Name: The Joy of Mathematics
Released: 2007-04-11T00:00:00.000Z
Cast: Arthur Benjamin

TV Show · Special Interest

Humans have had fun and games with mathematics for thousands of years; along the way, they discover the utility of this field, celebrating the sheer joy of mathematics, taught by a mathematician who is literally a magician with numbers.

2007 · 29m

Starring Arthur Benjamin

EPISODE 1

The Joy of Math - The Big Picture

Professor Benjamin introduces the ABCs of math appreciation; the field's applications, its beauty and structure and its certainty; mathematics is a source of endless delight through creative play with numbers.
EPISODE 2

The Joy of Numbers

How to add all the numbers from 1 to 100 instantly; what makes a square number square and a triangular number triangular; why the rules of arithmetic really work; how one calculates in bases other than 10.
EPISODE 3

The Joy of Primes

A number is prime if it is evenly divisible by only itself and the number one; Professor Benjamin proves that there are an infinite number of primes and how primes are the building blocks of the number system.
EPISODE 4

The Joy of Counting

Combinatorics is the study of counting questions, such as how many outfits are possible if one owns eight shirts, five pairs of pants and 10 ties; combinatorics can also be used to analyze numbering systems and games of chance.
EPISODE 5

The Joy of Fibonacci Numbers

The Fibonacci numbers follow a simple pattern in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers; Fibonacci numbers have many beautiful and unexpected properties; Fibonacci numbers in nature, art and poetry.
EPISODE 6

The Joy of Algebra

Arguably the most important area of mathematics, algebra introduces the idea of using an abstract variable to represent an unknown quantity; discovering algebra's golden rule, which is to do unto one side of an equation as one does unto the other.