MOVIE/DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: The Story of Maths 1 – The Language of the Universe

            Many of us have known math for as long as we can remember. Consciously or unconsciously, people use it in daily activities. It has been with us from the beginning; from the simple numerical patterns that we can observe in nature, to the complex calculations that shaped our world. Mathematics has evolved as we try to find answers for much more complex problems of life and of the universe.

            The documentary tries to tell us the unraveling history of math. It narrates about the development of sophisticated mathematics by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians to solve practical problems such as counting, measuring land areas and volumes for construction; weighting products and equal distribution of food. Years and centuries later, the Greeks transformed these unorganized ideas into true analytic discipline that studies for properties and patterns within numbers. It is significantly amazing how three different societies from distant locations have arrived into almost the same mathematical discoveries, just in variety of methods.

Mathematics, throughout ages, has been derived from contributions of thinkers all over the globe. In this body of knowledge, humans across cultures make sense to the common experiences of patterns in the world. Not only about understanding of patterns, but also quantifying realistic relationships and to make premonitions of the future. Math therefore helps us understand the world and understanding is an important aspect of language. When we do these, we are doing mathematics. It is when we do math that language is alive and is used creatively across the globe. Hence, it is the universal language after all.

           Overall, the documentary was knowledge-feeding and at the same time entertaining. The host himself, a mathematician, excellently conveyed and exposed every detail about the history of math and how it became the universal language. My only critique for the movie was the poorly animated computer graphics that was made to portray mathematical points such as the construction of pyramids in Egypt and the first application of quadratic equations by the Babylonians. The narrator was ‘flying’ into what was supposed to be a 3D component of the pyramid and then next he was on a hot air balloon looking down to measure the length and width of an unknown parcel land. If they were to convince the audience to believe on their facts, they should have used more realistic special effects that would not trash out the information they’re trying to explain.