Sometimes a really good teaching idea is so good that it won’t stay secret and it doesn’t go away. A case in point is “The secret life of numbers”.
This article of the same name by a leading Oxford mathematics professor, Marcus du Sautoy, addresses an age-old problem, “How do you spark off an interest in maths when the curriculum seems, well, rather dreary?”
The Guardian published the article almost a year ago, but now it’s having a new lease of life as a top 10 link in the hotlist of Delicious, the social bookmarking website.
Maths in school
In his article back in June 2009, Professor du Sautoy compared his childhood discovery of the beauty of maths with the school experiences of his 13-year-old son.
Maths mysteries and big stories - Professor Marcus du Sautoy (picture: Niccolò Caranti)
At the same age, he himself had been taken aside by his maths teacher after one lesson, and given some recommendations of “a few books that he thought might interest me.” As the professor recalls:
“He conspiratorially intimated that the maths we were doing in the classroom wasn’t really what maths was about. It was something much more exciting, creative, imaginative. Those books provided me with a key to the secret garden of mathematics.
“In that garden I discovered that mathematics also has great stories. Unsolved mysteries like the enigma of prime numbers. Magical mathematical machines that could help you see in four dimensions.”
Like his son studying Shakespeare, he certainly didn’t understand everything in these maths books, but they inspired him to delve further into the mystery, the big stories and journeys to infinity and beyond.
His Guardian article ends by asking: “Why are more children not given the key to this secret garden? Why can’t we include the Shakespeare of maths in the curriculum?”
Marcus du Sautoy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and recently succeeded Richard Dawkins as Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. He is author of “The Music of the Primes” and “Finding Moonshine” (both HarperPerennial).
Science and maths podcasts
Professor du Sautoy isn’t just a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper – he is also a frequent participant in his university’s free podcasts for the public.
These range from “An introduction to astrophysics” to a public debate on “What is science for?”
Listen to mathematical, physical and life sciences podcasts from the University of Oxford.
