{HEAD
DISCID=
DVDTITLE=
CODEPAGE=1250
FORMAT=ASCII
LANG=EN
TITLE=1
ORIGINAL=ORIGINAL
AUTHOR=
WEB=
INFO=
LICENSE=
}
{T 00:00:03:09
The hero of this story is a master of disguise.
}
{T 00:00:06:17

}
{T 00:00:07:20
To some people he's appeared as a wedge shape.
}
{T 00:00:09:95

}
{T 00:00:12:19
To others as a cone
}
{T 00:00:13:65

}
{T 00:00:18:51
But no matter what shape he may have taken along
}
{T 00:00:20:61

}
{T 00:00:21:16
He's always been...
}
{T 00:00:22:19

}
{T 00:00:22:74
NUMBER 1.
}
{T 00:00:24:08

}
{T 00:00:26:60
His story is our story.
}
{T 00:00:28:02

}
{T 00:00:30:07
It's a story of strugle,
}
{T 00:00:31:68

}
{T 00:00:35:55
of notch,
}
{T 00:00:36:59

}
{T 00:00:37:76
of where numbers come from,
}
{T 00:00:39:17

}
{T 00:00:43:00
We'll see how one helped to create first cities
}
{T 00:00:45:45

}
{T 00:00:46:62
how he helped build empires
}
{T 00:00:49:36

}
{T 00:00:50:52
How he inspired some of the greatest minds in History
}
{T 00:00:53:64

}
{T 00:00:54:59
And we also found out his part in making
}
{T 00:00:56:56

}
{T 00:00:56:56
money work as it does.
-"Thanks."
}
{T 00:00:59:79

}
{T 00:00:59:86
Final we'll see how one
}
{T 00:01:01:35

}
{T 00:01:01:33
teamed up with zero to dominate the world
}
{T 00:01:03:13

}
{T 00:01:03:14
we're living today.
}
{T 00:01:04:63

}
{T 00:01:04:63
The digital world.
}
{T 00:01:06:33

}
{T 00:01:06:34
A world that runs with ones and zeros.
}
{T 00:01:09:05

}
{T 00:01:11:15
These words I'm now speaking
}
{T 00:01:12:98

}
{T 00:01:13:65
were first written down my computer using a code
}
{T 00:01:15:11

}
{T 00:01:15:11
of ones and zeros.
}
{T 00:01:17:35

}
{T 00:01:17:35
Even my image coming into this digital tv
}
{T 00:01:20:98

}
{T 00:01:20:98
has been sent through the ither.
}
{T 00:01:23:78

}
{T 00:01:24:76
as series of ones and zeros.
}
{T 00:01:27:88

}
{T 00:01:35:69
Though, how these two digits come to dominate our world?
}
{T 00:01:40:29

}
{T 00:01:42:15
In fact for most of human history
}
{T 00:01:46:02

}
{T 00:01:46:02
zero simply didn't exist.
}
{T 00:01:48:05

}
{T 00:01:49:35
It's one who really counts.
}
{T 00:01:51:84

}
{T 00:02:01:41
So where did one come from?
}
{T 00:02:03:12

}
{T 00:02:04:56
Well, this story begins at the dawn of time.
}
{T 00:02:07:45

}
{T 00:02:07:45
Three billion, forty-two thousand
}
{T 00:02:11:24

}
{T 00:02:11:24
six hundred and fifty-nine years ago
}
{T 00:02:12:96

}
{T 00:02:12:96
The day the first primitive one
}
{T 00:02:17:03

}
{T 00:02:17:03
come out of the primordial soup.
}
{T 00:02:19:30

}
{T 00:02:19:30
onto dry land.
}
{T 00:02:20:91

}
{T 00:02:38:02
(scrontch)
}
{T 00:02:38:57

}
{T 00:02:38:57
No! Not really.
}
{T 00:02:40:41

}
{T 00:02:40:41
Just joking.
}
{T 00:02:41:65

}
{T 00:02:41:65
In fact, the origins of one...
}
{T 00:02:43:39

}
{T 00:02:43:39
...are shrouded in mystery.
}
{T 00:02:45:39

}
{T 00:02:50:00
It's a mystery that only our earliest ancestors
could answer.
}
{T 00:02:53:29

}
{T 00:02:55:08
At some point, one of them must have been...
}
{T 00:02:57:91

}
{T 00:02:57:91
...the first human being...
}
{T 00:03:00:13

}
{T 00:03:00:13
...to use one to actually count with.
}
{T 00:03:02:24

}
{T 00:03:04:52
But when?
}
{T 00:03:05:56

}
{T 00:03:06:82
Even since man could make marks on bones,
}
{T 00:03:09:11

}
{T 00:03:09:11
It's been, well, making marks on bones.
}
{T 00:03:12:76

}
{T 00:03:14:44
But what about the fellow who scratched marks like this
}
{T 00:03:17:80

}
{T 00:03:17:80
hundred fifteen thousand years ago?
}
{T 00:03:20:17

}
{T 00:03:20:17
Is it possible that he could has been counting?
}
{T 00:03:22:39

}
{T 00:03:22:39
Could these scratches represent a series of ones?
}
{T 00:03:25:72

