport itself to sporting architecture and infrastructure.

Collection

Do you know what's good for you: the next microscope

"Mathematics is biology's next microscope, only better." That's what the scientist Joel E Cohen once said of the power of mathematics to revolutionise biology and the biomedical sciences. And he was right. Maths enables scientists to understand complex organisms and diseases, it's crucial in developing sophisticated medical technology and materials, and we can even use it to model our psyche and intelligence. In this sense maths has become a genuine research instrument for biomedical sciences. The insight it gives them are on a par with the revolutionising power of the microscope.

Collection
fields medal

Latest news from the ICM 2010

Journey to the frontiers of maths with Plus as we cover the International Congress of Mathematics in Hyderabad, India
Collection

Do you know what's good for you - what's the best medicine?

How do you judge the risks and benefits of new medical treatments, or of lifestyle choices? With a finite health care budget, how do you decide which treatments should be made freely available on the NHS? Historically, decisions like these have been made on the basis of doctors' individual experiences with how these treatments perform, but over recent decades the approach to answering these questions has become increasingly rational.
Collection

Do you know what's good for you? — The maths of infectious diseases

Infectious diseases hardly ever disappear from the headlines — swine flu is only the last in a long list containing SARS, bird flu, HIV, and childhood diseases like mumps, measles and rubella. If it's not the disease itself that hits the news, then it's the vaccines with their potential side effects. It can be hard to tell the difference between scare mongering and responsible reporting, because media coverage rarely provides a look behind the scenes. So how do scientists reach the conclusions they do?
Collection

Do you know what's good for you - unravelling genetic secrets

One of the greatest advances in the biomedical sciences has been the unravelling of our genetic code. This new understanding sheds light on what makes organisms function and how they are related to each other, helps to combat diseases, and to convict criminals. But it also poses great mathematical challenges: the genetic revolution is an information explosion which can only be tamed using mathematical methods.
Collection

Teacher package: Trigonometry

This teacher package brings together our material on trigonometry, from problems about simple triangles to the wavy behaviour of trig functions.