MST_3: The Story of Maths: The Genius of the East_by Denzelle Freya A. Del Puerto

Name: Denzelle Freya A. Del Puerto                                                 Date: December 2013

MST 3                                                                  

The Story of Maths: The Genius of the East

The Story of Maths: the genius of the East is a documentary video, written and was narrated by Marcus du Sautoy.  This film offer handy explanations of important mathematical ideas, parts of the film are packed with “appealing anecdotes, attractive biographical details, and crucial episodes” on the geniuses of the east. The geniuses of the East, Indians, and Chinese…made great steps in the history of mathematics.

            Sautoy explores how mathematics helped build the imperial China. Mathematics was the heart of astonishing feats of engineering as the famous Great Wall of China. He narrates the ancient Chinese fascination with patterns; and their belief in the mystical powers of numbers, which still exists in the present day. In India he discovers how the symbol for the number zero was invented - one of the great landmarks in the development of mathematics. He examined the the Middle East, looking at the invention of the new language of algebra, and the evolution of a solution to cubic equations. The film stops in his journey in Italy, where he examined the spread of Eastern understanding to the west through the creator of the famous Fibonacci sequence inventor, Leonardo Fibonacci.

            I must say that this film had little increased my liking in math. Math’s’ history offer vast amazing information on how math flourished through time and it has fascinated me. The fact that ancient people, without the use of modern day technologies, have made great leaps mathematics – the Chinese for example, built the Great Wall of China to protect themselves from Mongol invaders with the help of simple and complicated mathematics and all. I want to note that the way the narrator narrates annoys me sometimes because he keeps on using different historical sites as background and sometimes it does not relate to the story or concepts he is saying. He only narrates; he does not interact with people; for example when he was in China or in India, he did not even bother to ask someone out of their point of view on their history. Interviewing the people in his scenes can help in reducing boring parts in the documentary.

Studying mathematics is indeed an interesting matter for those who understand the language of math, but it is mind torture to those who does not appreciate its beauty.