Cool Numbers

By: Alan Hall PhD

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Hidden deep inside the Amazonian jungle, there are tribes that happily exist in a ‘world without numbers’. These so-called ‘primitives’ can get along just fine without the need to count above 5 - apparently they have no money and don’t actually need it. Moreover, scientists who have traveled to study this race of subsistence farmers have emerged with ‘glazed over faces’ as though they have entered a magical realm that is devoid of even the most basic mathematical skills. This poses a question - ‘what have numbers and mathematics done for us?’ Here, I take a look at numbers, that is, where numbers came from and how the symbols for the known digits were derived. I investigate, in an easy-to-understand and entertaining way, how, shortly after crawling out of caves, mankind began to count. I detail, in fascinating stories, how some of the most intelligent mathematicians and the mind-boggling theorems and mathematics they discovered have irreversibly altered the trajectory of mankind and the planet we currently inhabit. This is by no means a comprehensive treatise on number theory or any particular branch of the vast subject that is mathematics. To this end, I have cherry-picked a number of mathematical themes which range from ‘magical numbers’ right through to Pi and the significance of numbers to the Universe.