Media Relations Office
Communications Group
The Open University
Milton Keynes
United Kingdom
MK7 6AA
t
f
e
w
+44 (0)1908 653343
+44 (0)1908 652247
[email protected]
www.open.ac.uk/media/
News
For the attention of: news editors
Date 15th September 2005 [PR5045]
The mysterious world of prime numbers
Switch off prime time TV and turn onto prime numbers for an informative and
imaginative whistle-stop tour through the ages in a new Open University/BBC
programme charting the relentless goal to unlock the mysteries of prime numbers.
This 60 minute programme, to be broadcast on BBC FOUR, at 9pm on Wednesday 28
September, offers an in depth and entertaining insight into the world of prime numbers
that has mystified mathematicians over the centuries.
Cracking the code of prime numbers, the ultimate prize to mathematicians would bring
global fame and a $US 1 million prize. It could also be priceless to the criminal
fraternity as internet security banking systems could be compromised.
Music of the Primes reveals how the natural world has become reliant on the
unpredictability of prime numbers in order to maintain their existence. And latest
computer generated imagery reproduces a 3-D graphical representation of Riemanns
‘zeta landscape’, deemed as the mathematical ‘holy grail’ in the race to unlock the
theory of distribution of the illusive primes.
The programme also examines how modern technology is assisting scientists,
physicists and mathematicians as ‘supercomputers’ are being used by ‘Prime Hunters’
to discover some truly massive primes; the largest unearthed in February 2005 is more
than seven million digits long.
Page 1 of 2
Programme presenter Marcus Du Sautoy, author of the book ‘Music of the Primes’,
chronicles the long struggle to find a solution to the most fundamental and frustrating
puzzle in all mathematics and provides the powerful central narrative of this great
intellectual endeavour.
Filmed on location in the UK, India and Greece, this historic journey begins with ancient
mathematicians, through to the modern academia of Bernhard Riemann and Indian
maths genius Srinavasa Ramanujan.
Music of the Primes is an intelligent, yet accessible, documentary that has appeal to
ardent mathematicians and everyday people. It demonstrates that we constantly rely
on maths; not only within the workplace, but in our everyday lives, from banks to bars,
and within the home as we struggle to get to grips with our personal finance. Although
we may not realise it, we are surrounded by numbers and mathematics.
Professor Robin Wilson, from the Open University’s Department of Pure Mathematics,
said: “Mathematics is a central part of our culture. The demand for people with an
appreciation of maths is continuously in great demand, not only in the classroom
teaching future generations, but also in the marketplace. People with mathematics
skills and expertise in the financial and banking sector are highly sought after and
mastering maths to meet that demand opens up a wide range of rewarding career
paths.”
Number anxiety is being tamed and the world turned on to maths through the latest
craze of Sudoku, the maths puzzle that has eclipsed the extraordinary craze of Rubic
cubes during the 1980s. Even Russell Crowe swapped his sword and shield in
Gladiator for chalk and blackboard in order to tackle complex maths in the motion
picture ‘A Beautiful Mind’. The world of maths is open to everyone, although the puzzle
of the prime numbers still remains unsolved and continues to be a mystery to even the
most devoted mathematicians.
BBC FOUR will be having a Numbers night when Music of the Primes will be repeated
alongside other great Maths programmes.
Resources
Website:
www.open.ac.uk/courses
http://www.open2.net
Media contact
Anne-Marie Hamill
[email protected]
Academic contact
Professor Robin Wilson
Page 2 of 2
[email protected]
+(44) 1908 655026