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Universal pictures

Peter Markowich is a mathematician who likes to take pictures. At first his two interests seemed completely separate to him, but then he realised that behind every picture there is a mathematical story to tell. Plus went to see him to find out more, and ended up with a pictorial introduction to partial differential equations.
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Maths, madness and movies

In the movies mathematicians are mostly mad. Since here at Plus we firmly believe in our sanity, we're puzzled as to why. So we charged Charlotte Mulcare with the unenviable task of sifting through five well-known maths movies and speculate towards an answer.
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Cantor and Cohen: Infinite investigators part I

What's the nature of infinity? Are all infinities the same? And what happens if you've got infinitely many infinities? In this article Richard Elwes explores how these questions brought triumph to one man and ruin to another, ventures to the limits of mathematics and finds that, with infinity, you're spoilt for choice.
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Maths on a plane

Phil Trinh discovers how maths helps solve the mysteries of flight and love.
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The amazing librarian

Josefina Alvarez describes the workings of the most famous search engine of them all. You'll need some linear algebra for this one, but it's worth the while!
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Saving lives: the mathematics of tomography

Not so long ago, if you had a medical complaint, doctors had to open you up to see what it was. These days sophisticated imaging techniques save you the risk and pain of an operation. Chris Budd and Cathryn Mitchell look at the maths that is responsible for these medical techniques, and also for much of the digital revolution.

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Understanding uncertainty: The maths of surprises

You meet an old friend on holiday, you find your colleague shares your birthday, you win the lottery. Exactly how rare are these rare events? David Spiegelhalter investigates in his regular column on uncertainty and risk.