I've never been very good at maths but I know enough to agree that maths are the very foundation of science. Everything we think we know in science, physics, chemistry, music, art, engineering and so on can be expressed in mathematical laws.
Unfortunately, the Story of Maths is more often about mathematicians, with lots of anecdotes about them. None of the interviewed people in the story are presented. We simply don't know who they are and why they've been chosen to appear. Names of historical mathematicians are thrown around all the time but I would have liked to see them written on the screen so I could take note of their spelling for further research. Which left me to wonder for whom, what audience, this documentary was made for? Marcus du Sautoy trudges on, seemingly oblivious of his audience, his excitement never shared. After the initially interesting information about mathematics in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India and Greece, we're left to ourselves in the increasing thin air of calculus, algebra and what not. We're lost long before he even mentions Chaos Theory. The works of great mathematicians are also difficult to follow in time. There's the Seven Bridges problems in the 17th century, I think, then we appear to jump a couple of centuries in the future.
Most mathematicians Marcus talks about are unknown even to the people who live in their home towns.
Sad to say but this series is for the birds or probably more for his students at Oxford who have the advantages of taking notes and asking him questions. What did I learn from it all? I learn that earlier civilizations had discovered many of the the mathematical theories that were attributed centuries or thousands of years later to western Europeans. But that was the first episode.
I stuck with the series because mathematics is the language of the universe and you can't learn a language without listening to it. Too bad Marcus du Sautoy was only talking to himself.
Unfortunately, the Story of Maths is more often about mathematicians, with lots of anecdotes about them. None of the interviewed people in the story are presented. We simply don't know who they are and why they've been chosen to appear. Names of historical mathematicians are thrown around all the time but I would have liked to see them written on the screen so I could take note of their spelling for further research. Which left me to wonder for whom, what audience, this documentary was made for? Marcus du Sautoy trudges on, seemingly oblivious of his audience, his excitement never shared. After the initially interesting information about mathematics in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India and Greece, we're left to ourselves in the increasing thin air of calculus, algebra and what not. We're lost long before he even mentions Chaos Theory. The works of great mathematicians are also difficult to follow in time. There's the Seven Bridges problems in the 17th century, I think, then we appear to jump a couple of centuries in the future.
Most mathematicians Marcus talks about are unknown even to the people who live in their home towns.
Sad to say but this series is for the birds or probably more for his students at Oxford who have the advantages of taking notes and asking him questions. What did I learn from it all? I learn that earlier civilizations had discovered many of the the mathematical theories that were attributed centuries or thousands of years later to western Europeans. But that was the first episode.
I stuck with the series because mathematics is the language of the universe and you can't learn a language without listening to it. Too bad Marcus du Sautoy was only talking to himself.