}
{T 00:03:27:47
Well the experts tell us that...
}
{T 00:03:28:57

}
{T 00:03:28:57
...giving due weight to the scientific...
}
{T 00:03:31:18

}
{T 00:03:31:19
...and archeological evidence.
}
{T 00:03:33:23

}
{T 00:03:33:23
They have no clue.
}
{T 00:03:34:23

}
{T 00:03:38:23
What they're now pretty sure about...
}
{T 00:03:39:88

}
{T 00:03:39:88
...is that one is a lot younger than us.
}
{T 00:03:43:60

}
{T 00:03:43:60
It's not until quite recently,
}
{T 00:03:45:77

}
{T 00:03:45:77
I mean twenty thousand years ago,
}
{T 00:03:47:31

}
{T 00:03:47:31
that we get the first really solid evidence...
}
{T 00:03:50:33

}
{T 00:03:50:33
...that one existed and someone was using it...
}
{T 00:03:54:01

}
{T 00:03:54:01
...for counting.
}
{T 00:03:56:05

}
{T 00:03:58:10
Of course, he didn't look like this
when he was born.
}
{T 00:04:01:24

}
{T 00:04:01:27
Like then, one was just a scratch on a bone.
}
{T 00:04:05:20

}
{T 00:04:07:51
This bone.
}
{T 00:04:09:17

}
{T 00:04:09:17
It's known as the Ishango bone.
}
{T 00:04:12:38

}
{T 00:04:14:02
It was found quite recently,
}
{T 00:04:15:21

}
{T 00:04:15:21
in the Congo.
}
{T 00:04:16:40

}
{T 00:04:16:41
And, look...
}
{T 00:04:17:64

}
{T 00:04:17:64
You can see these scratches.
}
{T 00:04:19:65

}
{T 00:04:19:65
We know that each represents...
}
{T 00:04:22:11

}
{T 00:04:22:11
a one.
}
{T 00:04:23:30

}
{T 00:04:23:30
How can we be so certain?
}
{T 00:04:24:67

}
{T 00:04:24:67
Well,
}
{T 00:04:26:09

}
{T 00:04:26:09
Someone must have been counting.
}
{T 00:04:27:48

}
{T 00:04:27:48
Because the sixty scratches on this edge of the bone...
}
{T 00:04:30:48

}
{T 00:04:30:48
...and another sixty along this edge.
}
{T 00:04:32:86

}
{T 00:04:32:86
And on tha back there is an equally numbered groups.
}
{T 00:04:36:25

}
{T 00:04:36:25
And you can't do that without counting.
}
{T 00:04:39:20

}
{T 00:04:40:70
The Ishango bone may mark...
}
{T 00:04:42:55

}
{T 00:04:42:62
...a defining moment for mankind.
}
{T 00:04:44:31

}
{T 00:04:44:31
Zoologists tell us that other...
}
{T 00:04:46:08

}
{T 00:04:46:08
...mamals are able to count to three...
}
{T 00:04:47:92

}
{T 00:04:47:92
...or even four, but not beyond.
}
{T 00:04:51:02

}
{T 00:04:56:15
By turning one into a scratch...
}
{T 00:04:58:07

}
{T 00:04:58:07
...our early ancestors could count...
}
{T 00:05:00:54

}
{T 00:05:00:54
to four, five, six, for the more clever
}
{T 00:05:04:05

}
{T 00:05:04:05
In fact, they could any number of ones
they wanted.
}
{T 00:05:08:61

}
{T 00:05:14:87
And that is what gave us the edge over
the lions and the tigers.
}
{T 00:05:18:37

}
{T 00:05:18:37
From now on, counting knew no limits.
}
{T 00:05:21:53

}
{T 00:05:21:54
One was growing up into a big boy.
}
{T 00:05:24:74

}
{T 00:05:42:64
In the meantime, human beings
were moving up the property land.
}
{T 00:05:46:98

}
{T 00:05:46:99
And that would change one's story forever.
}
{T 00:05:50:82

}
{T 00:05:52:01
They stopped living in caves...
}
{T 00:05:54:06

}
{T 00:05:54:06
... and started to build their own caves.
}
{T 00:05:56:00

}
{T 00:05:56:00
Houses.
}
{T 00:05:57:60

}
{T 00:06:04:05
The next great event in one's life...
}
{T 00:06:06:25

}
{T 00:06:06:25
...was the happen in the ancient civilization of Suma.
}
{T 00:06:09:48

}
{T 00:06:09:48
Here in the middle East, in about four...
}
{T 00:06:12:51

}
{T 00:06:12:51
Oh.. well... Very well.
}
{T 00:06:13:51

}
{T 00:06:16:00
Around this time, the people of suma
decided to give one his independence.
}
{T 00:06:20:74

}
{T 00:06:21:49
They stopped scratching on a bone.
}
{T 00:06:23:65

}
{T 00:06:23:65
And set him free.
}
{T 00:06:25:56

}
{T 00:06:25:56
By representing him as a token.
}
{T 00:06:29:00

}
{T 00:06:32:12
This transformation...
}
{T 00:06:34:01

}
{T 00:06:34:01
...changed not only one's life...
}
{T 00:06:36:20

}
{T 00:06:37:34
...but the course of history.
}
{T 00:06:38:87

}
{T 00:06:43:91
The invention of tokens...
}
{T 00:06:45:50

}
{T 00:06:45:50
...allowed the Sumerians to do something...
}
{T 00:06:47:60

}
{T 00:06:47:60
...that nobody had done before.
}
{T 00:06:49:11

}
{T 00:06:49:93
If you add notches to a stick or a bone,
you can do just that... add.
}
{T 00:06:53:46

