Everyday Maths



The Mobius Loop Rollercoaster 3 June 13

Blackpool's Grand National rollercoaster is described as a Mobius Loop, yet you never go upside down. How?

King Richard III 10 May 13

Fifteen 'descendants' of Richard III want a say in where he is buried. What about the rest of us?

How much does it cost to cross the road? 15 March 13

Innocently pressing the button at a pedestrian crossing brings several cars to a halt. What's it cost in wasted petrol?

The Lincoln Index 25 February 13

The Lincoln Index is nothing to do with predicting Oscar winners, but is in fact a neat way of estimating how mistakes there are in a book after proof-reading it.

Introducing…ZEQUALS 18 February 13

The government wants ten year old children to be able to do long division calculations such as 8384 / 27. That might take a less able ten year old almost half a lesson to work out. Much better to have a way of coming up with a good estimate of the right answer – which is where Zequals comes in.

"JURASSIC PARK AND FRACTALS" 6 February 13

Last week, Brady Haran brought a camera to my house and filmed three items for his Youtube channel Numberphile. The first of these went up on Youtube this week.