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Tony Padilla

For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac or Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths - via ever more mind-boggling numbers - led to strange new understandings of reality. But what are these mysterious numbers that explain the universe? 
 
In Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Antonio Padilla takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics. These include Graham's number, which is so large that if you thought about it in the wrong way, your head would collapse into a singularity; TREE(3), whose finite value could never be reached before the universe reset itself; and 10^{-120}, which measures the desperately unlikely balance of energy the universe needs to exist. . . 
 
Leading us down the rabbit hole to the inner workings of reality, Padilla demonstrates how these unusual numbers are the key to unlocking such mind-bending phenomena as black holes, entropy and the problem of the cosmological constant, which shows that our two best ways of understanding the universe contradict one another. Combining cutting-edge science with an entertaining cosmic quest, Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them is an electrifying, head-twisting guide to the most fundamental truths of the universe.

Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them

A Journey to the Edge of Physics

Matt Parker

Explore the life-changing magic of trigonometry with Matt Parker, stand-up mathematician and No. 1 bestselling author of Humble Pi 
 
Why can no two people ever see the same rainbow? What happens when you pull a pop song apart into pure sine waves and play it back on a piano? Why does the wake behind a duck always form an angle of exactly 39 degrees? And what did mathematicians have to do with the great pig stampede of 2012? The answer to each of these questions can be found in the triangle. 
 
In Love Triangle, stand-up comedian, ex-maths teacher and Sunday Times number one bestselling author Matt Parker is on a mission to prove why we should all show a lot more love for triangles, along with the useful trigonometry and geometry they enable. To make his point, he uses triangles to create his own digital avatar, survive a harrowing motorcycle ride, cut a sandwich into three equal parts, and measure tall buildings while wearing silly shoes. But soon these hare-brained experiments begin to reveal a genuinely important truth: triangles are the hidden pattern beneath the surface of the contemporary world, used in everything from GPS to CGI via Spotify streaming, the play button and your best mate&rsquo;s triangle tattoo. 
 
Join Matt Parker as he demonstrates why there&rsquo;s more to triangles than Pythagoras and SOHCAHTOA. Triangles are everything and everything is triangles.

Love Triangle

The Life-changing Magic of Trigonometry

Nate Silver

Every time we choose a route to work, decide whether to go on a second date, or set aside money for a rainy day, we are making a prediction about the future. Yet from the financial crisis to ecological disasters, we routinely fail to foresee hugely significant events, often at great cost to society. 
 
In The Signal and the Noise, the New York Times political forecaster Nate Silver, who accurately predicted the results of every single state in the 2012 US election, reveals how we can all develop better foresight in an uncertain world. From the stock market to the poker table, from earthquakes to the economy, he takes us on an enthralling insider's tour of the high-stakes world of forecasting, showing how we can use information in a smarter way amid a noise of data - and make better predictions in our own lives.

The Signal and the Noise

The Art and Science of Prediction

In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "The River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life. 
 
These professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century. By embedding within these worlds, Silver offers insight into a range of issues that affect us all, from the frontiers of finance to the future of AI. 
 
The River has increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset—including the flaws in their thinking—is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today. There are certain commonalities in this otherwise diverse group: high tolerance for risk; appreciation of uncertainty; affinity for numbers; skill at de-coupling; self-reliance and a distrust of the conventional wisdom. For the River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it, without going beyond the pale. 
 
Taking us behind-the-scenes from casinos to venture capital firms to meetings of the effective altruism movement, On the Edge is a deeply-reported, all-access journey into a hidden world of powerbrokers and risk takers.

On the Edge

The Art of Risking Everything

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The phenomenal international bestseller that shows us how to stop trying to predict everything - and take advantage of uncertainty 
 
What have the invention of the wheel, Pompeii, the Wall Street Crash, Harry Potter and the internet got in common? Why are all forecasters con-artists? Why should you never run for a train or read a newspaper? 
 
This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underlie our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalize them. 
 
'Taleb is a bouncy and even exhilarating guide ... I came to relish what he said, and even develop a sneaking affection for him as a person' Will Self, Independent on Sunday 
 
'He leaps like some superhero of the mind' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

The Black Swan

The Impact of the Highly Improbable

John Allen Paulos

Paulos offers a hillarious account of how the stock market both follows and defies mathematical principals. He offers an enagaing overview of everything from &quot;betas&quot; to the efficient market hypothesis.

A Mathematician Plays the Market

What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? How do billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? How does a building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world. 
 
