Where in the world? The mathematics of navigation
In the 18th century the lives of thousands of sailors depended on safe navigation at sea. How could they find out where they were?
Uncover the fundamental role mathematicians, their tools and ideas have played in building our world.
With stories spanning the centuries, discover how mathematics connects to every aspect of our lives.
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Mathematics objects in our collection
These curious objects have been used to experiment with mathematical principles and to apply maths in our everyday lives. You can explore more in our online collection.
A single surface model made by Alan Bennett in Bedford, 1995.
It consists of a sphere with three interlinked loops the equivalent of three interconnected Klein bottles. A Klein bottle has no edges, no outside or inside and cannot be properly constructed in three dimensions.
Science Museum Group Collection
Set of 7 assembled cardboard geometrical models with wooden stands, showing surfaces of the second order. Made in Tübingen , 1901.
These cardboard models were made by Martin Schilling to produce a wide variety of surface models. 'Second order' means there are squared terms in their equations. This type of model could be distorted into an infinite number of shapes by gentle manipulation.
Science Museum Group Collection
Spirograph drawings made with an elaboarate spirograph made by P H Desvignes, Vienna.
Between 1845 and 1848, Desvignes constructed a machine he called a spirograph, similar to a geometric chuck, for preventing forgeries in banknotes. These drawings show some of the possibilities of his machine.
Science Museum Group Collection
Polyhedron model showing the icosahedron and one of its 58 stellations, 1986-1987
This exquisite model is part of a set made by John Hudson for the Science Museum. Stellating a polyhedron means extending elements such as edges or face planes until they meet each other.
Science Museum Group Collection
Five exchequer tally sticks (stocks only), c.1440.
Each stick contains notches to show the amount deposited, the name of the lender, the county, the time of year when the money can be repaid and the year. The exchequer held the other half of the split stick which contained the same information. Tallies were used by the exchequer until 1826.
Science Museum Group Collection
Plaster model of the surface z = 3a(x2 - y2) - (x3 + y3) by Alexander Crum Brown, c.1900.
Crum Brown was both a mathematician and chemist. He was a prolific maker of mathematical models. In this example, every section made by a plane passing through the blue line forms an ellipse
Science Museum Group Collection
Replica of a quipu made from an original held at the Museum of Natural History, New York, in 1974.
Quipus were used by the Incas during the 15th and early 16th centuries as records of all types of accounts. It was discovered in the early 20th century that the knots represent numbers on a base 10 system; the long knots are units and the short ones tens, hundreds or thousands depending on their position.
Science Museum Group Collection
