The Story of Maths

BBC programme trailers don't often grab my attention ... but the one for this programme did!

BBC Four are broadcasting a series of programmes called The Story of Maths ... The series begins on 6th Oct at 21.00 ... or, of course, when you want on iPlayer. Could well be worth a watch.

This is what they say about it:

Four-part series about the history of mathematics, presented by Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy.

After showing how fundamental mathematics is to our lives, du Sautoy explores the mathematics of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece.

In Egypt, he uncovers use of a decimal system based on ten fingers of the hand, while in former Mesopotamia he discovers that the way we tell the time today is based on the Babylonian Base 60 number system.



In Greece, he looks at the contributions of some of the giants of mathematics including Plato, Euclid, Archimedes and Pythagoras, who is credited with beginning the transformation of mathematics from a tool for counting into the analytical subject we know today.