News from the world of maths: Say hello to Plus!

As part of the Cambridge Science Festival, the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (home of Plus) is having an open day on Saturday 24 March.

You can come and meet some of the Cabridge mathematicians who work on everything from gravity and black holes to climate change, disease dynamics and how bacteria swim. There will be hands-on activities, demonstrations, computer models and displays share some of the wonders of mathematics and theoretical physics. And the Plus team will be there so come and say hello to us at the MMP stand!

When: Saturday 24th March 2007, 12.00 - 4.00 pm
Where: Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Clarkson Road, Cambridge
No booking required - drop in throughout the day. Limited on-site parking is available - the CMS car park is on Wilberforce Road, off Madingley Road. The Maths Cafe will be open from 12 noon until 3.30pm serving tea, coffee, soft drinks, sandwiches and snacks.

And while you there, why not catch one of these talks. No ticket is necessary, just turn up in good time to secure a seat.

CURVED SURFACES - Popular lecture by Prof Alan Beardon.

Every point of an orange can be in contact with a table top; why is the same not true of a banana? Why is it more difficult to wrap a football in paper than it is to wrap a box in paper? How do we represent the curved surface of the earth on a flat piece of paper? How do we navigate around the surface of the earth?

Saturday 24th March 2007, 12.15 - 1.15 pm

AVALANCHE! - Popular lecture by Dr Jim McElwaine

More than a million avalanches happen throughout the world every year. Most fall harmlessly, but the largest can destroy whole towns and kill thousands. This non-technical multimedia talk describes one mathematician's efforts to understand snow avalanches, from investigating disasters in the Japanese mountains to dropping half a million ping-pong balls down a ski jump.

Saturday 24th March 2007, 2.00 - 3.00 pm