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1729 - The first taxicab number

1729 is the smallest number you can write as the sum of two cubes, in two different ways.

20 Sep 2005,·14 mins

G - The number that defines the universe

Newton's equation of gravity includes a number G, indicating the strength of gravitation.

13 Sep 2005,·14 mins

Six degrees of separation

Six is often treated as 2x3, but has many characteristics of its own.

06 Sep 2005,·14 mins

Two - At the double

Doubling is a form of exponential growth, which appears in population growth and inflation

30 Aug 2005,·14 mins

One - The most popular number

One is the most popular number, as it appears more often than any other number.

23 Aug 2005,·14 mins

Game Theory

When 3G phone licences were sold, game theory was used to boost proceeds for the Treasury.

31 Oct 2003,·14 mins

Kepler's Conjecture

Is the 'face-centred cubic lattice' the most efficient way of stacking spheres?

30 Oct 2003,·14 mins

The Largest Prime

Can large prime numbers be used to form the basis of more secure encryption codes?

29 Oct 2003,·14 mins

The Number Seven

Are 7 shuffles sufficient to achieve a good degree of randomness in a deck of 52 cards?

28 Oct 2003,·14 mins

The Number Four

Are 4 colours enough to paint any map, so neighbouring countries have different colours?

27 Oct 2003,·14 mins

Infinity

Georg Cantor defined infinity as the size of the never-ending list of counting numbers.

15 Mar 2002,·14 mins

The Imaginary Number

If the square root of +1 is both +1 and -1, then what is the square root of -1?

14 Mar 2002,·14 mins

The Golden Ratio

The ratio of consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci is close to 1.618, the Golden Ratio.

13 Mar 2002,·14 mins

Pi

At its simplest, Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

12 Mar 2002,·14 mins

Zero

Strangely, 'nothing' had to be invented, and then it took thousands of years to catch on.

11 Mar 2002,·14 mins