Marcus du Sautoy
@MarcusduSautoy
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Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics. Author of Thinking Better (Fourth Estate).
Joined February 2009
I made this short video about my book Around the World in 80 Games @4thEstateBooks to celebrate it being chosen as Blackwells non-fiction book of the month. Out now in paperback.
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Dear Simon Pegg, Maths is a hugely creative subject that underpins many creative industries: architecture, animation, special effects, music. To equate mathematicians with a drone army of date entering robots shows why a maths for artists 16-18 course would be a great idea.
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When I spotted @kimjoyskitchen recipe @guardian for mango tart with geometric fruit pieces, the mathematician in me couldn’t resist doing my own symmetrical version
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A mutant algorithm?!? This was a classic old school algorithm written in a top down manner by humans with no AI or machine learning. The algorithm did not mutate. It implemented a set of rules decided by humans. Blame the humans not the algorithm.
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June 28 Have the Perfect Day!.6=1+2+3.28=1+2+4+7+14.Celebrate with mathematical cakes!
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Of course I never said that Rishi Sinai was proposing such a course. My wishful thinking. A similar course at Central St Martins for students was over subscribed every year by creative artists realising post 18 that maths helped their practice.
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If you’d like to find out how maths helps anyone think better then why not check out my latest book Thinking Better: the art of the shortcut. My manifesto for the maths we should be teaching
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I’m all for an anti Tory rant but interestingly this was part of the Labour Party manifesto in 2015 which I helped campaign for. Of course it might be why Labour lost!.
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Always an exciting moment when I get the first copy of my new book
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When I published The Creativity Code in 2019 I still hadn’t seen a truly exciting application of machine learning to my own subject of mathematics. Today that has changed. The announcement by DeepMind shows how powerful a collaborator AI can be.
A new paper in @Nature details how machine learning was used to make significant new discoveries in pure mathematics by guiding the intuition of some of the world’s top mathematicians from @Sydney_Uni and @OxUniMaths: . Paper: 1/
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@eamonno64 Sometimes it takes a bit of time to get a new mathematical idea. I see students frieze when they first encounter something but when they come back to it a year later things are much clearer. I often think retaking a year in maths would be better than pressing on to new material.
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Making a film for TV with a Japanese crew on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture about counting points on elliptic curves. Once upon a time the BBC would make such programmes.
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Amazing moment this afternoon @royalsociety to sign the same book that Newton signed to become a Fellow
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Primary schools already reach maths to a high standard. Maths 16-18 is a good idea but too late. It’s key stage 3 (11-14) where we lose them. We need a more exciting curriculum to engage this group. Teach them the big ideas of maths not just numeracy.
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First thought: wow never noticed that before. Second thought: fake news. Those aren’t diamonds. They’ve got curved sides. Third thought: let’s check a deck. Fourth thought: it took till 53 to notice that diamonds have curved sides!.
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In the Observer @guardian today “How maths can help you win at everything” especially games! Find out more in my new book Around the World in 80 Games. Out this week in the US @BasicBooks and in the UK @4thEstateBooks
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ChatGPT with Wolfram plug-in scores 96% in a UK Maths A-level paper. ChatGPT alone got 43%. Game over for maths A level? @conradwolfram thinks so. Time to rethink the maths curriculum
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From prime numbers to non-euclidean geometry, from astronomy to magnetism Gauss contributed such a feast of exciting new ideas to mathematics and science. Find out more in this episode of the great @BBCRadio4 series @BBCInOurTime
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The only advantage I can see to #Brexit is that at least we could give up decimal and could move to a Babylonian base 60. 10 is rubbish! Only divisible by 2 and 5. 60 is brilliant! Divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,10,12,15,20,30.
Ever wondered why there are 60 minutes in an hour? Mathematician @MarcusduSautoy explained at the @hayfestival how the ancient Babylonians used their hands to count with base 60 #HayFestival2018
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“Maths education goes wrong between 11 and 14. Kids come out of primary fired up by maths, raring to go and suddenly we bore the pants off them. We’re not being brave enough with that age group.”.
For maths to 18 to work, what should be in the mix ? Is it the right age group to focus on? By me for @ft Thanks @dmthomas90 @MarcusduSautoy and @AlfColes for the expert input. (Comes with a helping of festive booze analogies, bear with)
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It’s publication day for The Creativity Code! Enjoy!