}
{T 00:06:53:56
But with tokens...
}
{T 00:06:55:65

}
{T 00:06:55:65
...you can take away.
}
{T 00:06:57:15

}
{T 00:06:57:15
So, let's say you've got six chickens...
}
{T 00:06:58:15

}
{T 00:06:58:15
...and you eat five of them.
}
{T 00:07:01:57

}
{T 00:07:05:98
Look what you've got:
}
{T 00:07:06:75

}
{T 00:07:08:49
Indigestion.
}
{T 00:07:10:05

}
{T 00:07:10:06
No, no, no, no... You've invinted...
arithmetic!
}
{T 00:07:13:19

}
{T 00:07:14:61
It was the biggest breakthrough in one's life so far.
}
{T 00:07:17:66

}
{T 00:07:17:66
But why did it happen here?
}
{T 00:07:19:34

}
{T 00:07:20:71
To find out why, we have to go
somewhere where it didn't.
}
{T 00:07:23:23

}
{T 00:07:31:98
Meet the wildery of central Australia.
}
{T 00:07:34:19

}
{T 00:07:34:19
Their people have been minding their own business here...
}
{T 00:07:36:84

}
{T 00:07:36:84
...for thirty thousand years or so.
}
{T 00:07:37:84

}
{T 00:07:37:84
Until some anthropologists came along...
}
{T 00:07:41:32

}
{T 00:07:41:32
...and noticed that they didn't use numbers.
}
{T 00:07:45:11

}
{T 00:07:47:51
People get very interested in Warlpiri...
}
{T 00:07:50:68

}
{T 00:07:50:78
...because in our language, we don't use numbers.
}
{T 00:07:52:75

}
{T 00:07:54:47
We have a word for one
}
{T 00:07:55:91

}
{T 00:07:55:91
...but that's about it.
}
{T 00:07:57:33

}
{T 00:08:00:70
Until recently, the Warlpiri have got by without using numbers.
}
{T 00:08:04:43

}
{T 00:08:05:51
How on Earth they have been able to manage?
}
{T 00:08:08:25

}
{T 00:08:10:66
The things that you do in your world are done diferently here.
}
{T 00:08:12:06

}
{T 00:08:13:20
Take Japaljarri here.
}
{T 00:08:15:09

}
{T 00:08:15:09
He never grew up with any numbers at all.
}
{T 00:08:17:08

}
{T 00:08:34:20
Japaljarri names his grandchildren.
}
{T 00:08:35:58

}
{T 00:08:35:58
What he doesn't say...
}
{T 00:08:36:59

}
{T 00:08:36:59
is four!
}
{T 00:08:37:95

}
{T 00:08:37:95
It is just not in his vocab.
}
{T 00:08:39:70

}
{T 00:08:44:41
All the generation of Warlpiri don't talk
in terms of exact time of day.
}
{T 00:08:48:32

}
{T 00:08:48:32
Just the position of the sun.
}
{T 00:08:50:25

}
{T 00:08:52:25
They don't even deal in distances...
}
{T 00:08:54:38

}
{T 00:08:54:38
...because their land is mapped out not with numbers...
}
{T 00:08:56:67

}
{T 00:08:56:67
...but with songs...
}
{T 00:08:57:84

}
{T 00:08:57:84
..which contain all the information they need.
}
{T 00:09:00:37

}
{T 00:09:00:37
These timeless songs deeply into their culture...
}
{T 00:09:04:37

}
{T 00:09:04:37
...was a source of huge national pride.
}
{T 00:09:05:37

}
{T 00:09:18:01
The fact is in traditional Warlpiri lives,
}
{T 00:09:20:28

}
{T 00:09:20:28
they didn't really need a number system.
}
{T 00:09:22:98

}
{T 00:09:22:98
let alone arithmetic.
}
{T 00:09:23:98

}
{T 00:09:28:42
So why on the other side of the world...
}
{T 00:09:30:75

}
{T 00:09:30:75
...six thousand years ago...
}
{T 00:09:32:16

}
{T 00:09:32:16
...did the people of Suma feel
the need to turn one into a token...
}
{T 00:09:37:06

}
{T 00:09:37:06
...and invent Math?
}
{T 00:09:38:06

}
{T 00:09:45:28
What was so different about life in the Middle East...
}
{T 00:09:47:82

}
{T 00:09:47:82
I mean, why would people here...
}
{T 00:09:49:18

}
{T 00:09:49:18
...are so keen to get into Math, above all things?
}
{T 00:09:50:95

}
{T 00:09:50:95
Maybe it was because they were so many people...
}
{T 00:09:55:58

}
{T 00:09:55:59
...living in the same place.
}
{T 00:09:57:62

}
{T 00:09:58:32
Unlike the Warlpiri, the Sumerians lived in cities.
}
{T 00:10:04:03

}
{T 00:10:04:03
And cities need organizing.
}
{T 00:10:06:60

}
{T 00:10:06:60
Grain had to be stored and distributed.
}
{T 00:10:09:43

}
{T 00:10:09:43
And working out how much each person should get required...
}
{T 00:10:13:03

