The Power of Mathematics

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I think one of the exciting things about maths is its ability almost to look at itself and say things about mathematics itself. And actually at the end of the book, I talk about the power of mathematics sometimes to show when a problem doesn't have a clever shortcut. One of our great unsolved problems is something called P versus NP. We can use maths sometimes to show that there may not be such an algorithm that you can get away with without sort of just trying all of the routes and seeing which is the smallest. So maybe we have at least kind of four perspectives on math as a game, as a tool and also as a form of truth seeking. That's quite a nice description of the

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How can we have System-2-type reflection but with System-1-type speed? How can math be considered to be a "fast" way of solving problems? Is math discovered or invented? How can we use math to think better in everyday life? How can math education be improved? Do mathematicians have a snobbish preference for "pure" maths over applied maths? How can math be used to tell stories?

Marcus du Sautoy is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He is author of seven books including his most recent book, Thinking Better: the Art of the Shortcut. He has also published a play, I is a Strange Loop, which was performed at the Barbican in London in which he was also lead actor. He has presented numerous radio and TV series including a four-part landmark TV series for the BBC called The Story of Maths. He works extensively with a range of arts organisations bringing science alive for the public from The Royal Opera House to the Glastonbury Festival. He received an OBE for services to science in the 2010 New Year's Honours List and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016. Follow him on Twitter at @MarcusduSautoy or find out more about him at www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk.

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