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We use our fingers to work base 10. The Mayans can use fingers and toes to work base 20. The Babylonians used knuckles to work base 60. So I wonder if the Simpsons work base 8?
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Very excited to announce this new animation about Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem that I’ve been working on for the last year.
NEW VIDEO: How a simple thought experiment led a logician to a discovery that would change mathematics forever:
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Gödel’s incompleteness theorem is one of the most exciting things I learnt as a student. Here’s my five minute animated introduction to this extraordinary discovery @TED_ED
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Family subjected to nerdy mathematical trip to Giant's Causeway in search of perfect hexagon. I was last here filming The Code for BBC
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If I could have one object from the Escher exhibition I visited in Brooklyn this weekend it would be this beautiful chocolate box Escher designed. Its symmetry group is A5 the first non-abelian simple group in the Atlas, the Periodic Table of Symmetry
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As an author it’s always exciting when you get the first bound proofs. These aren’t the final copies, just the proofs which get sent out to get people looking at the book. But that moment when the book first goes from screen to page is when it all feels real. @4thEstateBooks
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Have a perfect day! A perfect number is sum of its proper divisors. For example 6=1+2+3 and 28=1+2+4+7+14 making today 6/28 the perfect day.
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"Algebra? But that's far too difficult for seven-year-olds!" "Yes but I didn't tell them that, and so far they haven't found out" #Pratchett.
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Look what arrived in the post this morning. hot off the presses. exciting!! Available on March 7.
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Just got the first copies of the new updated 20th anniversary edition of The Music of the Primes @4thEstateBooks with a new chapter I wrote on recent progress plus a beautiful introduction by @SimonMcBurney
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“Thinking Better — maths’ greatest hits. This romp through mathematical ideas doesn’t shy away from equations or challenging ideas but is always a model of clarity” Thanks @TimHarford for a great review of my new book @FT @4thEstateBooks
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Find out how Bach used clever mathematical shortcuts to write his music in this new video I made with @BradyHaran @numberphile (more shortcuts available in my latest book Thinking Better, out in the US this week @BasicBooks ).
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Hiking hut to hut in the mountains for my birthday. A hike is all about enjoying the long way from A to B. But sometimes you need a shortcut. Find out in Thinking Better how @RobGMacfarlane used an avalanche to get him off the mountain fast before he was benighted
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Did you know Snakes and Ladders has its origins in an Indian game to teach players about the moral road to moksha. I found this beautiful Jain board in a museum in Delhi this weekend. Find out more in my forthcoming book Around the World in 80 Games @4thEstateBooks @BasicBooks
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Woohoo! Bound proofs. that moment when it starts to look like a real book. Wonder whether an AI novelist will ever get the same rush of excitement I had this morning when I opened the post.
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Why are there true statements that we can't prove? A five minute animated introduction to Godel's Incompleteness Theorem @TED_ED
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End of a fascinating meeting on AI and the future of work @aaas with @royalsociety including our panel on Identity captured here beautifully by our graphic illustrator (not an AI)
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Hilarious. My flight to Helsinki delayed cos the pilot's maths doesn't match with the engineer's maths on how much fuel we've got on board!.
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I hate this narrative that accepting more state students lowers standards. There are enough brilliant students in the state system to admit a representative 93% and maintain Oxford’s high standards. How is it fair 7% from private school get more places?
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It's still mathematically possible! We beat Costa Rica i:0 where i is square root of minus one and we go through in an imaginary dimension.
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Hopefully an algorithm has already alerted you to the fact my programme on algorithms is @BBCFOUR tonight at 10:30
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It's that time when @WiredUK asks us what's going to happen in 2021. My prediction: We will see the first truly creative proof of a mathematical theorem written by an artificial intelligence. Check out The Creativity Code for the current state of AI mathematical creativity
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Around the World in 80 Games. Join me as I unlock the secrets to the greatest games and share some of my mathematical tips to give you an edge when you next play. @4thEstateBooks @BasicBooks
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Lovely quote from @MichaelRosenYes about my new book. We met when I hosted Mindgames on BBC4, my first bit of TV. Michael was a team captain and very good at finding shortcuts to solve the cunning conundrums I set. @4thEstateBooks
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At Oxford we get so many brilliant students applying for places that any of them would maintain our high standards. Alas we cannot take them all. Even if we took a representative 93% from state schools our quality of student wouldn’t drop.
