Marcus du Sautoy finds maths in unusual places.
Whatever you're planning to do tonight, cancel it! Because tonight at 9pm on BBC Two it's the first episode of Marcus du Sautoy's new series The Code. It's a three-part series about maths in the world around us, exploring anything from honeycombs to flocks of birds, nautilus shells to planetary motion.
And it's not just about sitting on the couch and marvelling — oh no! The Code is also a treasure hunt with clues being revealed in each episode, in a series of online games and on the blog. Getting all the clues right may lead you to a valuable prize hidden somewhere in the UK. The hunt has already started with a challenge to find pictures of primes in the real world.
Ian Short, the Open University academic consultant for the series (and Plus author), says: "The series is packed with mathematical curiosities. One of my favourites is a bubble dodecahedron, which you can already see here." And there are plenty more clips and game on the series website.
To warm up for the challenge you can also read Marcus du Sautoy's Plus articles:
Happy code breaking!
Code video for use in math classrooms
I'd love to have the Code video to be able to share Marcus du Sautoy's math adventures. Unfortunately, I live in California and wonder if it's possible/planned for the Code episodes to be made available online.
Thanks,
Bill Lombard
bill.lombard@gmail.com
www.mrlsmath.com
Redding CA USA
Joining Bill Lombard's request
From "the other end" of the world - Israel - I join Bill Lombard's request to make Marcus du Sautoy's presentations available to all citizens of planet earth
Nitsa Movshovitz-Hadar
nitsa@technion.ac.il
Joining Bill Lombard's request
I am a maths teacher in Australia trying to inspire maths in the Antipodes! Would also love being able to use the presentations in the classroom!
Susan Turnbull