As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until ... it doesn't. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

Humble Pi

A Comedy of Maths Errors

Donal O'Shea

The Poincar&eacute; Conjecture tells the story behind one of the world&rsquo;s most confounding mathematical theories. Formulated in 1904 by Henri Poincar&eacute;, his Conjecture promised to describe the very shape of the universe, but remained unproved until a huge prize was offered for its solution in 2000. Six years later, an eccentric Russian mathematician had the answer. 
 
Here, Donal O&rsquo;Shea explains the maths behind the Conjecture and its proof, and illuminates the curious personalities surrounding this perplexing conundrum, along the way taking in a grand sweep of scientific history from the ancient Greeks to Christopher Columbus. This is an enthralling tale of human endeavour, intellectual brilliance and the thrill of discovery.

The Poincaré Conjecture

In Search of the Shape of the Universe

Every time we choose a route to work, decide whether to go on a second date, or set aside money for a rainy day, we are making a prediction about the future. Yet from the global financial crisis to 9/11 to the Fukushima disaster, we often fail to foresee hugely significant events. In The Signal and the Noise, the New York Times' political forecaster and statistics guru Nate Silver explores the art of prediction, revealing how we can all build a better crystal ball. 
 
In his quest to distinguish the true signal from a universe of noisy data, Silver visits hundreds of expert forecasters, in fields ranging from the stock market to the poker table, from earthquakes to terrorism. What lies behind their success? And why do so many predictions still fail? By analysing the rare prescient forecasts, and applying a more quantitative lens to everyday life, Silver distils the essential lessons of prediction. 
 
We live in an increasingly data-driven world, but it is harder than ever to detect the true patterns amid the noise of information. In this dazzling insider's tour of the world of forecasting, Silver reveals how we can all develop better foresight in our everyday lives.

Simon Singh

Simon Singh takes a quirky look at some of the most important numbers in mathematics 
 
Physicist and popular science author Simon Singh explores the numbers and concepts that lie at the heart of some of the trickiest problems in mathematics, revealing their history, significance and unique qualities. 
 
Beginning with zero - which, amazingly, wasn't invented until 400 BC and then took thousands of years to catch on - he goes on to serve up a slice of pi, uncover the hidden beauty of the Golden Ratio, reveal the reality behind the imaginary number, and explain why some infinities are bigger than others... 
 
Are 7 shuffles sufficient to randomise a pack of cards? Are 4 colours enough to paint any map, so neighbouring countries have different colours? And could really big prime numbers help us to devise more secure encryption codes? Listen to these 15 programmes and find out... 
 
You'll also hear about G, the number that defines the universe; learn how game theory was used to boost profits for the Treasury when 3G phone licences were sold; and discover what makes 1729 - the first 'taxicab number' - so special. Whether you're a maths geek or simply curious about the weird and wonderful world of numbers, this lively, engaging series will surprise and delight. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Simon Singh 
Produced by Adrian Washbourne 
 
With: Dave Gorman, Ian Stewart, John Barrow, Adam Spencer, Charles Seife, Marcus du Sautoy, Robin Wilson, Rob Eastaway, David Blatner, Ron Knott, Greg Chaitin, Ken Appel, Thomas Bass, Persi Diaconis, Dave Bayer, Karl Sabbagh, Thomas Hales, Ken Binmore, Sylvia Nasar, Robert Matthews, Julie Roskies, Eleanor Robson, Mark Nigrini, Julie Litman, Janna Levin, Marcus Chown, Duncan Watts, Paul Hoffman, Martin Rees, Robert Kanigel, Cristian Calude 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 11-15 March 2002 (Five Numbers), 27-31 October 2003 (Another Five Numbers), 23 August-20 September 2005 (A Further Five Numbers) 
 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Simon Singh's Numbers

A BBC Radio Mathematics Adventure

Cédric Villani

“This man could plainly do for mathematics what Brian Cox has done for physics” — Sunday Times 
 
How does a genius see the world? Where and how does inspiration strike? 
 
Cédric Villani takes us on a mesmerising adventure as he wrestles with the Boltzmann equation – a new theorem that will eventually win him the most coveted prize in mathematics and a place in the mathematical history books. Along the way he encounters obstacles and setbacks, losses of faith and even brushes with madness. 
 
His story is one of courage and partnership, doubt and anxiety, elation and despair. Of ordinary family life blurring with the abstract world of mathematical physics, of theories and equations that haunt your dreams and seeking the elusive inspiration found only in a locked, darkened room. 
 
Blending science with history, biography with myth, Villani conjures up an inimitable cast: the omnipresent Einstein, mad genius Kurt Godel, and Villani’s personal hero, John Nash. 
 
