Journey into Maths Country
Math is an exotic and confusing country. We speak a bizarre language, full of homeomorphisms, differential varieties, transfinite numbers. But we also find epic landscapes, dizzying ideas and even, sometimes, useful things!
Overview
Math is an exotic and confusing country. We speak a bizarre language, full of homeomorphisms, differential varieties, transfinite numbers. But we also find epic landscapes, dizzying ideas and even, sometimes, useful things!
Episodes
1. Benford’s Law
Frank Benford observed that the number one seems to pop up a lot in both in the supermarket and on tax bills. In understanding this law, it helps to simply look at the world from a different perspective.
2. Newton and the Infinitesimal Calculation
Speed is such a common term that it's easy to forget how much of a role maths plays in understanding it. Until three or four centuries ago, there was no speed at all. It was only since the Renaissance that the concept of movement crept into the world of mathematics, thanks to calculus and Isaac Newton.
3. To Infinity, and Beyond
A circle is also a triangle and a triangle is a square. Sound impossible? Not in the realm of topology, which even applies to 3-dimensional spaces and anything from donuts, UFOs and potatoes. The discipline's inventor, Henri Poincaré, created one of the most difficult problems in mathematics.
