NOVA: The Great Math Mystery

NOVA leads viewers on a mathematical mystery tour -- a provocative exploration of math's astonishing power across the centuries. We discover math's signature in the swirl of a nautilus shell, the whirlpool of a galaxy and the spiral in the center of a sunflower. Math was essential to everything from the first wireless radio transmissions to the prediction and discovery of the Higgs boson and the successful landing of rovers on Mars. But where does math get its power? Astrophysicist and writer Mario Livio, along with a colorful cast of mathematicians, physicists and engineers, follows math from Pythagoras to Einstein and beyond, all leading to the ultimate riddle: Is math an invention or a discovery? Humankind's clever trick or the language of the universe?

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Four-Point Conics

Four-Point Conics

1961

Cube

Cube

1997

Cube 2: Hypercube

Cube 2: Hypercube

2002

Cube Zero

Cube Zero

2004

Counting from Infinity: Yitang Zhang and the Twin Prime Conjecture

2015

The Other Me

The Other Me

2017

Fermat's Room

Fermat's Room

2007

Terror by Night

Terror by Night

1946

Proof

Proof

2005

Beautiful Young Minds

Beautiful Young Minds

2007

Dimensions

Marguerite's Theorem

Marguerite's Theorem

2023

Clouds Are Not Spheres

Clouds Are Not Spheres

2010

Miyamoto and the Machine: The Story of KenKen

Miyamoto and the Machine: The Story of KenKen

2020

Albert Einstein: l'homme et le génie

Albert Einstein: l'homme et le génie

2015

The Standard Deviants: The Gravity-Packed World of Physics, Parts 1&2

The Standard Deviants: The Gravity-Packed World of Physics, Parts 1&2

2000

The Standard Deviants: The Dangerous World of Pre-Calculus, Part 1

The Standard Deviants: The Dangerous World of Pre-Calculus, Part 1

1996

The Standard Deviants: The Adventurous World of College Algebra, Part 2

The Standard Deviants: The Adventurous World of College Algebra, Part 2

2004

The Standard Deviants: The Twisted World of Trigonometry, Part 1

The Standard Deviants: The Twisted World of Trigonometry, Part 1

2007