Why is the history of maths important?
Marcus du Sautoy: We tend to teach mathematics both at school and at university in a very ahistorical fashion. Yet for many people I think knowing where it all came from would provide a powerful context and narrative in which to frame the mathematical journey. If ever you wondered why a bit of mathematics was created it pays to look back at the history of where it came from. Because mathematics is a subject which builds upon the discoveries of previous generations rather than knocking them down, it has an in-built connection to history. The results proved by the Ancient Greek or medieval Indian mathematicians are as true today as when they were proved centuries ago. OSB: What are the challenges of portraying maths on TV? MdS: TV has been very scared of doing mathematics because they couldn’t understand what you would see. It is true that the abstract nature of mathematics makes it sometimes difficult to find a visual way to bring the subject alive. But the trick we’ve used is to mirror
