Numbers Night on BBC FOUR

On December 6th, BBC FOUR celebrates mathematics and the beauty of numbers with a series of programmes about this most precise and exacting of all intellectual disciplines. Throughout the night, the channel will show films that offer insights into the minds of great mathematicians, and reveal the stories behind some of the great mathematical breakthroughs.

Across the night, you'll be able to enjoy the following programmes:

Go Forth And Multiply 9.05pm:
Ever wanted to forget about fractions? Wished you could throw your times tables away? Well, 'Ethiopian multiplication' could be for you. For thousands of years, traders in Ethiopia have used a seemingly bizarre system of multiplication that ignores some numbers and dismisses others as unlucky. Yet the system - which has also beren used in Russia and throughout the Middle East - works every time. Go Forth and Multiply explains how and why it works - and reveals a surprising connection between this ancient method and modern computer codes.

The Music of the Primes: 9.10pm (repeated 12.40am & 3.00am):
For 3,000 years, mathematicians have been tormented by the mystery surrounding the distribution of prime numbers. Primes are fundamental to mathematics: they are, after all, the basic building blocks from which all other numbers can be built. Yet they seem to surface entirely randomly along the number line. But are the primes truly random – or is there some hidden pattern? It’s the greatest unsolved problem of mathematics, and whoever cracks it will achieve mathematical immortality. In The Music of the Primes, Marcus du Sautoy investigates the fascinating story of the great mathematicians – including Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and Alan Turing - who’ve tried to solve the conundrum of the primes.

Phi's The Limit 10.10pm:
What links a pineapple, Leonardo da Vinci and the breeding patterns of rabbits? This film examines the extraordinary occurrence in nature and art of the number known as Phi - also known as The Golden ratio. The Life of Phi examines the intriguing connection between this unique number [ namely, 1.61803399…] and the Fibonacci Numbers. 

Breaking The Code 10.15pm:
The mathematical genius Alan Turing was responsible for cracking Germany's Enigma Code - enabling the Allies to decipher messages sent by the Nazis to their forces. Derek Jacobi, Prunella Scales, Richard Johnson, Amanda Root and Harold Pinter star in this absorbing drama, revealing how one of Britain's greatest mathematicians changed the course of the Second World War.

Dreaming The Impossible 11.45pm:
The Dutch artist M.C. Escher is best known for his often mesmerising geometrical images whose playfulness obscures a sophisticated grasp of mathematical theory. Dreaming the Impossible looks at the remarkable career and mathematical inspirations of this remarkable artist.

Horizon: Fermat's Last Theorem 11.50pm:
As a 10-year old schoolboy, Andrew Wiles stumbled across Fermat's Last Theorem - one of the world's greatest mathematical puzzles. This edition of Horizon tells the story of Wiles' quest to solve a problem that had baffled the greatest mathematicians for more than three centuries.