Thinking better with mathematics – with Marcus du Sautoy

Discover how calculus, geometry and probability can help make life a bit easier for us all. Marcus du Sautoy explores how maths helps us solve problems like the Bridges of Königsburg, neural networks and the quickest way to save someone from drowning.

How do you remember more and forget less? How can you earn more and become more creative just by moving house? And how do you pack a car boot most efficiently?

Join mathematician Marcus du Sautoy as he interrogates his passion for shortcuts. After all, shortcuts have enabled so much of human progress, whether in constructing the first cities around the Euphrates 5,000 years ago, using calculus to determine the scale of the universe or in writing today’s algorithms that help us find a new life partner.

Marcus du Sautoy is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the Oxford University, a chair he holds jointly at the Department of Continuing Education and the Mathematical Institute. He is also a Professor of Mathematics and a Fellow of New College. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016.

This talk was filmed on 8 November 2021.

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[chriskindler]

I remember watching ”The Story of Maths” back in 2012 when I was 15 which got me into mathematics and then theoretical physics. Marcus du Sautoy presented that documentary and it had a profound impact on me

[brothermine]

On the other hand, many people say the journey is more important than arriving at the destination. Rote learning doesn't lead to robust understanding. Deriving the shortcuts, for example by playing with examples to see a pattern, is a valuable exercise.

[bokchoiman]

I love that we're back to the institute. Zoom just doesn't do it for me.

[hillrp]

My math teacher always described it as maths being "All about finding easy ways to do hard things" and that really resonated with me as a kid and fueled my interest in the subject for a long time

[anthonytaylor]

I ❤ Marcus du Sautoy. Never having followed a career path in mathematics myself, I find myself thinking profoundly differently having listened to him speak. Marcus is such a good and enthusiastic communicator, light bulbs switch on inside my head with every word he speaks. I see the beauty and the wonder of seemingly disconnected areas of everyday life being united logically and with utter elegance. Thank you Marcus. Not sure if it is the beauty of maths solutions, Marcus' enthusiasm or both; either way, I'm a big fan.

[jelmargerritsen]

Absolutely in love with his sweater. Great talk too!!

[JimGobetz]

Such a great speaker, so much wonderful stuff from the RI this year so far.

[nertia]

About the honeybees - they don't actually make hexagonal honeycomb - they make circles and the heat of their movements and physics turns them into hexagons *because* it's the most efficient shape :D

[GCKteamKrispy]

Finally, live lectures. I've waited them sooo long

[JoyoSnooze]

Nothing comparable to live lectures. Overjoyed to have them back - this is already shaping up to be a great year of learning, RI.

[flyingfig]

Thanks you so much for knowing/understanding and _mentioning_ that there are ways to rewire in a very short period of time @48:00 as we have come very far from the past years of talk therapy and nothing to show for it.

[DrJeeps]

I really look forward to watching new RI talks and I am never disappointed. Thank you.

[harremsis]

Amazing. Just absolutely lovely, this lecture. Thank you Mr. duSatoy!!

[darriansea]

Good presentation, I like how he shows all the ways maths can have practical applications even without doing math directly

[gidi]

24:50 - diagram/movie/story to expose more easily important aspects of complex multi-systems.

Speaks to the range of the human ability to form a specific understanding from a range of sequenced notions.
The process is in our heads is sequential, but each step can hold understanding from only several notions.
If a human is exposed to a story (a diagram may contain very few and sometime only one story/narrative),
the story form is much more compliant to be formed to a single consideration step/s.

I commend you for pointing out this notion with respect to passing information (as a shortcut ?! :)).

[UMosNyu]

On the topic of limits for the y-axis (30:08) is there a rule of thumb about the limits? Like: Should they alwas start at 0? Or at 50% of the smallest value? etc

[eddycolon]

This is true. I was studying Logic just the definition and thinking about it; Negation, Conjunction, Disjunction, Biconditional and I just start to listen better what people says you can discover many lies. Mistakes people made trying to defend their arguments truly fascinating.

[josephhall]

What a nice room to do something like this in.

[CapnAhabChannel]

4:11 - isn't it "Poiesis" i.e. without the "r"?

[jeffkeylock]

Thank you. I enjoyed that. Even if I did click the thumbnail because I thought it was a Matt Parker video....sorry about that!