Simon Singh takes a quirky look at some of the most important numbers in mathematics.
Radio 4,Β·15 episodes
1729 - The first taxicab number
1729 is the smallest number you can write as the sum of two cubes, in two different ways.
G - The number that defines the universe
Newton's equation of gravity includes a number G, indicating the strength of gravitation.
Six degrees of separation
Six is often treated as 2x3, but has many characteristics of its own.
Two - At the double
Doubling is a form of exponential growth, which appears in population growth and inflation
One - The most popular number
One is the most popular number, as it appears more often than any other number.
Game Theory
When 3G phone licences were sold, game theory was used to boost proceeds for the Treasury.
Kepler's Conjecture
Is the 'face-centred cubic lattice' the most efficient way of stacking spheres?
The Largest Prime
Can large prime numbers be used to form the basis of more secure encryption codes?
The Number Seven
Are 7 shuffles sufficient to achieve a good degree of randomness in a deck of 52 cards?
The Number Four
Are 4 colours enough to paint any map, so neighbouring countries have different colours?
Infinity
Georg Cantor defined infinity as the size of the never-ending list of counting numbers.
The Imaginary Number
If the square root of +1 is both +1 and -1, then what is the square root of -1?
The Golden Ratio
The ratio of consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci is close to 1.618, the Golden Ratio.
Pi
At its simplest, Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Zero
Strangely, 'nothing' had to be invented, and then it took thousands of years to catch on.
