Production team
When ancient Greece fell into decline, mathematical progress stagnated as Europe fell under the shadow of the Dark Ages. But in the East, mathematics would reach new heights.
In the second leg of his journey, Marcus du Sautoy visits China and explores how mathematics helped build imperial China and was at the heart of such amazing feats of engineering as the Great Wall. Here, he discovers the first use of a decimal place number system; the ancient Chinese fascination with patterns in numbers and the development of an early version of Sudoku; and their belief in the mystical powers of numbers, which still exists today.
Marcus also learns how mathematics played a role in managing how the Emperor slept his way through the imperial harem to ensure the most favourable succession - and how internet cryptography encodes numbers using a branch of mathematics that has its origins in ancient Chinese work on equations.
In India he discovers how the symbol for the number zero was invented - one of the great landmarks in the development of mathematics. He also examines Indian mathematicians’ understanding of the new concepts of infinity and negative numbers, and their invention of trigonometry.
Next, he examines mathematical developments in the Middle East, looking at the invention of the new language of algebra, and the evolution of a solution to cubic equations. This leg of his journey ends in Italy, where he examines the spread of Eastern knowledge to the West through mathematicians such as Leonardo Fibonacci, creator of the Fibonacci Sequence.
First broadcast: Monday 13 Oct 2008 on BBC FOUR
The Story of Maths in more depth:
OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - About the series
Production team
Marcus DuSautoy takes a journey through the heart of the universe - find out more about the series. Read more : OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - About the series
OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - To Infinity and Beyond
BBC
Unsolved problems - and the search for solutions - will take maths to infinity and beyond. Marcus du Sautoy explains how. Read more : OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - To Infinity and Beyond
OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - The Frontiers of Space
BBC
By the seventeenth century Europe had taken over from the Middle East as the world’s power house of mathematical ideas, the beginning of the Golden... Read more : OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - The Frontiers of Space
OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - The Language of the Universe
OU
It's numbers, not words, which make up the language of the universe. Read more : OU on the BBC: The Story of Maths - The Language of the Universe
![Polling Station signage [Image: kagey b under CC-BY-NC-ND licence]](/openlearn/files/ole/ole_images/places/general-urban-scenes/polling-station-sign/polling station sign_0_0.jpg)
Login or Register to post comments
Comments on: "The Genius of the East"
Brain-Dead has started a thread discussing The Genius of the East.
Dear presentors,
I would be very happy if you can present the indian contribution to mathematics also. We have had some of the greats like aryabhatta and bhaskara. There are many ancient indian treatises on mathematics in sanskrit and these pre-date babylon and egypt. You are aware that the Vedas are dated back to 5000 BC. I believe the most ancient references to mathematics are in sanskrit sutras. I request you to give indian mathematicians their rightful place in history. I loved your program and would encourage all of my friends to watch it.
Cheers,
Nachiket
I really liked this episode and I recomend it to everyone
what happened to my comments ???
Re: Comments on: "The Genius of the East"
I have to say that the tidal power portion of this episode was a little inadequate to fully appreciate the advancements in recent tidal developments. tidal power ( I think) is definatley the future. a blade turbine or a shroud turbine can produce large amounts of sustainable energy. doesn't harm the enviroment ( besides drilling a hole) and is sustainable. why is there such a big protest???