From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mathematical Bridge

The Mathematical Bridge is the popular name of a wooden bridge across the River Cam, between two parts of Queens' College, Cambridge. Its official name is merely the Wooden Bridge.

The bridge was designed by William Etheridge, and built by James Essex in 1749. It has been rebuilt on two occasions — 1867 and 1902 — but has kept the same overall design.

The title of 'Mathematical Bridge' was also given to one of the former bridges of the Cam between Trinity and Trinity Hall, also designed by James Essex, where Garret Hostel Bridge now stands.

There are several myths surrounding the construction of the bridge:

• That the bridge is of Chinese origin and that its design incorporates some form of special mathematical technique from which it derives its name.
• That the bridge was designed and built by students. It was so perfect that the planks were laid one on top of the other and held together by their weight and the angles by which they were put together. The professors were so intrigued and in awe of its architecture that they took it apart to see how it was built. Their downfall was that they could not piece it back together again and therefore the bridge is now held together by nuts, bolts and screws.
• That the bridge was designed by Isaac Newton, but that he did so without the need for bolts to hold the wood together - the story of college members then dismantling it and being unable to reassemble it is also part of this version of the myth. This version is unlikely to be true because Newton died in 1727, 22 years before the bridge was constructed.

Tellers of these myths rarely elaborate on what these mysterious mathematical techniques might have been.

• List of bridges in Cambridge

• Queens' College's history of the bridge