The level of public understanding of mathematics is in marked contrast to the importance of this science to society. Many of our contemporaries think that mathematics is a field where the relevant results were established centuries ago and that there are few, if any, connections with real life.

This is far from being true. The truth is that

• mathematics is an essential ingredient of many aspects of our daily lives;
• mathematics is fascinating: a mathematical problem can dominate your thoughts for days, months or even years;
• without mathematics it is impossible to understand how contemporary science describes the world: relativity, quantum mechanics, etc., cannot be understood without a certain mathematical background.

The aim of this webpage is to decrease the gap between the common understanding and the real truth. It addresses

• everyone who is interested in mathematics: journalists, secondary-school students, students at universities, teachers, professional mathematicians;
• everyone looking for suggestions for increasing public awareness of mathematics.

It should be stressed, however, that it is not our aim to cover the "hard" scientific part of this science. We hope to present material that can be understood (in most cases) without specific mathematical knowledge.

It will take some time to provide all the material we have in mind. You are invited to visit us every now and then to see how we are progressing.

The team of mathematics-in-europe.eu