!VAR HAGENDOORN

The Story of Maths

The Story of Maths is (yet another) excellent BBC documentary. It is presented by Marcus du Sautoy, a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and the author of various popular books on mathematics, including The Music of the Primes. Of course, I'm still very much interested in mathematics. But watching this series I'm also, once more, intrigued by human ingenuity. The series was shot around the world and has some nice footage from Egypt, Greece, Syria, India and China. So sit down, relax and expand your mind.

Part 1 explores the birth of mathematics in ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. Part 2 explores the history of mathematics in China, India and the Middle East. Part 3 explores the work of Descartes, Fermat, Euler and Gauss and touches on topology and modular arithmetic. Part 4 covers the work of Georg Cantor on infinity, Henri Poincare on chaos and Kurt Godel on the foundations of mathematics. It ends with some of the greatest unsolved problems in mathematics.

If the links don't work you know where to search or save yourself the hassle and buy the DVD, it's a bargain.

If you're intrigued and want to dig deeper, one of the best introductions to mathematics is The Language of Mathematics by Keith Devlin. It's the one I often use as a present.

If you want to dig deeper still, there are two excellent textbooks on the history of mathematics: Victor Katz: A History of Mathematics. An Introduction and David Burton: History of Mathematics. An Introduction. I read the one by Victor Katz.