}
{T 00:10:13:03
...arithmetic.
}
{T 00:10:14:66

}
{T 00:10:16:74
That's why the Sumerians turned one into cone-shaped tokens.
}
{T 00:10:20:37

}
{T 00:10:20:37
Tokens made possible the arithmetic required...
}
{T 00:10:24:02

}
{T 00:10:24:02
...to access wealth, calculate profits and loss...
}
{T 00:10:26:13

}
{T 00:10:26:13
...and more important perhaps...
}
{T 00:10:28:01

}
{T 00:10:28:01
...collect taxes.
}
{T 00:10:29:34

}
{T 00:10:31:41
Yes you can blame the invention of Maths...
}
{T 00:10:33:13

}
{T 00:10:33:13
...on city lifes.
}
{T 00:10:36:86

}
{T 00:10:41:08
The ability to do arithmetic...
}
{T 00:10:42:89

}
{T 00:10:42:89
...wasn't the only thing the Sumerians needed
for their civic programs.
}
{T 00:10:46:60

}
{T 00:10:46:60
They also needed to be helped to keep
a permanent record of their calculations.
}
{T 00:10:51:25

}
{T 00:10:51:25
But, hold on, the written word hasn't been invented yet!
}
{T 00:10:54:65

}
{T 00:10:54:65
Numbers, it seems, were the world's first writing.
}
{T 00:10:59:06

}
{T 00:11:02:37
It happened like this.
}
{T 00:11:03:72

}
{T 00:11:03:72
Specific numbers of cones would be put in a clay envelop...
}
{T 00:11:07:68

}
{T 00:11:07:68
...for some safe keeping.
}
{T 00:11:08:73

}
{T 00:11:08:73
Then sealed up.
}
{T 00:11:10:34

}
{T 00:11:12:23
But once you've sealed the envelop...
}
{T 00:11:13:42

}
{T 00:11:13:43
...how can you remember how
many cones are contained?
}
{T 00:11:16:76

}
{T 00:11:16:76
A little problem there...
}
{T 00:11:18:33

}
{T 00:11:19:87
But wait a minute!
}
{T 00:11:20:81

}
{T 00:11:21:50
They took another cone.
}
{T 00:11:22:98

}
{T 00:11:22:98
And made the same number of impressions on the outside
of envelop as there were cones inside.
}
{T 00:11:28:96

}
{T 00:11:30:83
Then, some bright spark realized...
}
{T 00:11:33:06

}
{T 00:11:33:06
...they didn't need the envelops in the first place.
}
{T 00:11:35:45

}
{T 00:11:35:45
and that they didn't even need the cones!
}
{T 00:11:37:01

}
{T 00:11:37:01
You can just make the marks straight onto a clay tablet.
}
{T 00:11:40:63

}
{T 00:11:40:63
And "hey presto" you have a record of the number.
}
{T 00:11:43:87

}
{T 00:11:44:96
The notion of writing had been born.
}
{T 00:11:47:90

}
{T 00:11:51:19
Sumerian mathematicians were now able to keep
permanent records of their calculations.
}
{T 00:11:55:47

}
{T 00:11:55:47
And these could become more complex than ever before.
}
{T 00:11:59:14

}
{T 00:12:02:78
Only a select few initiated into the mystery of numbers
}
{T 00:12:05:94

}
{T 00:12:05:94
And they were trained from childhood.
}
{T 00:12:07:37

}
{T 00:12:07:37
They became a powerful and highly paid elite...
}
{T 00:12:11:18

}
{T 00:12:11:18
... that we still pay homage due today...
}
{T 00:12:13:90

}
{T 00:12:13:90
That's right! The sumerians great gift to the world...
}
{T 00:12:16:76

}
{T 00:12:18:46
The charted accountant!
}
{T 00:12:20:24

}
{T 00:12:30:08
One was now disciplined and organized as never before.
}
{T 00:12:33:50

}
{T 00:12:36:30
He became a powerful tool.
}
{T 00:12:38:00

}
{T 00:12:38:00
One that could be used to build Empire!
}
{T 00:12:41:51

}
{T 00:12:42:82
Which is precisely what happened to one...
}
{T 00:12:44:98

}
{T 00:12:44:99
...in his next incarnation.
}
{T 00:12:47:87

}
{T 00:13:02:01
In the hands of the Sumerians,
}
{T 00:13:03:34

}
{T 00:13:03:34
one had become part of a complex counting system.
}
{T 00:13:06:21

}
{T 00:13:06:21
The Egyptians were going to stretch his talents...
}
{T 00:13:09:86

}
{T 00:13:09:86
...even further.
}
{T 00:13:11:61

}
{T 00:13:13:96
As well as walking very slowly,
not smiling and standing in formation...
}
{T 00:13:17:74

}
{T 00:13:17:74
Egyptians loved big things...
}
{T 00:13:20:67

}
{T 00:13:20:67
...big buildings...
}
{T 00:13:21:82

}
{T 00:13:21:82
...big statues...
}
{T 00:13:22:89

}
{T 00:13:22:90
...big armies...
}
{T 00:13:24:08

}
{T 00:13:24:09
They also came up with some very big numbers.
}
{T 00:13:28:48

}
{T 00:13:29:59
And the way they wrote them down...
}
{T 00:13:30:94

}
{T 00:13:30:94
...provides a fascinating reflexion of
the high ranky of Egyptian society.
}
{T 00:13:35:43

