http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2010/06/the-inspired-story-of-math/ the intersection of science and the arts, from sciencefriday.com Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:42:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/2010/06/the-inspired-story-of-math/comment-page-1/#comment-3432 John Verity Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:07:54 +0000 http://www.sciencefriday.com/arts/?p=1976#comment-3432 I just watched the first episode of this show and like it, pretty much. I have to say, though, that the "typical problem" the narrator presents as an example of Babylonian math wizardry - the one shown in the clip you include here - is absurd: One of the known quantities is the area of that field; the problem is to figure out the length of the sides of the field. But how, I wonder, can one possibly know the area of that field WITHOUT already knowing those two lengths? I know what he's trying to explain, or illustrate, but I think he has it bass-ackwards. I also find his voice a bit over-enthusiastic, to the point of stridency. He sounds much better on a BBC radio show I like, In Our Time, with Melvyn Bragg, which often touches on math, or maths, as the Brits say. Otherwise, I like the TV show; hard to imagine nearly as erudite and learned as this appearing on US TV. Well, there was The Ascent of Man, years ago, but that, too, was produced in Britain. I just watched the first episode of this show and like it, pretty much. I have to say, though, that the “typical problem” the narrator presents as an example of Babylonian math wizardry – the one shown in the clip you include here – is absurd: One of the known quantities is the area of that field; the problem is to figure out the length of the sides of the field. But how, I wonder, can one possibly know the area of that field WITHOUT already knowing those two lengths? I know what he’s trying to explain, or illustrate, but I think he has it bass-ackwards. I also find his voice a bit over-enthusiastic, to the point of stridency. He sounds much better on a BBC radio show I like, In Our Time, with Melvyn Bragg, which often touches on math, or maths, as the Brits say. Otherwise, I like the TV show; hard to imagine nearly as erudite and learned as this appearing on US TV. Well, there was The Ascent of Man, years ago, but that, too, was produced in Britain.

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