By David Shaw, 12 April 2018
It’s that time of year again! The winner of the Abel prize, mathematics’ answer to the Nobel, has been announced. This year’s winner is Robert Langlands, a mathematician more famous for asking questions than answering them.
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By David Shaw, 4 April 2018
Terri’s just about to leave to go to a party. She’s trying to work out whether to walk or ride her bike. If she walks at a brisk pace of 5 kilometres per hour, she’ll be an hour late. If she rides her bike at 10 kilometres per hour, she’ll be an hour early!
By David Shaw, 21 March 2018
You’ve just received a secret coded message: AD, BA, BH, CE, DB, DI, EF You know it follows a pattern, but can you work out what pair of letters come next?
By David Shaw, 7 March 2018
1936 is a square number. That means you can make it by multiplying a whole number by itself: 1936 = 44 x 44
By David Shaw, 1 March 2018
Late last year, Jonathan Pace’s computer found something special. Jonathan is an electrical engineer who also manages computers for charities, so he has a lot of computers, but this one was nothing out of the ordinary. Except for one thing: the computer was running software from the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
By David Shaw, 16 February 2018
Blood left at a crime scene can tell you a lot about the events. To rewind the clock and look back in time, you just need a ruler and some trigonometry.
By David Shaw, 31 January 2018
What’s the coldest thing in the universe? You may have heard of absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible. But a clever bit of mathematics has shown it might not be possible after all!
By David Shaw, 23 January 2018
What kinds of shapes pack a flat surface with no gaps? Squares are great for floor tiles, and bees stick hexagons together. With a bit of work, you can get any triangle, no matter how stretched, to fit together without gaps. But what about pentagons? These five-sided shapes are awkward, but some types fit together.
By David Shaw, 27 November 2017
You’ll find yourself going a little loopy with this puzzle, but it’s worth unravelling the secret.
By David Shaw, 3 November 2017
Len Choa is a two player game from Thailand. It’s an asymmetric game, which means the two players have different rules to follow. In this game, one player controls a pack of six leopards, and their opponent controls one scary lion!
12 months, 8 issues
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