In this newsletter:

- Latest news
- Browse with Plus
- Mathematical moments
- Live maths


**********

Latest news from Plus 

Not just knots: the secrets of khipu - counting the Inca way 
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/may-aug05/khipu/index.html

How to measure a million - the risks on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/may-aug05/millionaire/index.html

Spaghetti breakthrough - what happens to bent pasta?
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec05/spaghetti/index.html

Love's a gamble - Mathematicians in search of romantic success
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/sep-dec05/love/index.html

Plus... more news from the world of maths

Weather prediction 
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#hurricane


**********


Browse with Plus

Geometry from the land of the Incas

This site brings together Incan history, music and science in order to 
raise interest in Euclidean geometry. You can explore Inca architecture and 
textile patterns, learn about khipu, and have fun with puzzles, quizzes, 
theorems and proofs. Definitely worth a look!

http://agutie.homestead.com/files/index.html


**********


Mathematical moments

August Ferdinand Moebius - Born 17 Nov 1790, Schulpforta, Saxony (now 
Germany)
                           Died 26 Sept 1868, Leipzig, Germany

What do you get when you take a rectangular piece of paper, give it a twist 
and then glue together the two short sides? Exactly, a Moebius strip. This 
object, interesting because it only has one surface, is the reason why 
Moebius' name is familiar even to non-mathematicians (even though it was 
not actually him, but Johann Benedict Listing who first described it).

Moebius, who spent most of his working life at the University of Leipzig, 
started out by studying law, but soon dropped this in favour of astronomy. 
He did make important contributions to this subject, but working with such 
influential minds as Johann Pfaff and Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss, his 
interest soon got diverted to mathematics. He did important pioneering work 
in geometry and topology and it was in the context of the latter that 
Moebius considered the well-known strip.

His work "Der barycentrische Calcul" became a classic in analytical 
geometry, and in it he laid the foundations of what is now known as 
projective geometry.

Find out more about Moebius, topology and projective geometry by visiting

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mobius.html
http://www.shef.ac.uk/nps/Wurble.html
http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/projective.pdf
http://www.anth.org.uk/NCT/

**********

Live maths

The national cipher challenge

This web-based schools competition, organised by the University of 
Southampton and its partners, kicks off on the 29th of September and runs 
through to the 8th of December. Your task will be to decode eight 
enciphered messages, which pass between the protagonists of a tale of 
espionage set at the dawn of the computer age. You'll be travelling on a 
submarine patrolling the artic ocean, in the company of a code-breaking, 
secret-agent mathematician. Anyone who's under 18 and in full-time 
education can participate. To register, visit 
http://www.cipher.maths.soton.ac.uk/archives/2005/09/welcome_to_the.html


Gresham College Lectures

This October, Gresham College holds four public lectures on maths and 
physics related subjects: "Who invented algebra?" and "Who invented the 
equals sign?" with Professor Robin Wilson on the 10th and 26th 
respectively, and "Einstein and the Universe" and "A Physicist looks at 
Sport" with Professor John D Barrow on the 18th and 25th respectively. All 
the lectures take place in London and are free. For more information and 
the exact addresses, visit http://www.gresham.ac.uk/default.asp


Einstein Year events

Don't forget the Einstein Year! There are various events taking place in 
October across the UK and Ireland, including a musical comedy and an 
exploration of the science in magic and music. To see the full events 
calendar, visit http://www.einsteinyear.org/

Happy reading from the Plus team!

**********

If you received this message you have subscribed yourself to the
PLUS-ANNOUNCE mailing list via our website. If you do not wish to
remain on the list please visit

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=plus-announce&A=1


and follow the instructions to leave the list.

If you have any comments on this newsletter, or Plus Magazine, please
contact us at [log in to unmask] - we are always happy to hear from
our readers!

Feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might be
interested.