Plus Magazine Logo

Help for PLUS-ANNOUNCE Archives


PLUS-ANNOUNCE Archives

PLUS-ANNOUNCE Archives


PLUS-ANNOUNCE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

PLUS-ANNOUNCE Home

PLUS-ANNOUNCE Home

PLUS-ANNOUNCE  January 2008

PLUS-ANNOUNCE January 2008

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Latest news from Plus magazine! - http://plus.maths.org

From:

Marc West <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask]

Date:

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:46:05 +0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (231 lines)

In this newsletter:

* Latest news
* Plus Podcasts
* Mathematical moments
* Browse with Plus
* Live maths
* The Plus New Writers Award

**********

Latest news

2008 Crafoord Prize
One of science's biggest prizes awarded for research into strings and knots
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr08/craaford/index.html?nl=1

Unjamming Traffic
Why traffic jams occur for seemingly no reason
http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr08/cars/index.html?nl=1


**********

Plus Podcasts: Maths On the Move
 
Podcast 6, January 2008: Interdisciplinary Maths, from life on Mars to
cancer development
The role of maths in interdisciplinary science

We talk to four researchers from UCL's centre for mathematics and physics in
the life sciences and experimental biology (COMPLEX) about the role of maths
in such fields as astrobiology, cancer modelling and biology.

Download the file directly at:
http://plus.maths.org/podcasts/PlusPodcastJan08.mp3?nl=1

To subscribe or see a list of all our episodes, go to:
http://plus.maths.org/podcasts/index.html?nl=1
 
Or look up Plus in iTunes.


**********

Mathematical moments

Lodovico Ferrari
Born: 2 Feb 1522, Bologna, Papal States (now Italy)
Died: 5 Oct 1565, Bologna, Papal States (now Italy)

Lodovico Ferrari was an Italian mathematician famed for solving the quartic
equation. Ferrari was born in Bologna and at the age of 14 became the
servant of Gerolamo Cardan, a celebrated Italian Renaissance mathematician,
physician, astrologer and gambler.

Ferrari showed mathematical promise at a young age, and at the age of 20
became a public lecturer in geometry. He was also a player in a great
mathematical controversy of the time - who should get credit for the
development of solutions for the cubic and quartic equations.

The controversy includes another notable mathematician of his day, Nicolo
Fontana Tartaglia. Tartaglia was an Italian mathematician who was the first
to apply mathematics to the investigation of the paths of cannonballs. He
had developed his own solutions to the cubic equations, and when Cardan
heard of this achievement, nagged a reluctant Tartaglia to show him his
work. He succeeded only when he challenged him to a debate and implied that
through his influence he could arrange a potentially lucrative contact with
the governor of Milan. Tartaglia agreed to tell Cardan his method if Cardan
would swear never to reveal it and to only ever write it down in code so
that even if he died, nobody would ever discover it. Cardan agreed to this,
and Tartaglia enigmatically handed over his formula in the form of a poem.

Several years later however, Cardan and Ferrari saw unpublished work by
Scipione del Ferro who had independently devised the same solution as
Tartaglia. This work was dated before the work of Tartaglia, and so they
decided to break their promise and the include Tartaglia's solution in their
published work. Based on Tartaglia's formula, Cardan and Ferrari found
proofs for all cases of the cubic and, more impressively, solved the quartic
equation - this was reportedly largely due to the work of Ferrari.

Tartaglia then started a campaign of public abuse directed at Cardan and
Ferrari, and whilst most of the insults washed off Cardan - who was now
established as the world's leading mathematician - Ferrari wrote to
Tartaglia challenging him to a public debate. Tartaglia however did not
consider Ferrari as worthy of debate - it was Cardan he wanted. Ferrari and
Tartaglia traded insults for over a year until 1548 when Tartaglia received
an offer of a lectureship in Brescia. To establish his credentials for the
post, he was asked to take part in the debate with Ferrari.

Tartaglia was an experienced debater and expected to win. However, by the
end of the first day, it was clear that things were not going his way and
that Ferrari understood the cubic and quartic equations more thoroughly.
Tartaglia decided to flee that night, with victory left to Ferrari.
Ferrari's fame soared and he was inundated with offers of employment,
including a request from the emperor.

