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Cantor and Cohen: Infinite investigators part I

What's the nature of infinity? Are all infinities the same? And what happens if you've got infinitely many infinities? In this article Richard Elwes explores how these questions brought triumph to one man and ruin to another, ventures to the limits of mathematics and finds that, with infinity, you're spoilt for choice.
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Andrew Wiles

Fermat's last theorem and Andrew Wiles

Neil Pieprzak tells the fascinating story of Andrew Wiles who, with intense devotion and in secret, proved a deceptively simple-looking conjecture that had defeated mathematicians for almost 400 years.

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Understanding uncertainty: The maths of surprises

You meet an old friend on holiday, you find your colleague shares your birthday, you win the lottery. Exactly how rare are these rare events? David Spiegelhalter investigates in his regular column on uncertainty and risk.
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Editorial

  • I need maths like a carburettor recalibration
  • The 118 188 challenge
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Maths on a plane

Phil Trinh discovers how maths helps solve the mysteries of flight and love.
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The amazing librarian

Josefina Alvarez describes the workings of the most famous search engine of them all. You'll need some linear algebra for this one, but it's worth the while!
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Saving lives: the mathematics of tomography

Not so long ago, if you had a medical complaint, doctors had to open you up to see what it was. These days sophisticated imaging techniques save you the risk and pain of an operation. Chris Budd and Cathryn Mitchell look at the maths that is responsible for these medical techniques, and also for much of the digital revolution.

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Catching primes

The primes are the building blocks of our number system, but there's no general formula that will give you all of them. If you want them, you have to hunt them down one by one. Abigail Kirk investigates a method that does just that.