Crop circle 'inspired by most beautiful formula in mathematics' appears in Wiltshire From the UK Telegraph; 24 May 2010; By Matthew Moore Original Article A crop circle thought to be inspired by a formula acclaimed as the most beautiful in all mathematics has appeared on a hillside in Wiltshire.

The circle, which is more than 300ft in diameter, was cut into a field of oil seed rape by Wilton Windmill at Wilton near Marlborough. Photo: PIN The circle, which is more than 300ft in diameter, was cut into a field of oil seed rape by Wilton Windmill at Wilton near Marlborough. Experts say that the design may be connected to Euler's Identity, a complex formula devised by the 18th Century Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler Lucy Pringle, the crop circle researcher who photographed the formation from a helicopter after it appeared in the early hours of Saturday morning, said that each segment of the circle represented an element of the formula. The pattern of dashes and spaces against each of the lines coming out of the centre forms the binary code for symbols and letters of the alphabet which feature in Euler's Identity, it is claimed. She said: "This is one of the most profound and complicated equations of the past 2,000 years, and we think the crop circle is some form of visual translation."

The Wilton Windmill pattern is the latest in a long line of mathematical crop circles in Britain. In 2008 a coded image representing the first 10 digits of pi was discovered in a barley field in Wiltshire. Euler's Identity is admired by mathematicians for linking several fundamental mathematical constants. Keith Devlin, professor of mathematics at Stanford University in California, said that the formula "reaches down into the very depths of existence ... like a Shakespearean sonnet that captures the very essence of love."