Sentiments to the Language of the Universe

The BBC film The Story of Maths is a four-part documentary on the evolution of mathematics through time until it became the subject we are faced with today which either gives students like me great joy or great dilemma. I guess the latter would be more fitting for me.

The first episode entitled The Language of the Universe is an introduction of the very conception of mathematics as a fundamental discipline in our lives, with the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy even stating that understanding math is the difference between life and death. Of this I could agree. He explores different civilizations, travelling from Egypt to Greece in his search for patterns of growth in math, the very purpose of his existence, I suppose.

In the first part of the film, Sautoy travels to Egypt where he relieves the greatness of the ancient Egyptians. It turns out math played a big role in their lives in managing their land and produce, and in calculating their taxes and rebates. There, they used their bodies as units for measurement such as the length of their palm and the length between their elbows and fingertips. A unique feature of Egyptian math was the development of fractions, derived from the eye of the god Horus, which got ripped out by his brother Seth and scattered all over Egypt. This discovery eventually led to the understanding of shapes and proportions – and yes, Geometry. (At least Toblerone has great packaging. Ha Ha )

Overall, the Egyptians were shown as people who were brilliant in solving mathematical problems to everyday living (most of these included food - bread and beer). No wonder! Evidence to this brilliance was written by a scribe in a rind papyrus.

In the next part of the film, Sautoy travelled to Damascus, Syria where the Babylonian civilization took place. Just like the previous, problems in everyday living was what urged the Babylonians to develop an understanding of math. Probably the greatest contribution of this civilization to what we have today is the discovery of the quadratic equation which they used in calculating lands and irrigation. FARMING! It was also in this civilization that zero was first introduced, as well as their own number system with base sixty and the discovery of irrational numbers.

The last part of the movie involved the Greek and Roman civilizations. Their greatest legacy in math was probably the discovery of proofs and their genius was evidenced in the perfection exhibited by the structures they built. The Greek and Roman civilizations also saw the rise of the mathematicians including Pythagoras, Plato, Euclid and Archemedes. According to Sautoy, as the Greeks discovered proof, they opened “a gulf between other sciences”, making them the true founders of math. It was at this point in the movie where a large library appeared, relaxing me. Pleasing my eyes; zoning me out and away from the woman whose dry ratty voice irritated me.

 When I got back to Earth, I realized the movie was over. Oh, well. I ended up watching the movie again at home just for fun, really, and it turned out that they were talking about Archimedes and circles and volumes while I was gone. The best part about the things I missed was towards the end. Archimedes was drawing on the sand, trying to solve problems in his head and then a Roman soldier tried to confront him about something and he was more interested in his math problems so he either told the soldier to bugger off or wait. The soldier most probably took offense and then Archimedes was a goner. So much for passion and commitment.