}
{T 00:13:38:16
First come the numbers of drudgery of every day toil
}
{T 00:13:41:03

}
{T 00:13:41:03
One was a plain and a down line.
}
{T 00:13:44:55

}
{T 00:13:46:31
Ten was a rope
}
{T 00:13:48:34

}
{T 00:13:49:57
hundred, a coiled rope.
}
{T 00:13:51:91

}
{T 00:13:51:91
All humble working day numbers.
}
{T 00:13:54:89

}
{T 00:13:56:98
But then come the numbers for aristocrats...
}
{T 00:14:00:48

}
{T 00:14:00:48
...numbers to impress.
}
{T 00:14:01:71

}
{T 00:14:04:45
A thousand is a lotus.
}
{T 00:14:06:06

}
{T 00:14:06:06
Symbol of pleasure.
}
{T 00:14:07:29

}
{T 00:14:07:30
Ten thousand, a commanding finger.
}
{T 00:14:09:51

}
{T 00:14:09:51
And then, the numbers of Pharaohs.
}
{T 00:14:11:93

}
{T 00:14:11:93
A number the Sumerians never even dreamt of.
}
{T 00:14:15:33

}
{T 00:14:15:33
A million.
}
{T 00:14:16:80

}
{T 00:14:16:80
The sort of number only a Pharaoh needs to count his prisoners.
}
{T 00:14:21:93

}
{T 00:14:27:15
It was the first ever million.
}
{T 00:14:29:28

}
{T 00:14:29:28
And the symbol they used was a prisoner
begging for forgiveness.
}
{T 00:14:34:20

}
{T 00:14:34:21
or also the accountant begging to be left
of counting anymore prisoners.
}
{T 00:14:38:74

}
{T 00:14:38:75
In any case, one had never been busier.
}
{T 00:14:42:79

}
{T 00:14:45:22
But one had another job the Egyptians wanted to do.
}
{T 00:14:47:75

}
{T 00:14:47:75
Perhaps the most important job of all.
}
{T 00:14:51:26

}
{T 00:14:55:57
They needed him to help out on the building sites.
}
{T 00:14:59:94

}
{T 00:15:01:77
The ancient Egyptians were anthousiastic builders...
}
{T 00:15:04:06

}
{T 00:15:04:06
...with a keen eye for beauty.
}
{T 00:15:05:82

}
{T 00:15:05:82
But you can't create beautiful building...
}
{T 00:15:08:28

}
{T 00:15:08:28
...without measuring things accurately.
}
{T 00:15:10:32

}
{T 00:15:10:32
And you can't measure acurately unless
you know what are your unities.
}
{T 00:15:14:61

}
{T 00:15:14:61
That is what you mean by one.
}
{T 00:15:17:18

}
{T 00:15:20:78
In solving this problem,
}
{T 00:15:22:14

}
{T 00:15:22:14
the Egyptians would do something
nobody had done before.
}
{T 00:15:25:58

}
{T 00:15:25:58
They defined their own version of one.
}
{T 00:15:29:04

}
{T 00:15:31:26
They based it on the length of a man's arm...
}
{T 00:15:33:54

}
{T 00:15:33:54
...from the elbow to fingertips plus the width of its palm.
}
{T 00:15:36:78

}
{T 00:15:42:14
One was now known as the cubit.
}
{T 00:15:44:15

}
{T 00:15:44:15
The measure of everything.
}
{T 00:15:45:84

}
{T 00:15:47:06
The undisputed ruler.
}
{T 00:15:49:39

}
{T 00:16:00:49
These official ones the masters cubit sticks were so important...
}
{T 00:16:04:51

}
{T 00:16:04:51
...they were jealously garded in the temples.
}
{T 00:16:06:49

}
{T 00:16:06:49
From them, copies were made and given out.
}
{T 00:16:09:75

}
{T 00:16:09:75
So wild across the Empire whatever the building project
}
{T 00:16:13:18

}
{T 00:16:13:19
Everyone knew what they meant by one.
}
{T 00:16:16:01

}
{T 00:16:17:53
And with these simple measuring sticks...
}
{T 00:16:19:77

}
{T 00:16:19:78
...the Egyptians were able to complete a vast construction
project with astonishing accuracy.
}
{T 00:16:26:32

}
{T 00:16:26:32
If one hadn't become a cubit...
}
{T 00:16:29:23

}
{T 00:16:29:24
...some of the Wonders of the world...
}
{T 00:16:31:21

}
{T 00:16:31:22
...might have been... well... a little less wonderous.
}
{T 00:16:34:79

}
{T 00:16:42:23
By transforming one from counting things to...
}
{T 00:16:44:85

}
{T 00:16:44:85
...measuring things...
}
{T 00:16:46:15

}
{T 00:16:46:15
...the ancient Egyptians hadn't just opened a whole new world...
}
{T 00:16:50:27

