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From a random world to a rational universe
In the time before the mathematical idea of randomness was discovered, people thought that everything that happened was part of the will of supernatural beings. So have things changed?
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Maths in the Victorian classroom
What was it like to learn maths at school in the Victorian period? We visited the British Schools Museum in Hitchin to find out.
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The four colour theorem
The Four Colour Conjecture was first stated just over 150 years ago, and finally proved conclusively in 1976. It is an outstanding example of how old ideas can be combined with new discoveries. prove a mathematical theorem.
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The development of algebra - 1
This is the first of a two part series of articles on the history
of Algebra from about 2000 BCE to about 1000 CE.
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The development of algebra - 2
This is the second article in a two part series on the history of Algebra from about 2000 BCE to about 1000 CE.
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The history of trigonometry- part 1
The first of three articles on the History of Trigonometry. This takes us from the Egyptians to early work on trigonometry in China.
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History of trigonometry - part 2
The second of three articles on the History of Trigonometry.
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Ancient astronomical terms
Some explanations of basic terms and some phenomena discovered by
ancient astronomers
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History of trigonometry - part 3
The third of three articles on the History of Trigonometry.
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The dangerous ratio
This article for pupils and teachers looks at a number that even the great mathematician, Pythagoras, found terrifying.
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Women in maths
Most stories about the history of maths seem to be about men. Here are some famous women who contributed to the development of modern maths and prepared the way for generations of female mathematicians.
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The history of negative numbers
This article -useful for teachers and learners - gives a short
account of the history of negative numbers.
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A brief history of time measurement
Noticing the regular movement of the Sun and the stars has led to a desire to measure time. This article for teachers and learners looks at the history of humanity's need to measure things.
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Randomness and Brownian Motion
In Classical times the Pythagorean philosophers believed that all things were made up from a specific number of tiny indivisible particles called ‘monads’. Each object contained a different number of particles, and so they believed that ‘everything was number’.