Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

(George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four)

This is a mathematical blog/newsletter, which is intended mostly for staff and students of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Strathclyde but has no official connection with the Department or the University. It’s curated by David Pritchard and Michael Grinfeld, but contributions are welcome from anybody — whether they’re articles, news items, links or anything else that strikes your mathematical fancy!

The header image, by the way, which was lifted from juliasets.dk, shows part of a Julia set, an amazingly complicated and beautiful structure defined in terms of a surprisingly simple iterative formula:

$z_{n+1} = \displaystyle\frac{z_n^2(1+q z_n^2)}{(1-q z_n^2)} + \rho$,

where $\rho$ and $q$ are complex constants. There’s always more to maths than you might think…

Small(ish) print: The views and opinions expressed herein are strictly those of the authors. The contents have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Strathclyde. They do not represent or reflect the views of the University of Strathclyde or anyone else associated with the institution and the University retains no liability for the content or layout. Similarly, the University of Strathclyde does not represent or reflect the views of Degree of Freedom, so don’t blame us for anything silly the University may say or do.

Any facts expressed here may be unreliable and any equations may be wrong. If you think this is the case then please point it out!