ALGEBRA and statistics are not often associated with fun, intrigue and private investigators.

Yet that is exactly how one Southampton University mathematician hopes to reverse the decline in the number of pupils studying maths past the age of 16.

Dr Graham Niblo has come up with an online adventure game inviting youngsters to become code breakers to solve a succession of mysteries.

His story follows make-believe private investigator Harry Schultz and his attempts to unravel the codes surrounding the secrets of a German weapons project during the Second World War.

Already 3,300 children from 400 schools have logged on to the site since its launch at the end of last month.

A further nine encrypted messages are to be posted on the website until January giving youngsters the chance to unscramble the increasingly difficult ciphers as quickly as they can.

Dr Niblo said: "Through cracking these codes, we hope to encourage young people to get really involved in maths, science and engineering and to understand their importance and relevance to our everyday lives."

He said he hoped it would set maths in a real world context and make the subject fun.

"Cryptography is all around us from Internet security to encrypting mobile phone calls," he said.

It's the third year running that the challenge has been organised and £500,000 of prize money will be distributed to schools to buy mathematics and science equipment while another £500,000 will go towards individual code-breakers.

The challenge is open to youngsters under the age of 18 who are in full-time education. It is possible to start playing the game, which was also created by Dr Jim Renshaw at the university's school of maths, at any stage.

For more information log on to www.cipher.maths.soton.ac.uk