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Latest news from Plus magazine! - http://plus.maths.org In this newsletter: - Latest news - Browse with Plus - Mathematical moments - Live maths ********** 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 ********** 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 ********** 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 ********** 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! ********** 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.