Issue 54 of Plus - http://plus.maths.org/issue54/index.html?nl=0
What are the chances of a monkey accidentally typing the complete works of
Shakespeare? How can maths help reveal the secret of our genetic code? On
what day of the week were you born? And what's a sweet spot? In this issue
we reveal all this and more. Plus we return to our roots with a look at
some intriguing integrals.
In this issue...
* Understanding uncertainty: Infinite monkey business
David Spiegelhalter explains that waiting for an infinite number of monkeys
to produce the complete works of Shakespeare is not just a probabilistic
certainty, it also gives us an insight into how long we can expect to wait
for a rare event to happen.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/risk/index.html?nl=0
* Of pancakes, mice and men
Genes normally evolve by tiny mutations, but every now and then something
more radical occurs and entire genes along a chromosome get flipped.
Understanding gene flipping boils down to solving a problem from pure
maths. Colva Roney-Dougal and Vincent Vatter explain, taking us on a
journey from waiters sorting pancakes, via one of the richest men in the
world, to the genetic similarities of mice and humans.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/features/colvatter/index.html?nl=0
* Intriguing integrals: Part I
What's the integral of x to the power of k? If you're up to speed with your
calculus, you can probably rattle the answer off by heart. But can you
prove it? Chris Sangwin introduces an ingenious method for deriving the
integral from first principles.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/features/sangwin/index.html?nl=0
* Intriguing integrals: Part II
Coming to think of it, is the standard formula for the integral of x to the
power of k really the best one? Chris Sangwin makes an interesting case
that it is not.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/features/sangwin2/index.html?nl=0
* On what day of the week were you born?
Want to impress an audience? Then why not become a lightning calculator by
learning Burkard Polster and Marty Ross' method for working out the day on
which someone was born from their birthday really fast.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/features/polsteross/index.html?nl=0
* Career interview: Scientific data analyst, life science technology
Genomics is one of the fastest moving areas of science and Gavin Harper, a
mathematician and statistician, has put himself right at its centre. He
works for Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a company which is developing new
technology for analysing molecules and sequencing DNA. With 75 employees
from 18 different countries and all sorts of scientific backgrounds,
Gavin's work environment is nothing like the solitary paper-and-pencil
affair traditionally associated with mathematics.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/interview/index.html?nl=0
* Teacher package: Maths and art
Maths is all about patterns and rhythms, so it's no surprise that there's
plenty of maths in art. Whether it's the visual or the performing arts,
maths can be a tool, an inspiration, or simply something that's naturally
contained within the structures and patterns.
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/package/index.html?nl=0
But wait, there's more!
* Eggstreme division
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/puzzle/index.html?nl=0
* Cushioning the blow
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/outerspace/index.html?nl=0
* Stats, damn stats and genetics
http://plus.maths.org/issue54/editorial/index.html?nl=0
**********
Happy reading and a happy Easter from the Plus team! And don't forget that
you can follow Plus on Twitter http://twitter.com/plusmathsorg
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