Vanished from history is the story of the ‘Mariner's Calculator’, invented and patented at the Great Seal Patent Office, London, by Mrs Janet Taylor, in 1834. Dismissed by the Admiralty, it had no commercial future and only one instrument is known to remain in existence. The article traces the invention from its inception and provides relevant biographical details of its inventor. The authors then analyse the assessment by the Admiralty to determine if it was fair and outline the endeavour in 2004 to reassess the achievement by a reconstruction of the Mariner's Calculator from its original patent.

One of the more interesting uses of mathematics and statistics is their application to everyday situations in assisting people to make informed choices about their courses of action. Nowhere is this more evident than in the application of basic mathematical principles to the range of gambling opportunities. Indeed, a new university statistics course that I give in Australia on Gambling and Sport has attracted an enrolment of over 400 students in its first year alone. In this subject we discuss the intricacies of games such as Craps, Keno, Roulette, poker machines, horse racing, and a wide variety of lotteries. The sports content of the course relates largely to using mathematics to formulate optimal playing strategies.