• 8
    plays
  • 4
    collected
  • BBC Two
  • 25m
  • United Kingdom
This BBC Open University series profiles the development of mathematical thought from Euclid to the middle of the 19th century.

8 episodes

Series Premiere

1x01 Emergence of Greek Mathematics

  • no air date25m

This first episode looks at the achievements of Thales, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Theatetus and Euclid, highlighting Euclid’s 13 volume work, " The Elements ".

1x02 Vernacular Tradition

  • no air date25m

The rediscovery of Greek learning during the Renaissance overshadowed the emergence in that era of works dealing with practical mathematics in commerce and everyday life, written in local languages. This second program concentrates on these studies, and the Hindu and Arabic analyses that influenced them.

The role of 17th century monk Marin Mersenne in promoting intellectual collaboration in science is emphasized in this third video. The works of Descartes, Desagues, Pascal and Newton are also reviewed.

This fourth program examines the discovery of calculus, made independently by both Isaac Newton and Godfrey Wilhelm Leibniz in the 17th century.

This fifth episode concentrates on algebra, and how the works of both applied mathematician William Hamilton and logician George Boole separated algebra from arithemetic.

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