Overlooking future with our intellectual Mathematics

From the seventeenth century, Europe replaced the Middle East as the engine house of mathematical ideas. Du Sautoy visits Urbino to introduce Perspective to illustrate mathematics and artistry.

After that he  proceeds to describes René Descartes realization that it was possible to describe curved lines as equations and thus link algebra and geometry. He talks with Henk Bos  about Descartes. He showed how one of Pierre de Fermat’s theorems is now the basis for the codes that protect credit card transactions on the internet. Later, he described Isaac Newton’s development of math and physics crucial to understanding the behavior of moving objects in engineering. He covers the Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy and the Bernoulli family. He further covers Leonard Euler, the father of topology, and Gauss' invention of a new way of handling equations, modular arithmetic.

The further contribution of Gauss to our understanding of how prime numbers are distributed is covered thus providing the platform for Bernhard Riemann's theories on prime numbers. In addition Riemann worked on the properties of objects, which he saw as manifolds that could exist in multi-dimensional space.

In conclusion, we are in debt to these discoverers who paved our way in leading our future into a modern era of science and technology.