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algebra

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The Plus anniversary year — A word from the editors

Winner of the general public category. Enormous is the right word: this theorem's proof spans over 10,000 pages in 500 journal articles and no-one today understands all its details. So what does the theorem say? Richard Elwes has a short and sweet introduction.

Tope Omitola looks back at the tragically short but inspiringly productive life of a true original: Evariste Galois.

In issue 29 of Plus, we heard how a simple mathematical equation became the subject of a debate in the UK parliament. Chris Budd and Chris Sangwin continue the story of the mighty quadratic equation.

It isn't often that a mathematical equation makes the national press, far less popular radio, or most astonishingly of all, is the subject of a debate in the UK parliament. However, as Chris Budd and Chris Sangwin tell us, in 2003 the good old quadratic equation, which we all learned about in school, reached these dizzy pinnacles of fame.

A brief look at Emmy Noether's challenging journey to become one of the twentieth century's great mathematicians.

Why is a number with these properties divisible by 11?