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LIFE BY THE NUMBERS
To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio
They're the bad boys of the numerical system. You
never know when one is going to crop up, or why. Mathematicians
have agonized over their mysteries for years, some predicting a
mystical order where only chaos appears. In this hour of To the
Best of Our Knowledge, the world of prime numbers. Also, the
mathematics of sex.
SEGMENT 1:
Shane Carruth wrote, directed and stars in
the low-budget movie "Primer" which won the Grand Jury
Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Anne Strainchamps talks with
him about science, math and storytelling, and we hear a clip from
the film. Also, Marcus Du Sautoy is the author of "The
Music of the Primes." He talks with Jim Fleming about prime
numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis and why it's such an important
puzzle for mathematicians.
SEGMENT 2:
Clio Cresswell lectures in math at the University
of South Wales in Australia and is the author of "Mathematics
and Sex." She tells Steve Paulson that couples who compromise
the least last the longest, and that out of 100 possible partners,
you're mathematically likely to make the right choice if you pick
the most attractive person who's left after 37 dates.
SEGMENT 3:
Nathaniel Lachenmeyer is the author of "13."
He tells Jim Fleming about the history of our suspicion that this
is an "unlucky" number. He says the association goes
all the way back to Christ and the Apostles at the Last Supper
and still exists in Friday the 13th. But 13th rows are coming
back on airplanes and even in some buildings.
Cassette copies are available
at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 04-11-21-A.
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Books:
- Clio Cresswell, Mathematics and Sex
(Allen & Unwin)
- Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, 13: The
Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition (Avalon)
- Marcus du Sautoy, The Music of
the Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics
(Harper Collins)
Film:
Music:
- -Black Eye Peas/ Ramey Lewis:
Finest Hour/ Verve Music Group
- -Quartet for the End of Time/ Tashi: Quatour Pour
La Fin Du Temps/ RCA
Victor
- -Have Clav Will Travel/ Money Mark: Mark's Keyboard
Repair/ Pinto
- -Can You Dig It?/ Los Straitjackets: Supersonic
Guitar in 3-D/ Yep Rec
Distribution dates:
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Questions and comments can
be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org
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