The Story of Maths
BBC4 Mondays 21:00 from 6th October 2008
(There are two repeats in the early hours of Tuesday morning and at 7pm the following Sunday. It is also available via iPlayer)

Four-part series about the history of mathematics, presented by Oxford professor (and guest speaker at the M500 September Revision Weekend) 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.

For more information visit the BBC4 site The Language of the Universe and the OU site The Story of Maths

The Open University magazine OZONE also has details of this series in Issue 30, which you may order or download from the OU website.

There will be a new OU Level 1 course to accompany this series of films.

TM190 The story of maths, will be offered for first presentation in November 2008 (starting 15th November and finishing January 09) and then twice a year in May and October.