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For an author, receiving the first copy of a new book is like a marathon runner seeing the finishing line.
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Happy to help @colinfoster77 @LboroDME launch the new Lumen curriculum last night with a talk about the role of story telling in mathematics, an important strand in Lumen's approach to engaging students at school.
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It's not just the Champions League Final that is due to be held in St Petersburg this year. Also the International Congress of Mathematicians where our Fields Medals are awarded. Surely the IMU must act quickly to move the meeting out of Russia.
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Check out my article for BBC History Magazine about the importance of history in the teaching of maths
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Wow! Over a million views in a week. The paradox at the heart of mathematics: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem . @TED_ED.
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I've started a YouTube channel to host a few films that are not available elsewhere and to curate some playlists of films already available @YouTube Hope you enjoy! Today Mathematics in Buddhism made for Bhutan TV in 2017.
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Thanks @Maisie_Williams for coming to the talk in Bristol tonight. Hope you enjoyed #WhatWeCannotKnow
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A record new prime has been discovered 2^74,207,281-1 with 22,338,618 digits. Thanks to Euclid this is a story that will never run dry.
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A formula for pi. My small contribution to @davidwalliams great new book @HarperCollinsCh The World's Worst Children
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Here is my interview on BBC's Today programme explaining today's exciting announcement about the origins of zero
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When I was at school, I always wrestled with the dilemma of whether to follow my mathematical or musical passions. Now I feel like I don’t have to make that choice. Thank you @RNCMvoice for the wonderful honour.
We are delighted to announce that PRiSM Co-Director @MarcusduSautoy has been elected Honorary Visiting Professor @RNCMvoice .
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Deep in Debussy’s extraordinary use of Fibonacci numbers and golden ratios in his construction of La Mer. He mimics in sound the geometry of the waves Hokusai painted. Performing tonight @WhitehallOrch
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Woohoo! It’s publication day for my new book Thinking Better: the Art of the Shortcut. Hope you enjoy it!
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My talk in Bristol might have meant I missed tonight's episode of Game of Thrones but at least GoT came to see me
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Must admit I did a double take at Finsbury Park tube station this morning. Why have they plastered up a Xenakis score?
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To be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . what an amazing honour! Can't quite believe it.
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New Twitter banner and profile picture to celebrate the forthcoming publication of my new book Thinking Better: the Art of the Shortcut
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Genius! @BradyHaran has set my @numberphile interview to a video of the train journey from Oxford to London, the journey on which I made my 1st mathematical breakthrough. Think I might sit and watch it for more inspiration
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Can’t think of more stunning place to spend my birthday. Thanks to @RobGMacfarlane whose book Mountains of the Mind inspired my annual pilgrimage to the mountains. This year the Dolomites.
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How to Count to ∞ in 64 pages. 32 to get from 1 to 2. 16 for 2 to 3. 8 for 3 to 4. Half the pages & by book's end you've reached ∞.
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Cambridge @heffersbookshop wins the prize for the most amazing window display for my book. Fun event tonight with readers.
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Couldn’t resist joining the Bollywood flash mob for the screening of Slumdog Millionaire @JLFLitfest @soneva (footage care of @DalrympleWill )
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Just arrived in Dundee to speak at the beautiful @VADundee about creative robots. But equally beautiful is the underside of the Tay Road Bridge!
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No clamour?!?! I'll take a vaccine at 4am. Book me in. These people are living on a different planet @10DowningStreet
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Finally able to announce my embargoed news. a proof of the Riemann Hypothesis . well nearly . My new play The Axiom of Choice (in which Andre Weil proves the Riemann Hypothesis for function fields in prison) will be staged @VAULTFestival Book now!
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A sneak preview of my new book Around the World in 80 Games. Out this autumn. @4thEstateBooks @BasicBooks
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The Era of the Mathematician Has Arrived. Find out the ways Keith McNulty is using his maths to navigate the challenges of the modern work place. If you want to know more about the suite of techniques we use check out my new book Thinking Better.