Ferrari was appointed tax assessor to the governor of Milan, and after
transferring to the service of the church, retired as a young (aged 42) and
rich man. He moved back to his home town of Bologna and in with his widowed
sister Maddalena. He died in 1565 of white arsenic poisoning, most likely
administered by Maddalena. Maddalena did not grieve at his funeral and
having inherited his fortune, remarried two weeks later. Her new husband
promptly left her with all her fortune and she died in poverty.

For more information on cubic equations:
http://plus.maths.org/issue19/news/prize/index.html?nl=1
http://plus.maths.org/issue7/xfile/index.html?nl=1

And for more on Ferrari:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Ferrari.html?nl=1


**********

Browse with Plus

Computer Science for fun!
http://www.cs4fn.org/

Computer Science is no more about computers than the music industry is about
microphones, and cs4fn brings out the fun side of Computer Science. The
website explores how computer science is about people, solving puzzles,
creativity, changing the future and, most of all, having fun ...

The site contains an online magazine, a news section on what's new in the
world of computer science, and you can follow the metaphoric "maze" within
the site and wander aimlessly from page to page and topic to topic. There is
also an interactive guide to computer science so you can learn what it's all
about.

http://www.cs4fn.org/


**********

Live maths

* A millennium of mathematical puzzles
Speaker: Professor Robin Wilson
Date/Time: 06/02/2008, 1pm and 6pm
Venue:  Barnard's Inn Hall, Gresham College, Holborn London EC1N 2HH
How much: FREE

In the 8th century Alcuin of York described the wolf, goat and cabbage
problem - so did Lewis Carroll over 1000 years later. This lecture looks at
a wide variety of mathematical puzzles that entertained people of all ages
over the intervening period.


* Proving Einstein right!
Speaker: Professor Ian Morison
Date/Time: 21/02/2008, 1pm
Venue: Staple Inn Hall, Gresham College, Holborn London EC1N 2HH
How much: FREE

A gentle introduction to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity discussing
gravitational waves and the curvature of space and how, since 1915,
experiments have been undertaken to test its accuracy. Recent observations
by Jodrell Bank astronomers have shown that Einstein's theory must be at
least 99.95% right!


* From Hilbert's problems to the future
Speaker: Professor Robin Wilson
Date/Time: 27/02/2008, 1pm and 6pm
Venue:  Barnard's Inn Hall, Gresham College, Holborn London EC1N 2HH
How much: FREE

In 1900 the German mathematician David Hilbert presented the mathematical
community with 23 unsolved problems. What were they, and how successful were
attempts to solve them?  100 years later the mathematical world was
presented with seven 'millennium problems'. What are they, and where is
maths heading in the future?


More information on Gresham College can be found on their website:
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/


**********

The Plus New Writers Award

Every year at Plus we hold our maths essay competition, the Plus new
writers award. We want to find people who can bring mathematics to life.
The competition is open to new writers of any age and from any background
who can explain a mathematical topic or application they think the world
needs to know about. The winning entries will be read by an international
audience of over two hundred thousand in the June 2008 issue of Plus, and
the winners will receive an iPod and signed copies of popular maths books
by some of the best science writers today. The closing date is March 31st
2008.

The competition is kindly supported by the Maths, Stats and Operational
Research Network, a Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy, and the
London Mathematical Society. The competition will be judged by three
prominent mathematicians and science writers.

There are three categories: secondary school and sixth form students,
university students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and the general
public.

If you think you can share your passion for maths with the general public,
download your entry pack today and get writing!

For more information and the entry pack, go to:
http://plus.maths.org/competition/?nl=1


**********

Happy reading and a happy new year 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.

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
July 2022
May 2022
March 2022
February 2022
December 2021
November 2021
August 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
December 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
March 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
August 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
December 2017
November 2017
September 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
June 2016
May 2016
March 2016
January 2016
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
March 2014
November 2013
September 2013
August 2013
April 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
March 2012
January 2012
December 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
December 2009
November 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager