Search

...system of calculation. The word comes from Latin, in which ‘calculus’ means ‘stone’ – the link is in the use of stones for counting. The calculus of infinitesimals became so overwhelmingly important compared to other types of calculus that the word ‘calculus’, used alone, is now always understood to refer to it. An ‘infinitesimal’ was regarded as an...

...think about the zoom a camera can offer you. However, whilst the structure is enlarged, it might become blurry and you can’t see the details. The ability of being able to separate two neighbouring objects in an image is described with the term resolution (i.e. the two objects can be resolved; they do not appear as a single object). You might be familiar with the concept...

...system of units based on multiples of ten...Maths is intimately entwined with science and technology, whether it is used to analyse data collected on plants in the Amazon rainforest, to calculate the trajectory of a comet or design a bridge to connect two countries. This means that science and technology go hand-in-hand with maths, and that a firm grasp of maths is...

...thinking that the danger was over. This was a fatal action, as during the next few hours several more tsunami waves arrived, up to 6 m high. The third and fourth waves caused massive destruction, washing more than 500 m inland and killing 11 people. The waves overturned cars (see Figure 1), moved and destroyed houses and sank boats in the harbour. The tsunami also caused...