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My new book Around the World in 80 Games is out later this year. @4thEstateBooks Stumbled on two of my games painted on the floor in the Palace in Udaipur. India loves its games as well as its maths. My book is all about the connection between the two.
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Happy World Maths Day! In Stockholm today celebrating 100 years of mathematical breakthroughs and looking ahead to the next 100 years.
Prof @MarcusduSautoy is a Faraday Prize winner. His research explores the mathematics of symmetry #WorldMathsDay
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This dice from the Harappan civilisation (found on my trip to Delhi) dates back to 2700-2000BC. Proof that we’ve been playing games for a long time. Lots more dice to be found in my new book Around the World in 80 Games. Out this autumn @4thEstateBooks @BasicBooks
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Having just finished a proof copy of @jimalkhalili wonderful debut sci-fi novel Sunfall (out in April) about the magnetic pole flipping, I was rather spooked to read news that the North Pole has started shifting.
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Very sorry to hear about the death of Terry Jones. It was a joy to work with him on The Story of One. He had such academic integrity making sure all the maths was correct.
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I’ve dedicated my new book Thinking Better: the Art of the Shortcut to all the maths teachers out there who have done such a wonderful job inspiring their students. Thank you!
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My latest @numberphile video about my new book Thinking Better: the Art of the Shortcut @4thEstateBooks out 19 August (hopefully not a shortcut to actually buying a copy of the book!).
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My TV series The Beauty of Diagrams is being repeated @BBCFOUR starting tomorrow at 7:30 with Vitruvian Man
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Happy paperback publication day to my wonderful Oxford colleague @DrJaninaRamirez Looking forward to reading my copy of Femina that arrived today
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Quite a few of my BBC programmes are now on Netflix. Look out for "The Story of Maths". "The Code". "Precision".
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"Beautiful maths is better than ugly maths. But ugly maths is better than no maths." Great final line of @VickyMaths1729 cracking programme @BBCRadio4 A Mathematician's Guide to Beauty. Check it out!
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My BBC series The Story of Maths is on @NetflixUK taking you from Babylon to Bourbaki and beyond
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Congratulations to James Maynard @OxUniMaths on the award of one of today’s Fields Medals for his extraordinary discoveries about prime numbers, the most enigmatic numbers in mathematics.
Oxford Mathematician James Maynard has been awarded a Fields Medal, the highest honour a young mathematician can attain. Watch James discuss his award and his work:. And read more about his work:.
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How wonderful to get an email from my old maths teacher Mr Bailson after my #LifeScientific He was the one who started it all. Thanks!.
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Always an exciting moment to see the cover of my new book. Loving that red arrow. Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut. Out in August. @4thEstateBooks
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I knew I was destined for academia when as a kid I identified a zoomed in picture of mashed potato on Univ Challenge and no one else got it.
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Got back from @braemar_summit to find these beauties waiting for me hot off the @4thEstateBooks presses. Around the World in 80 Games officially out on 12th October. Get ready to roll those dice.
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If I were allowed to take one equation with me to a desert island then this is the one I'd choose @guardian
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I shall be exploring the Sound of Symmetry @UniofOxford #CuriosityCarnival on 29th September. Sign up now!
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Loved being able to see the whole brass section congratulating the first trumpet for hitting a brilliant top C in the final bar of Tosca @RoyalOperaHouse after three hours in the pit. Great seat for £11.
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My new TV programme The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms will be broadcast 9pm 24 Sep on BBC4 http://t.co/LJOInTJWFV.
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A pilot from the red arrows told me they’d created the infinity symbol in the sky but wanted to know its origins. It was created by John Wallis who was the Savilian Prof of Geometry in my college in Oxford, New, in 1655.
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Very excited to announce we have started work to create a free online course @OpenUniversity to explore the ideas in my book #WhatWeCannotKnow We hope it will be a great introduction to some of the big ideas of science.
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Wishing maths teachers heading back to school in the UK a good year. My new book Thinking Better: the Art of the Shortcut is full of ways to bring the curriculum to life. For example find out how trigonometry is the shortcut to navigating the night sky.
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Bach wrote 14 extra canons at the end of the Goldberg variations. The 5th has the shape of a Möbius strip. At the end of the 14th he writes etc as if you can just continue to infinity. (BACH=2+1+3+8=14, his shirt number!)
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