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170: Marcus du Sautoy on how to see the stories in numbers
Episode 170
Thursday, 18 September, 2025
This week we rented the top 3 maths movies of all time – A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game and 3 Men and a Baby – all in order to be mathematically competent enough to share a pod with one of the world’s greatest number nibblers, Marcus du Sautoy. So highly acclaimed and awarded, we could have filled the entire podcast by listing out his many achievements, Marcus is perhaps best known as a Professor in Mathematics, Fellow of the Royal Society and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. But, as well as being one of the very smartest people on the planet, he’s also one of the most engaging and enlightening speakers on the unexpected stories to be found in numbers, having written for several national newspapers and appeared on a number of mathematically-inclined TV shows including Mind Games, The Story of Maths and The Code (not to be confused with The Cube). By now you’ve probably run out of fingers to tally up all the brilliant things he’s done, so we shall just wrap up by saying he’s also the author of a series of superb books examining the relationship between maths, creativity, music, games and more – including Blue Prints, The Music of Primes and The Creativity Code. (Basically, the fact that it took us all this time to mention he’s also an OBE tells you all you need to know. He’s an impressive dude.) In an episode where Giles wears his disappointing GCSE results like a hi-vis vest of inadequacy, we ponder the search for meaning in numbers and how the stories behind them can help shape ideas and solve problems. This episode is proudly dedicated to Mr Baleson. Follow Marcus on LinkedIn ///// Timestamps 04:17 - The Influence of a Great Teacher 06:03 - Mathematics as a Language and Creative Outlet 08:44 - The Intersection of Mathematics and the Arts 12:08 - Exploring Creativity in Mathematics 15:17 - The Relationship Between Structure and Artistic Expression 21:10 - The Cicada's Prime Number Life Cycle 30:51 - Patterns and Expectations in Art and Comedy 33:09 - The Role of Mathematics in Problem Solving 43:15 - The Importance of Storytelling in Science 46:25 - The Search for Meaning in Numbers 48:13 - The Dual Nature of Scientific Thinking Marcus’ Book recommendations are: A Mathematician’s Apology by G.H. Hardy /////