Step inside the magical world of Cédric Villani…

Birth of a Theorem

A Mathematical Adventure

Vaclav Smil

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a mind-opening exploration of how size defines life on Earth. 
 
Explaining the key processes shaping size in nature, society and technology, Smil busts myths around proportions - from bodies to paintings and the so-called golden ratio - tells us what Jonathan Swift got wrong in Gulliver's Travels - the giant Brobdingnagian's legs would buckle under their enormous weight - and dives headfirst into the most contentious issue in ergonomics: the size of aeroplane seats. 
 
It is no exaggeration to say this fascinating and wide-ranging tour de force will change the way you look at absolutely everything.

Size

How It Explains the World

Stephen Baker

In a world teeming with data, we ourselves become the maths gurus' most prized specimens. 
 
In They've Got Your Number..., Stephen Baker takes us on a guided tour (no maths required) through an unprecedented new era. Much in the same way as neuroscientists are mapping our brains, mathematicians are mapping our behaviour - what we do, who we are, how we work, chat, play and shop - everything that makes us individuals. In doing so, they will change every aspect of our lives. 
 
They've Got Your Number... examines one of the great undertakings of the twenty-first century - the mathematical modelling of humanity. It's a world that otherwise might seem remote or disconnected, but one which is absolutely relevant to our everyday lives.

They've Got Your Number...

Data, Digits and Destiny - how the Numerati are changing our Lives

Festival of the Spoken Nerd

Get ready to enjoy both series 1 and 2 of the heady combination of maths, science and comedy that is Domestic Science. 
Featuring Matt Parker, Steve Mould and Helen Arney as Festival of the Spoken Nerd, these 8 episodes use stand-up, songs and experiments to investigate the world around us with a level of scientific accuracy not normally found in your average comedy series. 
 
If you've ever pondered where the mint in your toothpaste really comes from, or wondered what The Hot Chocolate Effect is, then come explore and play along at home. The team also investigate everything from radioactive bananas and musical bicycle tyres to assisting you with mathematically efficient sock storage and how to host your very own static electricity party. 
 
UK science comedy phenomenon Festival of the Spoken Nerd created this truly experimental radio show for BBC Radio 4, alongside appearances on BBC2’s QI and sharing stages at the Hammersmith Apollo and Royal Albert Hall with comedian Robin Ince, Professor Brian Cox and Commander Chris Hadfield. They toured their most recent stand-up science show to over 50,000 curious nerds (and non-nerds) and have accumulated millions of views on YouTube for their stand-up maths, songs and science explanations. 
 
Produced by Julia McKenzie

Domestic Science: Series 1 and 2

The BBC Radio 4 comedy

Daniel Nahum Rockmore

Like a hunter who sees 'a bit of blood' on the trail, that's how Princeton mathematician Peter Sarnak describes the feeling of chasing an idea that seems to have a chance of success. If this is so, then the jungle of abstractions that is mathematics is full of frenzied hunters these days. They are out stalking big game: the resolution of 'The Riemann Hypothesis', seems to be in their sights. The Riemann Hypothesis is about the prime numbers, the fundamental numerical elements. Stated in 1859 by Professor Bernhard Riemann, it proposes a simple law which Riemann believed a 'very likely' explanation for the way in which the primes are distributed among the whole numbers, indivisible stars scattered without end throughout a boundless numerical universe. Just eight years later, at the tender age of thirty-nine Riemann would be dead from tuberculosis, cheated of the opportunity to settle his conjecture. For over a century, the Riemann Hypothesis has stumped the greatest of mathematical minds, but these days frustration has begun to give way to excitement. This unassuming comment is revealing astounding connections among nuclear physics, chaos and number theory, creating a frenzy of intellectual excitement amplified by the recent promise of a one million dollar bounty. The story of the quest to settle the Riemann Hypothesis is one of scientific exploration. It is peopled with solitary hermits and gregarious cheerleaders, cool calculators and wild-eyed visionaries, Nobel Prize-winners and Fields Medalists. To delve into the Riemann Hypothesis is to gain a window into the world of modern mathematics and the nature of mathematics research.  Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis will open wide this window so that all may gaze through it in amazement.

Stalking The Riemann Hypothesis

Robin Wilson

Lewis Carroll's books have delighted children and adults for generations, but behind their exuberant fantasy and delightful nonsense was the mind of a brilliant mathematician. 
 
