Dictionary of Mathematics 6e Companion Website
Web links
Here is a list of recommended web links, arranged alphabetically by the relevant dictionary entries.
A B C D E F G H K L M N P R S T
abacus
http://totton.idirect.com/abacus/
A description of how one abacus works.
adders
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/boolean2.htm
An article demonstrating how a simple adder works.
analysis of variance
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/312/7044/1472
A description of the analysis and its interpretation in a medical context (subscription).
Archimedean solid
http://www.scienceu.com/geometry/facts/solids/
Links to the thirteen Archimedean solids, which can be manipulated to see the shapes fully.
Archimedean spiral
http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/spiral.htm
An animation showing the Archimedean spiral.
Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/arrow.htm
An illustration of the theorem.
bisection method
http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/1/bisection.3/index.html
An interactive page which demonstrates the method for finding a root of a cubic equation.
blinding
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7259/504
A full discussion of the ethics and principles of blinding in clinical trials (subscription).
bridges of Königsberg
http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=2327
An interactive page in which you can construct your own problem like the bridges of Königsberg.
bubble sort algorithm
http://www.sorting-algorithms.com/bubble-sort
A demonstration of the bubble sort in action.
Buffon’s needle
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/reese/buffon/bufjava.html
A simulation of Buffon's needle experiment.
catenary
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Java/Catenary.html
An interactive exploration of the shape of a catenary.
Central Limit Theorem
http://onlinestatbook.com/stat_sim/sampling_dist/index.html
An applet that lets you define the population and then take multiple samples of different sizes to explore the behaviour of the Central Limit Theorem.
Chalkdust
http://chalkdustmagazine.com/
The Chalkdust website.
Classification Theorem for Surfaces
http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~aar/surgery/zeeman.pdf
A well-illustrated description of some types of surfaces.
compound interest
http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm
A compound interest calculator.
conic
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/ConicFlyer/
An interactive demonstration of a conic section.
control chart
http://www.sqconline.com/control-chart-variables-enter.html
Construct a control chart for your own choice of parameters.
critical path analysis
http://www.mindtools.com/critpath.html
An article including an example of critical path analysis.
cuboctahedron
http://www.scienceu.com/geometry/facts/solids/java/cubeocta.html
A cuboctahedron which can be manipulated to see its shape fully.
discrete Fourier transform
http://www.jhu.edu/signals/fourier2/index.html
A discrete Fourier transform tool in which choosing different options from the signal menu illustrates a number of signals and the approximating function using a specified number of Fourier coefficients.
du Sautoy, Marcus
http://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/~dusautoy/
Marcus du Sautoy’s website at Oxford University.
eccentricity
http://www.math.odu.edu/cbii/calcanim/#defel
Two animations of ellipses with different eccentricities.
equiangular spiral
http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT668/EMAT6680.F99/Erbas/KURSATgeometrypro/related%20curves/related%20curves.html
Animations of related curves, and an interactive manipulation of the spiral in Geometer’s Sketchpad.
Euclid
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Euclid/
A fuller biography of Euclid.
forced oscillations
http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/feschools/waves/shm3.htm
Animations and videos of forced oscillation and resonance.
Four Colour Theorem
https://serendipstudio.org/playground/fourcolor/
A Shockwave file allowing you to create your own map and colour it in, or see an automated solution with no more than four colours. fractal
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/fractals.htm
Examples of colourful fractal images.
Fry, Hannah
https://www.hannahfry.co.uk
Hannah Fry’s official website.
gambler’s ruin
http://probability.ca/jeff/java/gambler.html
A Java applet showing the gambler’s ruin problem.
golden ratio
http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#plants
Shows the golden ratio in biology and the relationship to Fibonacci numbers.
helix
http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/gabardo/Pictures/animation01a.gif
An animation of a helix.
Hilbert, David
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/hilbert/
The 23 mathematical problems of Hilbert.
Hooke’s law
http://webphysics.davidson.edu/applets/animator4/demo_hook.html
An interactive illustration of Hooke’s law.
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
http://astro.unl.edu/naap/pos/animations/kepler.swf
Animation which illustrates all three laws.
Klein bottle
http://www.kleinbottle.com/whats_a_klein_bottle.htm
A fuller description and images of Klein bottles.
Leonardo da Vinci
http://www.mos.org/leonardo/
An online exhibition about da Vinci.
life tables
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Interim+Life+Tables
Gives access to the latest life tables.
magic square
http://www.vtaide.com/png/3x3‐E.htm
An interactive 3 × 3 magic square.
Mersenne prime
http://www.mersenne.org/
Home page of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search.
Millennium Prize problems
http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems
The Millennium Prize problems home page.
Möbius band
http://www.popmath.org.uk/sculpmath/pagesm/mb.html
The Möbius band in art.
moving average
http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:moving_averages
Illustrations of the moving average from financial markets.
National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics
https://www.ncetm.org.uk/
The NCETM home page.
NRICH
https://nrich.maths.org
The official NRICH website.
Numberphile
https://www.youtube.com/user/Numberphile
The Numberphile YouTube channel.
parabola
http://www.calculus.org/Contributions/animations.html
Properties of the parabola with links to animated illustrations.
parabolic spiral
nationalcurvebank.org
An animation of a parabolic spiral.
Parker, Matt
http://standupmaths.com
Matt Parker’s official website.
pedal curve
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PedalCurve.html
An animation of a pedal curve.
perfect number
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Perfect_numbers
A brief history of perfect numbers.
Plus magazine
https://plus.maths.org/
The official website of Plus .
predator–prey equations
http://home.messiah.edu/~deroos/CSC171/PredPrey/PPIntro.htm
Simulations of fox and rabbit populations.
prisoner’s dilemma
https://serendipstudio.org/playground/pd.html
Play the prisoner’s dilemma against the computer.
relativity theory
https://www.allaboutscience.org/theory‐of‐relativity.htm
An article about relativity with a related video.
resonance
http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/feschools/waves/shm3.htm
Animations and videos of forced oscillation and resonance.
sieve of Eratosthenes
http://www.faust.fr.bw.schule.de/mhb/eratosiv.htm
An interactive animation of the sieve of Eratosthenes used to obtain prime numbers.
slide rule
http://www.sliderule.ca/
Descriptions of various slide rules and how they work.
stereographic projection
http://www.math.union.edu/~dpvc/math/4D/stereo‐projection/welcome.html
A full description of stereographic projection with two videos to illustrate how it looks.
3blue1brown
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw
The 3blue1brown YouTube channel.
https://www.3blue1brown.com/
The official 3blue1brown website.
twin primes
http://primes.utm.edu/top20/page.php?id=1
More information on twin primes, including a list of the 20 largest pairs identified.
Please find below the web links from the previous edition of this Dictionary. Please note that archived links are no longer updated.
