Latest news from Plus magazine! - http://plus.maths.org
In this newsletter:
- Latest news
- Browse with Plus
- Mathematical moments
- Live maths
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Latest news from Plus
A mathematical mystery begins - Crack codes, solve a mystery and even
win prizes in the University of Southampton's National Cipher
Challenge.
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec04/cipherchallenge04/index.html
How not to catch a sunbeam - Has the precious cargo of the crashed
Genesis mission survived to tell us about the origins of our solar
system?
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec04/genesis/index.html
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Browse with Plus
Atmospheric Optics - If you have ever gazed in wonder at a rainbow or
marvelled at a fiery sunset you will enjoy this beautiful site.
There are many photos of amazing light phenomena, from the everyday to
those events you might never get to see in person, with straight
forward explanations of the physics behind these displays. As the
grey skies momentarily lift, this site has got Plus's eyes skyward
hunting for a real life encounter with these spectacles.
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm
More on the physics of light:
http://plus.maths.org/issue5/qm2/index.html
http://plus.maths.org/issue15/news/refract/
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Mathematical moments
Bernhard Riemann - Born 17 Sep 1826, Germany, died 20 Jul 1866,Italy.
From reading substantial mathematical texts in just days as a
teenager, Riemann always showed brilliance as a mathematician. His
work on geometry provided Einstein with the frame for his ideas on
relativity. And Riemann's only paper on Number theory, published in
1859, contained a conjecture that was to become known as the Riemann
Hypothesis, one of the greatest unsolved problems in mathematics today.
Read more about Bernhard Riemann ...
from the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive:
http://turnbull.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Riemann.html
and about Riemann and his mathematics from Plus:
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#RIEMANN%20HYPOTHESIS
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#RIEMANN%20INTEGRATION
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#RIEMANN%20ZETA%20FUNCTION
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Live maths
The Big Bang: what is it and do we believe it? - Simon Singh tells the
story of the Big Bang theory, from its birth in the 1920s to the
observational evidence that backed it and then clinched it. Simon is
about to publish a new book, "Big Bang", and as well as discussing the
development of this theory Simon will also discuss more generally how
new scientific ideas are invented, developed and adopted.
When: 7.30pm Monday 11th October
Where: Cafe Scientifique, Filmhouse bar, 88 Lothian Rd, Edinburgh
For more information see http://www.cafescientifique.org/edinburgh.htm
or contact [log in to unmask]
Patterns of Beads - Suppose we are all presented with a long string of
beads that come in two colours, red and blue, but there is not
necessarily any 'pattern' to the way they are threaded on the
string. Can we guarantee to find three equally spaced beads of the
same colour? Dr Imre Leader explains how this question leads to some
beautiful mathematics, and some surprising numbers.
When: 5pm Thursday 14th October 2004
Where: Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Clarkson Road, Cambridge
The lecture is free, but by ticket only. For more information see the
MMP web site:
http://mmp.maths.org/events/lecturelist.html
Happy reading from the Plus team!
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