Maths is really about thinking through things and finding different points of view on the same thing. We need more of that in the world, because there's too much not having a good way to come to a good conclusion. If you think about a straw as a solid object, then it is like a torus, which I believe that we're going to come back to,. Which is like a donut. And so, if you then flatten out your torus,your donut, your donut with a hole, it has to have a hole in it, not a jam donut.
Kirsty Wark celebrates the artistry of numbers with three mathematicians Eugenia Cheng, Sarah Hart and Emily Howard.
Eugenia Cheng asks Is Maths Real? in her new book, which offers a new way to look at the subject by focusing on the questions, rather than the answers. She explores how asking the simplest of questions – ‘why does 1 + 1 = 2?’ – can get to the very heart of the search for mathematical truth.
Sarah Hart wants to break down the perceived barriers between mathematics and the creative arts. In Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature she reveals the geometry lurking in Moby-Dick, George Eliot’s obsession with statistics, and Jurassic Park’s fractal patterns.
Emily Howard has a dual passion for maths and music. In her compositions she plays with mathematical shapes and processes. Her new record Torus, released on NMC Recordings in April, brings together works including sphere and Compass.
Producer: Katy Hickman