In arithmetic series, like 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + … , each term differs from the previous one by a fixed amount. There is a formula for calculating the sum of the first N terms. For geometric series, like 3 + 6 + 12 + 24 + … , each … Continue reading Breaking Weather Records
Month: April 2014
Clothoids Drive Us Round the Bend
The article in this week’s That’s Maths column in the Irish Times ( TM043 ) is about the mathematical curves called clothoids, used in the design of motorways. * * * Next time you travel on a motorway, take heed of the graceful curves and elegant dips and crests of the road. Every twist and … Continue reading Clothoids Drive Us Round the Bend
Rollercoaster Loops
We all know the feeling when a car takes a corner too fast and we are thrown outward by the centrifugal force. This effect is deliberately exploited, and accentuated, in designing rollercoasters: rapid twists and turns, surges and plunges thrill the willing riders. Many modern rollercoasters have vertical loops that take the trains through 360 … Continue reading Rollercoaster Loops
The Predictive Power of Maths
This week, That’s Maths in The Irish Times ( TM042 ) is about the remarkable capacity of mathematics to anticipate physical phenomena that have not yet been observed. The mathematical equations that express the laws of physics describe phenomena seen in the real world. But they also allow us to anticipate completely new phenomena. * … Continue reading The Predictive Power of Maths
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