Math and the Rise of Civilization

Released: 2011-12-19

Runtime: 50 minutes

Episode Overview

The narrator takes the spectator on a journey from the pyramids to the bed of the Nile, demonstrating the need to maintain social and geographical stability after the Nile's annual floods. The Inundation is a driving force for the development of numbers and early geometry.

Series Overview

A guided tour of the history of numbers and how they’ve shaped the development of humankind is at the heart of this unique series. In five episodes that take us across time and around the world, we see how mathematics played an important role in ancient Egypt and Greece, early India, medieval Europe, and our own modern world. Computer graphics make mathematical formulae accessible and interesting, while dramatic reenactments of history pique the viewer’s interest.