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Editorial
  • What's in a name?
  • Disaster
Natural frequencies and music
In the first of two articles, David Henwood discusses the vibrations that can be harnessed by musical instrument makers.
Solution to the taxi problem revisited
What a coincidence!
Coincidences are familiar to us all but what are the so-called laws of chance? From coin tossing to freak weather events, Geoffrey Grimmett explains how probability is at the heart of it all.
Dynamic programming: an introduction
The previous feature, "Mathematics, marriage and finding somewhere to eat" investigated the problem of finding the best potential partner from a fixed number of potential partners using a technique known as "optimal stopping". Inevitably, mathematicians and mathematical psychologists have constructed other models of the problem...
Editorial
  • The Dearing report
  • Network capacity problem
  • References
Decoding a war time diary
An account of how a prisoner of war's diary was recently decoded. Donald Hill wrote his diary in a numerical code, disguised as a set of mathematical tables, while in Hong Kong during and after the Japanese invasion of 1941.
Mathematical mysteries: Kepler's conjecture

Sir Walter Raleigh is perhaps best known for laying down his cloak in the mud for Queen Elizabeth I. But, he also started a mathematical quest which to this day remains unsolved.
Coding theory: the first 50 years
Space probes, like NASA's recent Pathfinder mission to Mars, have radio transmitters of only a few watts, but have to transmit pictures and scientific data across hundreds of millions of miles without the information being completely swamped by noise. Read about how coding theory helps.
Puzzle No. 3 - birth dates
Puzzle page
Never forget your mum's birthday
Solution to Puzzle No. 2 - carnivorous beetles