Story of Maths - Movie Review - part 1

BBC Story of Maths part 1   

          The story of maths (part 1) is a documentary about the history of math by a mathematician named, Marcus Du Sautoy. It showed how the basic language of number and calculations were created by the Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks.

         It was shown that everything started with patterns, counting, measuring and eventually developed from there. The Egyptians developed and used math when they deal with their daily problems. They utilized their resources and made use of them in attempting to answer their questions.

               The documentary was very fascinating and fun to watch. Prof. Marcus was able to explain it with ease and clarity. He was able to show some examples on how the number systems in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece worked. The computer graphics used to explain in further detail were also very helpful and entertaining to watch. Some of the effects were awkward to watch at times (especially when it was obvious that they were using green screen and when he interacted with the locals). The flow of the movie was smooth and it felt like Prof. Sautoy was just telling a story.

            The documentary was sort of like an eye-opener that made me appreciate math more. Math was invented because of man’s desire to live comfortably. Since math has developed through time, we are very lucky to be able to witness and live with math and it’s all thanks to the people during the ancient times who worked hard in discovering and inventing math. :)