geometry

Weird and wonderful things can happen when you set a ball in motion on a billiard table — and the theory of mathematical billiards has recently seen a breakthrough.

A fly on the ceiling inspired the coordinate system you might remember from school.

From trigonometry to waves.

If a shape has equal sides with 90 degree angles between them then it's a square, right? Well, not quite...

How big is the bird?

Viazovska is only the second woman to receive a Fields Medal, for her ground-breaking proof to a problem we're all familiar with.

Maryna Viazovska has won one of this year's Fields Medals for a ground-breaking result in the theory of sphere packings.

Flying a plane on a secret mission? Some basic geometry can help you avoid being captured by an adversary.

When it comes to doing maths, a picture can be worth a thousand equations.

A beautiful argument to show that all parabolae are similar.

Some basic trigonometry can deliver vital evidence from the scene of a crime.

The beautiful rose curve has an odd pattern to the number of its petals – this student and teacher team explain why...

  • Want facts and want them fast? Our Maths in a minute series explores key mathematical concepts in just a few words.

  • What do chocolate and mayonnaise have in common? It's maths! Find out how in this podcast featuring engineer Valerie Pinfield.

  • Is it possible to write unique music with the limited quantity of notes and chords available? We ask musician Oli Freke!

  • How can maths help to understand the Southern Ocean, a vital component of the Earth's climate system?

  • Was the mathematical modelling projecting the course of the pandemic too pessimistic, or were the projections justified? Matt Keeling tells our colleagues from SBIDER about the COVID models that fed into public policy.

  • PhD student Daniel Kreuter tells us about his work on the BloodCounts! project, which uses maths to make optimal use of the billions of blood tests performed every year around the globe.