"What's big and grey and undefined?"

"An elephant divided by zero."

This is just one of the math jokes that can be found in Tangents, Harvard's new and only student-run math magazine.

According to Editorial Board member Christopher E. Degni '97, Tangents, which was founded last spring, is designed to bring mathematics to the general reader.

"Tangents shows people the beauty of math without the usual rigor, and it is a journal for everyone to pick up," he said in an interview yesterday.

Editor-in-Chief Andrew W. Pimlott '97 said he hopes to make the bulletin accessible to those who are not mathematically-oriented.

"A lot of areas of math that are interesting and beautiful are usually not appreciated or even presented to a general audience," he said.

But Pimlott admits that the primary readers of the bulletin will be students who have a natural affinity for math and science. And he said he wants to make sure the magazine keeps a mathematical flavor and is not watered down.

Tangents, run by a staff of about 15 to 20 undergraduates, includes original student research articles, jokes and math problems.

"I like the fact that students initiated it," said Raoul Bott, Graustein professor of mathematics and one of the magazine's faculty advisors. "They did it on their own and it is their baby."

Last month, Tangents released its second issue and made its first issue available on the World Wide Web. The magazine is one of nine Harvard student publications now on the Web, according to Eugene E. Kim '96, former president of the Harvard Computer Society.

Christopher W. Whelan '97, business manager for the magazine, said 550 copies of the second issue were printed and distributed for free to students and departments. Individuals outside of the Harvard community are allowed to subscribe for $10 a year.

Future issues, to be produced twice yearly, will be made available at the Union and the Science Center.

The bulletin has generated varying student reactions so far.

"The wide range of topics speaks of the diversity and universality of math," said Susan Young '98.