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A Beautiful Mind  
Erdos-Bacon Numbers  
Wolfskehl Prize  
How To Stack Oranges  
Maths Teaching Crisis 1  
Maths Teaching Crisis 2  
Fields Medallist  
Beale Treasure  
Joy of X  
History of Secrecy  
Sir Martin Rees  
Unsung Heroes  
24 Hours In Vegas  
Mathematical Heroes  
Zambian Eclipse  
1919 Eclipse  
Stars In Whose Eyes?  
Psychology of Magic  
Zimmermann Telegram  
Arab Codebreakers  
Tomorrow's World  
Derren Brown  
Rock Paper Scissors  
 
 


Articles


Over the last few years, I have written articles for newspapers
and magazines. Topics have included cryptography, Fermat's
Last Theorem and the link between Keith Chegwin and
Gwyneth Paltrow
. This section will eventually become an
archive of all my articles, in the meantime there are a few
here to read. Sign-up to the newsletter, and I will let you
know when more material is added.


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Click to see an article about why John Nash was a genius

A Beautiful Mind
Thanks to Sylvia Nasar's book and the Hollywood movie, John Nash is a household name. His battle with schizophrenia is now well known, but what did he do to earn his Nobel Prize? Why was he a mathematical genius?

Erdos-Bacon Numbers
You might have heard of 'six degrees of separation', and you might even have heard of 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon', but what about 'six degrees of Erdos-Bacon'? Read about the hottest party game amongst Hollywood mathematicians.

The Wolfskehl Prize
The story of Fermat's Last Theorem culminated in the award of the Wolfskehl Prize. This is the story of the most famous prize in mathematics and investigates why a German millionaire bequeathed his fortune as reward for the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.

How To Stack Oranges
Prof Thomas Hales at the University of Michigan has cracked a problem that has been puzzling mathematicians for over 400 years - which is the best way to stack oranges? This article outlines some of the debate surrounding Prof Hales' proof and the controversial role of computers in mathematical research.

Mathematics Teaching Crisis
I love mathematics and science, which is why it pains me that the number of people studying these subjects at every level is declining, not just in Britain but also in the rest of Europe and North America. Why? I suspect that the lack of teachers is the critical problem. I am passionate above working towards a solution to this problem, and I have also written a second article on this issue.