Review on The Story of Maths part 1 "The Language of the Universe"

                The Story of Maths is a four-part documentary produced by BBC Four. It was written and presented by Prof. Marcus du Sautoy of University of Oxford. It documents the development of Math from the ancient times which is commonly and usefully used in today’s generation.

                In the first part “The Language of the Universe” Sautoy presented about the history and origin of mathematics. He started in Egypt where first sign of mathematics was recorded. It all started when Egyptians studied the seasons to predict and prepare for the next coming of flooding season. They already had the decimal system that we used today but they didn't have the concept of place value. They also had the idea of binaries, fractions, and solid shapes. Even their famous pyramid is measured in special measurement called 3-4-5 triangle. Egyptians also had the early length measurements using their body parts.

                Sautoy’s traveled next at Babylonia. He discovers that the Babylonian number system is in base 60 which is the origin of our 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour. Quadratic equation also originated from the Babylonians which is used to measure their agricultural lands. The study of symmetrical shapes and right triangles also started at Babylonians.

                He then travels to Greece and looked at the contributions of great mathematicians such as Plato, Euclid, Pythagoras and Archimedes. They are known for their famous discovery and development to mathematics that we have today. Plato was known for his Five Platonic Solids the Tetrahedron, Cube, Octahedron, Dodecahedron and Icosahedron. Euclid often referred as “Father of Geometry” proved Plato’s solids. Pythagoras was well known for the Pythagorean Theorem but it was his follower not him that theorized the formula. He was more focused on music where he discovered musical notes are always in whole number intervals and in octaves. Archimedes was also known for his study on polygons, solids, areas and gravity. He loved math so much, he was even murdered while solving a math problem.

                I observed in the documentary that math was first created in addressing common problems in the society such us the pattern of the flooding of the Nile river and using quadratic equations to measure lands. It was later developed to cope up with the progressing technology and economy of the society. These discoveries are even the foundation of our high technological society such us computers which uses binary system in its programming and very high buildings which uses geometry in its design.

                This documentary changed my point of view towards mathematics. It was not really built to confuse students’ minds but rather it is built to improve and develop our lives in different aspects. We just don’t realize it.