I asked my little girl to write a poem for the book, because I was like, right, what do you think a poem is? And she went away and she came back with a courtrain. Do you remember what it is? Oh, my goodness. It's in the book. But she actually wrote something about pie because it was for Mummy. For Mummy's book and Mummy's a mathematician. Something like endless numbers, they could go until you die, all across the universe that is polite. The whole idea about nursery rhymes. Yes. And then going on to folk tales and different patterns that are in folk tales. And these are very natural to us as
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