Music of the Primes

Synopsis: Three 30-minute programmes which investigate the mysteries surrounding prime numbers. Primes are fundamental to mathematics; they are the basic blocks from which all other numbers can be built. Yet they seem to surface entirely randomly among the number line. But are primes truly random or is there some hidden pattern?
Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at All Souls’, Oxford, investigates the fascinating story of great mathematicians including Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, G. H. Hardy, Srinivasa Ramanujan and Alan Turing, who have all grappled with the problem of primes. Filmed on location in Princetown, Las Vegas, Athens, Madras, London, Cambridge and Gottingen in Germany, Marcus talks to some of the world’s leading mathematicians who have been listening to ‘the music’.

Based on the book ‘The Music of the Primes’, by Marcus du Sautoy.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2006
Year of production: 2006
Availability: Out of distribution
Notes: Broadcast on BBC4 on 28/9/05 in a 60-minute version
Documentation: Based on the book ‘Music of the Primes’ by Marcus du Sautoy
Subjects: Mathematics
Keywords: pure mathematics; prime numbers

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