}
{T 00:16:50:27
...of bespoken tayloring or fitting carpets.
}
{T 00:16:52:84

}
{T 00:16:52:84
They had made one the measure of all things.
}
{T 00:16:56:30

}
{T 00:16:56:30
One had become the ruler.
}
{T 00:16:59:06

}
{T 00:16:59:06
But his destiny was even more special.
}
{T 00:17:01:79

}
{T 00:17:01:80
One was about to become the essence of the universe.
}
{T 00:17:06:63

}
{T 00:17:23:28
It all happened about two hundred and half years ago in ancient Greece...
}
{T 00:17:27:55

}
{T 00:17:27:55
...oh Modern Greece then was.
}
{T 00:17:29:62

}
{T 00:17:29:63
Because of a chap by the name of Pythagoras.
}
{T 00:17:32:79

}
{T 00:17:32:79
Pythagoras...
}
{T 00:17:34:10

}
{T 00:17:34:10
Did he have a theorem or something?
}
{T 00:17:36:28

}
{T 00:17:36:28
The square of the hypotenuse...
}
{T 00:17:39:13

}
{T 00:17:39:13
...in a right angle triangle...
}
{T 00:17:42:10

}
{T 00:17:42:10
...is equal to the sum...
}
{T 00:17:44:38

}
{T 00:17:44:38
That's right! Pythagoras' Theorem!
}
{T 00:17:47:41

}
{T 00:17:47:41
A bit of a boring when you don't understand it.
}
{T 00:17:50:35

}
{T 00:17:50:35
Actually I think that Pythagoras was a pretty interested block.
}
{T 00:17:54:24

}
{T 00:17:54:24
Oh yeah?
}
{T 00:17:54:85

}
{T 00:17:54:85
He had a school in which the people
had to give up the worthy positions...
}
{T 00:17:59:39

}
{T 00:17:59:39
...eat only vegetables, and swear never to touch beans.
}
{T 00:18:03:42

}
{T 00:18:03:42
Why on Earth not?
}
{T 00:18:04:98

}
{T 00:18:04:98
Pythagora believed that, when you fart,
a bit your soul escaped.
}
{T 00:18:08:49

}
{T 00:18:12:19
Amazing what they learn in schools nowadays.
}
{T 00:18:14:22

}
{T 00:18:17:46
It's true that Pythagoras was a little,
well, weird about the ???
}
{T 00:18:21:38

}
{T 00:18:21:38
He studied in Egypt and in the Middle East
}
{T 00:18:23:89

}
{T 00:18:23:89
And when he returns home, set up his vegetarian school of math.
}
{T 00:18:27:44

}
{T 00:18:27:44
There he devoted himself to exploring the world
wonders and mysteries contained in numbers.
}
{T 00:18:32:63

}
{T 00:18:34:04
Pythagoras was the first man to come up
with the idea of odd and even numbers.
}
{T 00:18:38:71

}
{T 00:18:38:72
And he gave them sexes: one was male, two was female and so on.
}
{T 00:18:43:27

}
{T 00:18:43:28
He also had a feeling about whole numbers.
}
{T 00:18:45:56

}
{T 00:18:45:57
Collections of ones.
}
{T 00:18:47:69

}
{T 00:18:47:69
He realized that certain whole numbers make please in shape.
}
{T 00:18:50:47

}
{T 00:18:50:47
Three makes a triangle.
}
{T 00:18:52:38

}
{T 00:18:52:38
Four a square.
}
{T 00:18:53:49

}
{T 00:18:53:49
One plus two plus three plus four makes ten.
}
{T 00:18:56:94

}
{T 00:18:56:94
Which forms a magic triangle.
}
{T 00:18:59:24

}
{T 00:19:01:82
Pythagoras was also convinced that one would eventually...
}
{T 00:19:05:11

}
{T 00:19:05:11
... help explain one of the fundamental
philosophical questions of the day.
}
{T 00:19:08:84

}
{T 00:19:10:84
The Greek philosophers forever tried to find out
the one thing that everything is made of.
}
{T 00:19:16:32

}
{T 00:19:16:33
One philosopher said everything's made of fire.
}
{T 00:19:19:07

}
{T 00:19:19:08
Another, air.
}
{T 00:19:20:38

}
{T 00:19:20:38
Another, water.
}
{T 00:19:21:21

}
{T 00:19:21:21
Pythagoras said that everything was made of numbers.
}
{T 00:19:25:33

}
{T 00:19:25:33
Including music.
}
{T 00:19:27:75

}
{T 00:19:29:88
To find out what Pythagoras meant...
}
{T 00:19:32:24

}
{T 00:19:32:24
...I've come to the Walterbury Garden Center in Oxford.
}
{T 00:19:35:58

}
{T 00:19:35:58
Oh! Thank you very much.
}
{T 00:19:37:44

}
{T 00:19:37:44
All I need now is a mathematician.
}
{T 00:19:40:34

}
{T 00:19:40:34
Oh! I'm a mathematician!
}
{T 00:19:42:13

}
{T 00:19:42:13
That'll be a luck.
}
{T 00:19:43:46

}
{T 00:19:43:46
But if you wanna find out about Pythagoras musical math...
}
{T 00:19:47:00

}
{T 00:19:47:00
...we gonna need some pots of rather different sizes.
}
{T 00:19:49:46

}
{T 00:19:52:03
Uh?! Good Lord!
}
{T 00:19:52:43

}
{T 00:19:53:93
Pythagoras wanted to understand why
certain combinations of notes...
}
{T 00:19:59:04

