Code-breakers, doughnuts and violins

The BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) is a nation-wide organisation dedicated to connecting science with people and promoting openness about science in society. It organises Science Week (11-20 March 2005) and an annual Festival of Science, which was hosted this year by the University of Exeter. Mathematics was well represented at this year’s Festival, with an exhibition of mathematical art, the launch of the National Cypher Challenge, and a morning of fascinating lectures on the Clay Institute Millennium Problems. The three ‘Million Dollar Maths’ problems covered were P vs. NP, the Riemann Hypothesis, and the Poincaré Conjecture.

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This article has been reprinted in the February 2005 issue of Mathematics Today (vol.47, no.1), the magazine of The Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications (IMA). Download pdf