This week's share spotlight is a BBC documentary.
The Story of One
Something a little different this week for the Share Spotlight: a documentary. This documentary is a bit silly, but still one of my all time favorites. Terry Jones, a former member of Monty Python (which explains the silliness) takes the viewer through the journey to our modern number system. From notching marks on a bone to the binary system that underlies all our modern technology, this documentary explains the major steps in the history of numbers.
My only real complaint is that Terry Jones fails to mention that the zero was actually invented twice. Once in India and once in Mesoamerica by the Mayans. The Mayan number system is fascinating and on my list of things to write about.
Other than that, what a great way to bring a little bit of History into Math! As much as I love math, this documentary really helped me get a good handle on why we use the numbers we do.
What did you learn about the history of numbers in school? What do you think about bringing a little bit of History into Math? Or vice versa?
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