Now his forgotten achievements in the world of numbers are brought to light by acclaimed author and mathematician Robin Wilson. Here he explores the curious imagination of a man whose pioneering work at Oxford University included investigations into voting patterns and tennis seeding, who dreamt up numerical conundrums in bed at night and who filled his writings with problems, paradoxes, puzzles and teasing games of logic. 
 
Taking us into a world of mock turtles and maps, gryphons and gravity, Lewis Carroll in Numberland reveals the singular mind of a genius.

Lewis Carroll in Numberland

His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life

Kate Kitagawa

Timothy Revell

Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell introduce readers to the mathematical boundary-smashers who have been erased by history because of their race, gender or nationality. 
 
From the brilliant Arabic scholars of the ninth-century House of Wisdom, and the pioneering African American mathematicians of the twentieth century, to the 'lady computers' around the world who revolutionised our knowledge of the night sky, we meet these fascinating trailblazers and see how they contributed to our global knowledge today. 
 
This revisionist, completely accessible and radically inclusive history of mathematics is as entertaining as it is important.

The Secret Lives of Numbers

A Global History of Mathematics & Its Unsung Trailblazers

A Global History of Mathematics & its Unsung Trailblazers

Judea Pearl

Dana Mackenzie

'Correlation does not imply causation.' This mantra was invoked by scientists for decades in order to avoid taking positions as to whether one thing caused another, such as smoking and cancer and carbon dioxide and global warming. But today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, sparked by world-renowned computer scientist Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and placed cause and effect on a firm scientific basis. Now, Pearl and science journalist Dana Mackenzie explain causal thinking to general readers for the first time, showing how it allows us to explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It is the essence of human and artificial intelligence. And just as Pearl's discoveries have enabled machines to think better, The Book of Why explains how we can think better.

The Book of Why

The New Science of Cause and Effect

Lawrence Potter

'If you follow this eloquently written book you will be equipped to cope with all manner of challenges, such as splitting a restaurant bill, filling in a tax return, or understanding the compound interest on your bank statement. You will also be able to calculate your chances of survival when playing Russian roulette, win at Perudo and pronounce '324' in Tibetan ('Gsum-bryga gnyis-bcu rtsa bzhi')... Plus there is a section on how the ancient Egyptians wrestled with equations; a 13-page appendix on how to solve Sudoku and a chapter on the Law of Large Numbers which offers useful tips on backing the right horses.' Daily Telegraph 
 
In this irreverent guide to classroom horrors such as algebra, percentages and probability, maths teacher Lawrence Potter sheds light on the dark mysteries that have haunted you since your childhood. Full of fascinating examples and surprising puzzles, Mathematics Minus Fear demonstrates that maths is not an isolated realm of abstract thought but has fascinating connections with the world we encounter on a daily basis.

Mathematics Minus Fear

Robert Kaplan

Ellen Kaplan

It is easy to be wary of mathematics - but as this book shows, drawing on science, literature and philosophy, its patterns are evrywhere. In witty and eloquent prose, Robert and Ellen Kaplan take mathematics back to its estranged audience, bringing understanding and clarity to a traditionally difficult subject, and revealing the beauty behind the equations. Only by letting loose our curiosity can we learn to appreciate the wonder that can be found in mathematics - an 'art' invented by humans, which is also timeless.

The Art of the Infinite

Our Lost Language of Numbers

Bobby Seagull

If you found maths lessons at school irrelevant and boring, that’s because you didn’t have a teacher like Bobby Seagull. 
 
***As seen on Monkman &amp; Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain*** 
 
Long before his rise to cult fandom on University Challenge, Bobby Seagull was obsessed with numbers. They were the keys that unlocked the randomness of football results, the beauty of art and the best way to get things done. 
 
In his absorbing book, Bobby tells the story of his life through numbers and shows the incredible ways maths can make sense of the world around us. From magic shows to rap lyrics, from hobbies to outer space, from fitness to food – Bobby’s infectious enthusiasm for numbers will change how you think about almost everything. 
 
Told through fascinating stories and insights from Bobby’s life, and with head-scratching puzzles in every chapter, you’ll never look at numbers the same way again.

The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers

This is the complete guide to exploring the fascinating world of maths you were never told about at school. Stand-up comedian and mathematician Matt Parker uses bizarre Klein Bottles, unimaginably small pizza slices, knots no one can untie and computers built from dominoes to reveal some of the most exotic and fascinating ideas in mathematics. Starting with simple numbers and algebra, this book goes on to deal with inconceivably big numbers in more dimensions than you ever knew existed. And always with something for you to make or do along the way.

Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension

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