In this newsletter:

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

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Latest news from Plus 

Machine prose - a computer program that can learn languages
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/may-aug05/adios/index.html

A new time machine - take a journey to the end of common sense
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/may-aug05/timetravel/index.html


Plus... more news from the world of maths

Close to home 
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#planetathome

Luck comes in pairs
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#lottery

The peadiatrician's fallacy 
http://www.plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr05/plusmore35/index.html#prosecuter


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Browse with Plus

Why I will ever have a girlfriend?

Even though mathematicians are amongst the most attractive people on earth, 
some of them - amazingly - still haven't found the right partner. But this 
is not really that surprising, according to Tristan Miller, who has 
constructed a mathematically "rigorous" proof for why it's really next to 
impossible to find true love. Have a look at this website to read the 
article and to apply to be his girlfriend.

http://www.nothingisreal.com/girlfriend/



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Mathematical moments

Pierre Joseph Louis Fatou - Born 28 Feb 1878 in Lorient, France
                            Died 10 Aug 1929 in Pornichet, France
                            

Fatou is known to mathematicians and fractal lovers today because his name 
is attached to one of the fundamental objects in complex iteration theory. 
Given a function f(z) of the complex plane, you can create a dynamical 
system by iterating it: take a point, z say, put it in to get f(z), then 
put that in to get f(f(z)), etc, etc. Every time you apply the function, 
each point of the plane gets moved somewhere else, and you can attempt to 
follow that movement. If the function is what's called "rational", then the 
plane gets divided up into two mutually exclusive sets. On one of them, 
called the "Julia set" the behaviour of the points is unpredictable, or 
chaotic. These sets are the beautifully intricate fractals many of you will 
have seen. On the other set, the behaviour is "nice" - and this is called 
the Fatou set. Fatou and Gaston Julia, after whom the Julia set is named, 
worked on iterated function theory simultaneously but independently. They 
both wanted to contend for the 1918 Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences 
with their work, but Fatou did not apply when he heard that there were 
problems concerning who did what first. Apart from mathematics, Fatou also 
did some important work on astronomy, in particular on planetary orbits.

You can read more about Fatou on the MacTutor website:
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Fatou.html

and find out about Julia and Fatou sets and even draw your own on the Julia 
and Mandelbrot Set Explorer: 
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/julia/explorer.html

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Live maths

Einstein and Colour

Science and art have been brought together by Frank Pohlmann in this 
exhibition which opens in London on the 15th of August. Pohlmann has 
brought together time, space and colour in a way that allows the visitor to 
travel through time and to enter Einstein's world. Admission is free. Visit 
http://www.candidarts.com/ for further details.
 
When: 15th - 28th of August 2005
Where: Candid Arts Gallery, 3 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ


Simon Singh's Further Five Numbers

A new series called "Further Five Numbers" by the acclaimed writer and 
journalist Simon Singh will start on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 23 August at 
9.30am. This is a continuation of the series "Five numbers" and "Another 
five numbers" in which Simon explored (surprise, surprise) ten numbers, 
including zero and pi. You can listen to the program on the good old radio 
or online at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/

where you can also access the previous two series.

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Publications

The Code Book

An interactive CD-Rom version of Simon Singh's "Code Book" is now available 
as a FREE download on his website http://www.simonsingh.com. To find out 
more before you download, read the Plus review of the CD-Rom in issue 26: 
http://plus.maths.org/issue26/reviews/cd1/



Infinity

Tarquin publications has published the first issue of a new quarterly 
mathematics magazine called "Infinity", aimed at students and professional 
mathematicians alike. It contains puzzles and activities as well as 
"stimulating original articles from a huge range of contributors". Infinity 
is not free, but for those with some money to spend it's well worth having 
a look at the website.

http://www.tarquinbooks.com/



Happy reading from the Plus team!

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