}
{T 00:19:59:04
...sounded so beautiful and harmonious.
}
{T 00:20:01:16

}
{T 00:20:01:16
So, if we play a pot.
}
{T 00:20:02:70

}
{T 00:20:04:46
We get a note.
}
{T 00:20:04:66

}
{T 00:20:04:66
Laaaa...
}
{T 00:20:06:09

}
{T 00:20:06:09
If I combine it to the note of this pot,
}
{T 00:20:08:27

}
{T 00:20:10:45
Laaaaa...
}
{T 00:20:11:34

}
{T 00:20:11:34
It's a kind of bang combination.
}
{T 00:20:13:23

}
{T 00:20:13:23
Let's play them together.
}
{T 00:20:14:32

}
{T 00:20:16:42
No...
}
{T 00:20:16:42

}
{T 00:20:16:43
That wasn't well done, is it?
}
{T 00:20:18:06

}
{T 00:20:18:06
But if I play this pot here.
}
{T 00:20:20:07

}
{T 00:20:23:57
That's a beautiful combination.
}
{T 00:20:24:66

}
{T 00:20:24:66
Let's see them together.
}
{T 00:20:26:36

}
{T 00:20:27:21
But why is it such a beautiful combination?
}
{T 00:20:28:91

}
{T 00:20:28:91
And the answer is mathematics.
}
{T 00:20:30:70

}
{T 00:20:30:70
The relationship between the weights of these pots...
}
{T 00:20:33:07

}
{T 00:20:33:07
...is a perfect one-to-two relationship.
}
{T 00:20:35:47

}
{T 00:20:35:47
And it's that combination of that whole numbers...
}
{T 00:20:37:95

}
{T 00:20:37:95
...which makes such a nice sound.
}
{T 00:20:39:70

}
{T 00:20:39:70
As opposed to the first pot.
}
{T 00:20:41:60

}
{T 00:20:43:07
This is a value one-to-one point two six four...
}
{T 00:20:45:36

}
{T 00:20:45:36
...not a nice whole number relationship.
}
{T 00:20:47:86

}
{T 00:20:47:87
which is causing the bad sound.
}
{T 00:20:49:87

}
{T 00:20:49:87
So Pythagoras says that the harmonies are
combinations of whole numbers.
}
{T 00:20:54:29

}
{T 00:20:54:29
That's right.
}
{T 00:20:54:69

}
{T 00:20:54:70
Numbers that are cleck to the ones.
}
{T 00:20:56:13

}
{T 00:20:56:13
Pythagoras realized that these whole numbers...
}
{T 00:20:58:60

}
{T 00:20:58:61
...are really why things sounds so beautiful.
}
{T 00:21:01:00

}
{T 00:21:01:00
And it excited him so much...
}
{T 00:21:02:75

}
{T 00:21:02:76
...he realized that mathematics was the base of everything.
}
{T 00:21:05:89

}
{T 00:21:05:90
So he could explain musical harmony...
}
{T 00:21:07:66

}
{T 00:21:07:66
...and the cosmos...
}
{T 00:21:09:19

}
{T 00:21:09:19
...and this why he coined the phrase:
}
{T 00:21:11:18

}
{T 00:21:11:18
The music of the spheres.
}
{T 00:21:12:33

}
{T 00:21:12:33
So, shall we?
}
{T 00:21:13:91

}
{T 00:21:13:91
Oh! Why not yes!
}
{T 00:21:15:35

}
{T 00:21:15:05
If the beauty of music relied on whole numbers,
}
{T 00:21:25:23

}
{T 00:21:25:23
Pythagoras recorded, so too must everything.
}
{T 00:21:28:56

}
{T 00:21:35:50
And since all numbers are collections of ones,
}
{T 00:21:37:76

}
{T 00:21:37:76
one must be the essential material out of which
the universe is constructed.
}
{T 00:21:42:85

}
{T 00:21:47:74
One had never been so admired.
}
{T 00:21:49:80

}
{T 00:21:52:97
But ultimately, Pythagoras' whole beliefs
system was doomed.
}
{T 00:21:57:52

}
{T 00:21:57:52
And ironically it was the triangle that made him famous...
}
{T 00:22:00:63

}
{T 00:22:00:64
..which was the proof is undoing.
}
{T 00:22:03:20

}
{T 00:22:10:32
If one wasn't the heart of everything,
}
{T 00:22:12:62

}
{T 00:22:12:62
It should also be the heart of every triangle.
}
{T 00:22:16:04

}
{T 00:22:16:04
Even the right angle triangle...
}
{T 00:22:17:93

}
{T 00:22:17:93
...with two equal sides.
}
{T 00:22:19:51

}
{T 00:22:21:31
The problem is, it's not.
}
{T 00:22:23:97

}
{T 00:22:23:97
Pythagoras kept trying to make all
three sides an exact number of units.
}
{T 00:22:28:68

}
{T 00:22:28:68
But it just couldn't be done.
}
{T 00:22:31:17

}
{T 00:22:36:27
When one of his disciples tried to point this out,
}
{T 00:22:39:94

