Episode 5. The smallest number of queens needed to attack every square on a standard chess board is five. More facts about the number 5 at numbergossip.com and for more about chessboard domination and similar problems a good starting place is the wikipedia article “Eight queens puzzle”.

In this episode of the podcast we hear from Nira Chamberlain, a Mathematical Modelling Consultant. Nira has been profiled by the Maths Careers website and gave the first Plus Careers Podcast interview (available to read and as an mp3).

You can find an overview of the Travelling Salesman Problem at Wolfram Mathworld and there are applets to play with at “TSP Algorithms in Action Animated Examples of Heuristic Algorithms“. A humourous take on the Travelling Salesman Problem can be found at xkcd.com.

You can find out more about my work with the IMA by reading this blog and visiting www.ima.org.uk/student.