Mathematics topics

Mathematics in science
Click here for a list of information boxes that show how mathematics is used in science.

Sponsored by:

the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

A quiet revolution – the science of complex systems
If you haven't heard of complex systems don't worry, you are not the only one. Scientists have been quietly puzzling over the complex interactions that define so many things in our world.

Sponsored by:

ARC Complex Open Systems Research Network

Predicting natural events
The study of thresholds and pattern dynamics may be a key to unlocking our understanding of catastrophic climate change and other types of complex systems.

Sponsored by the Sir Mark Oliphant International Frontiers of Science and Technology Conference Series, funded by the Australian Government under the International Science Linkages programme.

Ethnomathematics – a rich cultural diversity
Advocates of ethnomathematics say it is helping different cultures to understand each other.

Sponsored by:

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

Sponsored by:

Fatal impact – the physics of speeding cars
Recent studies show that driving even a few kilometres per hour above the speed limit greatly increases the risk of an accident.

Calendars – keeping track of time
No matter which side you're on in the debate about when the new millennium begins, you'll find the history of the Western calendar fascinating.

Sponsored by:

Australian university mathematical
sciences departments the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

Stock markets – putting your money where your math is
Unlocking the secret ‘codes’ of the stock market with some simple mathematics will help you understand the way our free-market economy operates.

Sponsored by:

the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

Good prospects ahead for data mining
Using simple statistics and some sophisticated computational techniques, data miners are quarrying our vast reserves of raw data for little gems of knowledge.

Sponsored by:

Australian university mathematical sciences departments the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

Can we count on your vote?
There are almost as many different voting systems in the world as there are elected assemblies. The one thing they all have in common is their reliance on mathematics to calculate the results.

Sponsored by:

Australian university mathematical sciences departments the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

Calculating the threat of tsunami
On 26 December 2004, an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale created a tsunami that led to the deaths of over 289,000 people living in coastal villages in Asia and Africa. Scientists have made important advances towards predicting tsunami by combining mathematics, geology and physics.

Sponsored by:

the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

When the numbers just don't add up
Mathematics and statistics provide essential information for the operation of today's technocratic society. But beware: numbers can be fudged!

Sponsored by:

Australian university mathematical sciences departments the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

Measurement in sport – the long and the short of it
When the Olympic Games kick off in Sydney in September 2000, there will be many measures of success. Behind the scenes, a wide range of scientific and technological wizardry will be employed to ensure that those measures are as accurate as possible.

Sponsored by:

the Australian Government's National Innovation Awareness Strategy

Zeroing in on nothing (in Calendars – keeping track of time)

Kangaroo counting (in Is Australian wildlife fair game?)

Estimating population size and density (in A plague on the pest – rabbit calicivirus disease and biological control)

Binary numbers (in Communicating with light – fibre optics)

Chances and risks (in The bitter-sweet taste of toxic substances)

The mathematics of reserve systems (in Australia's threatened species)

The mathematics of hearing (in Cochlear implants – wiring for sound)

Eliminating the zeroes (in Harnessing direct solar energy – a progress report)

What is modelling? (in Enhanced greenhouse effect – a hot international issue)

Exponential growth (in Population and environment – what's the connection?)

Technology

The Commonwealth Bank Foundation is the principal sponsor of Nova: Science in the news. The Australian Foundation for Science is also a supporter of Nova.