Articles

Article

Maths in a minute: "R nought" and herd immunity

What is herd immunity and what does it have to do with a number called R₀?

News story

Taking the pandemic temperature

How do people in different countries feel about the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by their governments?

News story

A call to action on COVID-19

An urgent call has gone out to the scientific modelling community to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Two Cambridge mathematicians are helping to lead the charge.

Article

Maths in a minute: Voronoi diagrams

We look at a crafty mathematical device which, among other things, has helped people understand what causes cholera.

Article

How can maths fight a pandemic?

How do mathematical models of COVID-19 work and should we believe them? We talk to an epidemiologist, who has been working flat out to inform the government, to find out more.

Article

Maths in a minute: Social distancing

How should people arrange themselves for maximal socialising at a safe distance?

Article

Myths of maths: The Monty Hall problem

This puzzle is famous because the accepted answer is counter-intuitive. But is it always correct?

Article

Myths of maths: The four colour theorem

It's one of mathematics' most famous results: every "map" can be coloured using at most four colours. What it doesn't usually apply to, however, are real maps.