"Oxford mathematician, Marcus du Sautoy looks at how fundamental mathematics is to our lives before exploring the mathematics of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece. In Egypt he uncovers use of a decimal system based on ten fingers of the hand, the Egyptians’ unusual method of multiplication and division, and their understanding of binary numbers, fractions, and solids such as the pyramid.
He discovers that the way we tell the time today is based on the Babylonian Base 60 number system - so it is thanks to the Babylonians that we have 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour - and shows how the Babylonians used quadratic equations to measure their land.
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. A controversial figure, Pythagoras’ teachings were considered suspect and his followers seen as a bizarre sect. Legend has it that one of his followers, Hippasus, was drowned when he announced his discovery of irrational numbers - a discovery that upset those who had held faith with the Pythagorean world view. As well as his ground-breaking work on the properties of right-angled triangles, Pythagoras developed another important theory after observing the properties of musical instruments: he discovered that the intervals between harmonious musical notes are always in whole number ratios to each other."
http://www.open2.net/storyofmaths/languageofuniverse.html Part2: The Genius of the East
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-History-of-Mathematics-2-The-Genius-of-the-East Part 3: The Frontiers of Space
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-History-of-Mathematics-3-The-Frontiers-of-Space Part 4: To Infinity and Beyond
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-History-of-Mathematics-4-To-Infinity-and-Beyond
16 Comments
mauz15says...If you get an error, try refreshing the page.
siftbotsays...Moving this video to mauz15's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.
mauz15says...*beg
siftbotsays...Sending this video to Beggar's Canyon to plea for a little attention - beg requested by original submitter mauz15.
budzossays...Grrr how the fuck do I advance the timeline? I don't feel like re-watching the first half hour of this to get to the middle of the first clip.
mauz15says...>> ^budzos:
Grrr how the fuck do I advance the timeline? I don't feel like re-watching the first half hour of this to get to the middle of the first clip.
Try pausing it and let it buffer until the middle.
budzossays...It seems to buffer only a few seconds ahead of real-time for me
mauz15says...>> ^budzos:
It seems to buffer only a few seconds ahead of real-time for me
Hmm ok I'll change the embed for a youtube playlist
eric3579says...*dead
siftbotsays...This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by eric3579.
siftbotsays...rasch187 has fixed this video's dead embed code - no Power Points awarded because rasch187's points are already fully charged.
dooglesays...*dead
siftbotsays...This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by doogle.
siftbotsays...Awarding chingalera with one Power Point for fixing this video's dead embed code.
cricketsays...*length=10:02
siftbotsays...The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 10:02 - length declared by cricket.
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