From the past two episodes, mathematics showcased it importance to humanity and Marcus du Sautoy started another set of adventure as he discovers the big contributions of the great mathematicians in Europe that has changed the image of mathematics forever. In this episode, The Frontiers of Space, mathematics proved to be great and vital.
Europe had dominated over from the Middle East during the 17th century which became as the center mathematical ideas and philosophies. In the third episode in the Story of Maths, Marcus Du Sautoy’s adventure commenced by looking at the works of Piero dela Francesca, the first painter who fully understand perspective and used the concepts of mathematics in painting especially in presenting a three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional surface. His works served as a starter of a new way in understanding geometry.
Du Sautoy’s next stop was France, home of the famous mathematician. Descartes thought that the bed was the best place to do mathematics. He was born sickly and was allowed to only stay in his bed for a several hours each day. René Descartes known for linking algebra into geometry which transformed the world of mathematics. He had been one of the champions of the new scientific revolution which disregarded the dominant view that the sun went around the earth. Descartes had unravelled the probability of navigating geometries of higher dimensions, worlds that are invisible to our eyes but are central to modern technology and physics. A Parisian Monk, Marin Mersenne who went to the same school with Descartes which used mathematics to prove the existence of God and was also known for his discoveries in prime numbers.
In Beaumont-de-Lomagne, Pierre de Fermat was celebrated for his works, battling with mathematical problems was his hobby and his passion. He enjoyed playing with numbers and searching for patterns in numbers. He was known for his virtual invention of the modern number theory and devised a wide range of inferences and theorems about numbers including his famous Last Theorem. One of his theorems which is the Little Theorem became the source for the codes that protect credit card transactions online.
Next stop, he went to Grantham, England, the place of the world’s famous Isaac Newton who discovered for two years developed a new theory of light, discovered gravitation and scribbled out a revolutionary approach to maths, the calculus.
From this episode, mathematics has truly proved its worth to the world. It is undeniably significant, a world without maths is a dreary world. Mathematics has come a very long way. A heartfelt gratitude to all of those mathematicians who had persevered and work which resulted to inventions and discoveries that was able to change of mathematics forever. Indeed, they are really great and solving mathematical problems as a hobby would likely squeeze out my brain. Many people would say that mathematics is hard but it just needs passion and persistence to comprehend it.
This episode became an avenue for me to gain a better appreciation of mathematics. From the previous episodes I was able to truly value the significance of mathematics to humanity. The discoveries of the great mathematicians inspired and was totally amazed that mathematical notions and concepts now became the force that drives the world. The knowledge of mathematics has transformed from simple concepts to complex ones which indicates that our society is advancing and there is a lot to discover.
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