These are the show notes for episode 6 of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. 6 is the minimum number of colors that is always sufficient to color any map on a Möbius strip. More about the Möbius strip from The Math Forum and a discussion of the colouring problem at Ask Dr. Math. More facts about number 6 from thesaurus.maths.org.

In the regular Maths History series, Noel-Ann Bradshaw of the University of Greenwich and also Meetings Co-ordinator of the British Society for the History of Mathematics talks about the life of Évariste Galois. You can read a short introduction to Galois and his work at h2g2 or read a more detailed biography of Galois at the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. You can read a roundup of group theory at Wikipedia and an introduction to Galois Theory from nrich.

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