
93 episodes

The Secrets of Mathematics Oxford University
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4.1 • 37 Ratings
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A series of talks and lectures from Oxford Mathematicians exploring the power and beauty of their subject. These talks would appeal to anyone interested in mathematics and its ever-growing range of applications from medicine to economics and beyond.
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Mathemalchemy: a mathematical and artistic adventure
This lecture is a visual treat as Ingrid Daubechies celebrates the joy, creativity and beauty of mathematics. Inspired by textile artist Dominique Ehrmann, Ingrid, with Dominique, conceived the idea of a large mathematical installation that incorporated a myriad of mathematical ideas in an entertaining and visually stimulating way. Aided by the whimsy and imagination of 24 colleagues from across the mathematical universe, the Installation is taking shape - all kinds of shape. So who is Arnold and why is he baking Mandelbrot cookies?
Multi-award winning Ingrid Daubechies is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets. -
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I is a Strange Loop - written and performed by Marcus du Sautoy and Victoria Gould
From the creative ensemble behind Complicité’s sensational A Disappearing Number, this two-hander unfolds to reveal an intriguing take on mortality, consciousness and artificial life. Alone in a cube that glows in the darkness, X is content with its infinite universe and abstract thought. But then Y appears, insisting they interact, exposing X to Y's sensory and physical existence. Each begins to hanker after what the other has until a remarkable thing happens … involving a strange loop.
After the screening, Marcus and Victoria are joined by Simon McBurney, founder of Complicité, to discuss the play and mathematics and theatre.
An Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture in partnership with Faber Members.The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets. -
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Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture. Jon Keating: From one extreme to another: the statistics of extreme events
Oxford University's Sedleian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is 400 years old in 2021. The title implies a wide range of study. Current holder Jon Keating does just that in this Public Lecture via the Olympics, machine learning & the Riemann zeta-function, the mathematical object that encodes the mysterious distribution of the prime numbers.
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Spacetime Singularities - Roger Penrose, Dennis Lehmkuhl and Melvyn Bragg
We are on board the Oxford Mathematics Space Probe for this Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture as we explore Black Holes with a Nobel Laureate, a Professor of the History and Philosophy of Physics & a broadcasting legend. EvenAlbert Einstein thought Black Holes impossible. Then in 1965 Roger Penrose provided the Mathematical tools for Physicists to go and find them. A compelling story of 20th Century Science.
Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture in partnership with Wadham College. -
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Ideas for a Complex World - Anna Seigal
Science and maths are full of smart tools for explaining the world around us. Those tools can feel far removed from the way the rest of us understand that world. Can we reconcile the two approaches? Oxford Mathematician Anna Seigal provides some answers. The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
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Oxford Mathematics Public Lecture: Henry Segerman - Artistic Mathematics: truth and beauty
Mathematicians get up to all sorts. Geometers and Topologists in particular occupy a world of inconceivable shapes, concepts and dimensions. But how do you visualise such ideas? Sure, there's computer graphics, but what about over here, in the real world? In this lecture Henry Segerman will show just how it can be done with a dazzling array of 3D prints, virtual reality and even spherical video. Most of all, he displays the intrinsic beauty of mathematics.
Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Customer Reviews
The Secrets of Mathematics
The courses are all quality lectures. As someone who has limited access to the internet, I’m glad that these courses are available via podcasts. Thank you for sharing.
“Reductio ad absurdum, which Euclid loved so much, is one of a mathematician's finest weapons. It is a far finer gambit than any chess play: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game.”
— Godfrey Harold Hardy.
“But we should rather follow the wisdom of nature, which, as it takes very great care not to have produced anything superfluous or useless, often prefers to endow one thing with many effects. And though all these things are difficult, almost inconceivable, and quite contrary to the opinion of the multitude, nevertheless in what follows we will with God’s help make them clearer than day—at least for those who are not ignorant of the art of mathematics.”
On the Shoulders of Giants
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Terrible audio
Here’s another podcast from Oxford with terrible audio. If a legendary university wants to show that they’re up with the times by joining the podcast game, they need to understand that a podcast must have the audio quality of a radio show. Listen to NPR, or even MIT or Yale lectures and you’ll know what I mean. You can’t just have a lecture, and a guy sitting in the back of the room with a cheap recording device and call it a podcast. What Oxford is doing is 25 year old technology. Mathematics is hard enough. I can’t strain to try to understand what the lecturer is saying while trying to drive.
Audio problems
Audio cutting in and out in various episodes..?