maths 31 March 2009
I watched a tv programme about maths this evening which was both very interesting and very annoying. There was a professor boffin with the comedian Alan Davies (tje latter designed to make it more accessible of us eejits) and the prof was a bit over-eager to involve the Common Man (although he did explain one very good rule of thumb based on Maths for a 3 cup trick). In the end it boils dpwn to the fact that Maths is PROOF in the most abstract way (it’s another language really) and that everything can probably be explained by it EVENTUALLY but also that it is beautiful and patterned and infinite. I got all that but I still have a problem with probability and my 7 times tables (ain’t they the hardest? followed swiftly by 9 times ones). And don’t get me started on Prime Numbers…
I do wish my brain worked that way, however, as it looks like good nerdy fun – though I suspect it is not entirely harmless.
