Tuesday, October 07, 2008

very fine tv math!

the story of mathematics...

on the beeb, courtesy of du Sautoy of Oxford and the OU:

...is jolly good fun, but I can't help thinkin he keeps overclaimin
what is "fundamental" and "mathematics" rather than, say, natural sciences
but then I have to remind myself what he is tryin to achieve which wont do us
any harm....and take a look at this for good measure:

http://www.xkcd.com/435/

what I like is that du Sautoy goes just too fast (e.g. I watched the first episode with a smart 10 year old and he had to re-work through the Pythagoras proof by re-arrangement again afterwards to convince himself - this is good as it had the desired result (of making someone work through something again afterwards:)

I also like his unpretentious, but calmly enthusiastic presentation and lack of overly posh vowels:)

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