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
New largest prime discovered! - 7.8 million digits down, only 2.2
million more needed!
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/mersenne42/index.html
Clever coiling - Maths may have the answer to why helices are so
common in nature.
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/helix/index.html
Plus... more news from the world of maths
- A mathematical argument for road rage
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#traffic
- Plus readers laugh last
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#jokes
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Browse with Plus
Mike Keith's World of Words and Numbers
Are you a mathematical genius without a conjecture to prove? Or a musician
without inspiration? A poet in need of a challenge? Or even a mystic in
search of a hidden message? Then Mike Keith's World of Words and Numbers
might have the answer for you. Apart from listing conjectures based on
integers such as Fermat's last Theorem, it shows how to let maths
compose your music for you (with a chance to listen) and how to write
poetry constrained by combinatorial rules. For the prophets, there's
all about the number 666, and hidden patterns in Pi, including a lady.
http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/mikehome.html
More on these subjects from Plus:
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#MATHEMATICS%20AND%20MUSIC
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#FERMAT'S%20LAST%20THEOREM
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#PI
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Mathematical moments
William of Ockham - Born 1288, Ockham, England, died 9 April 1348,
Munich, Germany.
William of Ockham is best remembered today for the principle Ockham's
razor - that the simplest explanation is often the best - translated
by some as "Keep it simple, stupid". This principle often guides
scientists to look for the simplest model with the least
assumptions to explain the observed phenomena. Ockham produced work in
philosophy and made significant contributions to mathematical logic, some of
which became important hundreds of years later in the 20th century.
His teaching in physics lead him to be charged as a heretic by the
church, but he was finally excommunicated for denouncing Pope John
XXII.
"It is vain to do with more what can be done with less."
or
"Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." - Ockham stating
the principle that has become known as Ockham's Razor.
Read more about William of Ockham...
from the Mactutor History of Mathematics site:
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Ockham.html
from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Ockham
and about logic from Plus:
http://plus.maths.org/indices/topic_urls.html#LOGIC
http://plus.maths.org/indices/keyword_urls.html#LOGIC
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Live maths
How I became a boson - In 2007 the Large Hadron Collider will start up
at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. Its
experimental programme will include a hunt for the elusive Higgs (or
Higgs boson, to give it its full name), an as-yet undiscovered
particle, whose existence was predicted, 40 years ago, to be
associated with a mechanism for generating elementary particle
masses. Professor Peter Higgs will describe how he came to be a
theoretical physicist and will outline the influences on his thinking
that led to his prediction in 1964.
When: Wednesday 13th April 2005, 7.00 - 8.30 pm
Where: The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS
For tickets and further information visit the Royal Institution
website http://www.rigb.org/rimain/calendar/detail.jsp?&id=140
Happy reading from the Plus team!
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