}
{T 00:22:39:94
the others drowned him.
}
{T 00:22:42:09

}
{T 00:22:42:09
Pythagoras' whole belief system that
the world was made of units,
}
{T 00:22:46:99

}
{T 00:22:46:99
was a lie.
}
{T 00:22:49:04

}
{T 00:23:03:80
Poor Pythagoras, pulled down by its own
fame geometrical shape.
}
{T 00:23:08:33

}
{T 00:23:10:55
One, however, was about
to embark upon a new career.
}
{T 00:23:13:99

}
{T 00:23:13:99
Only first would have to become a little less real.
}
{T 00:23:19:25

}
{T 00:23:22:79
Like every models before him, Pythagoras ...
}
{T 00:23:25:54

}
{T 00:23:25:54
...couldn't conceive whole numbers
unless they represent actual things.
}
{T 00:23:29:66

}
{T 00:23:29:66
One was not a one unless
it stood for one chair...
}
{T 00:23:33:12

}
{T 00:23:33:12
...or one step...
}
{T 00:23:34:77

}
{T 00:23:34:77
...or one television presenter.
}
{T 00:23:36:40

}
{T 00:23:36:40
But the mathematicians who followed Pythagoras
}
{T 00:23:39:24

}
{T 00:23:39:24
would free of this constraint.
}
{T 00:23:41:41

}
{T 00:23:41:42
Eureka! Eureka!
}
{T 00:23:42:88

}
{T 00:23:42:88
Yeap! Archimedes is famous today as world's first streaker.
}
{T 00:23:46:54

}
{T 00:23:46:54
But in fact, the greatest mathematician of ancient time.
}
{T 00:23:50:26

}
{T 00:23:54:74
Archimedes just loved playing games with numbers.
}
{T 00:23:57:94

}
{T 00:23:57:94
And he took mathematics into the realm of unimaginable.
}
{T 00:24:02:03

}
{T 00:24:02:03
Because in these games, he allowed
numbers to do impossible things.
}
{T 00:24:06:54

}
{T 00:24:06:54
Like working out how many grains of sand
you'd need to fill the universe.
}
{T 00:24:11:12

}
{T 00:24:12:03
And yet daft of some of these mathematical games may seem,
}
{T 00:24:15:08

}
{T 00:24:15:08
they sometimes came up with practical
results that we benefit from to this day.
}
{T 00:24:19:84

}
{T 00:24:21:28
For example, he was obsessed with
what would happen if you took a sphere...
}
{T 00:24:25:04

}
{T 00:24:25:04
...and turn it into a cylinder.
}
{T 00:24:27:21

}
{T 00:24:27:21
What could be the difference in area cover?
}
{T 00:24:29:96

}
{T 00:24:29:96
Personnally, I don't give a fig.
}
{T 00:24:32:27

}
{T 00:24:32:27
But for Archimedes, it was
the proudest moment of his life.
}
{T 00:24:35:74

}
{T 00:24:35:74
When he finally succeeded working out this formula.
}
{T 00:24:38:66

}
{T 00:24:38:67
And, though it was a piece of pure mathematical bravado,
}
{T 00:24:42:03

}
{T 00:24:42:03
It did actually proved to be amazingly useful in the end.
}
{T 00:24:46:20

}
{T 00:24:46:20
Because, thanks to Archimedes, later mapmakers 
could take the globe and turned it into a flap map.
}
{T 00:24:52:05

}
{T 00:24:55:22
One was no long the essence of the universe.
}
{T 00:24:57:80

}
{T 00:24:57:80
But he was helping to create a golden age...
}
{T 00:25:00:47

}
{T 00:25:00:47
...of theoretical mathematics.
}
{T 00:25:02:33

}
{T 00:25:07:94
But a new force was at large in the world.
}
{T 00:25:10:33

}
{T 00:25:10:33
And one was about to be dominated by 
a people who had rough different obscessions.
}
{T 00:25:16:12

}
{T 00:25:24:95
Archimedes lived in Syracuse.
}
{T 00:25:26:51

}
{T 00:25:26:51
nad when the Romans invaded it 212 B.C.
}
{T 00:25:30:29

}
{T 00:25:30:29
he was in the middle of a particularly grimpy piece of calculation.
}
{T 00:25:33:37

}
{T 00:25:33:37
In fact, he was so wrapped up in his work,
}
{T 00:25:35:35

}
{T 00:25:35:35
that all he could say was:
}
{T 00:25:37:17

}
{T 00:25:37:17
I beg you "Do not disturb this".
}
{T 00:25:39:81

}
{T 00:25:44:46
Perhaps not the wise move.
}
{T 00:25:46:24

}
{T 00:25:50:02
It was the end of theoretical 
mathematics in the classical world.
}
{T 00:25:54:29

}
{T 00:25:54:29
The Romans were not interested in very abstracted actions
}
{T 00:25:58:71

}
{T 00:25:58:71
like how to calculate the weight to all the goats whoever lived.
}
{T 00:26:02:24

}
{T 00:26:02:24
They were interested in power.
}
{T 00:26:04:62

}
{T 00:26:07:21
Whether he liked it or not, 
one was now a servant of Rome.
}
{T 00:26:11:02

}
{T 00:26:15:33
He had to leave the dizzy world of abstract 
mathematics behind him...
}
{T 00:26:18:83

}
{T 00:26:18:83
...to get on with more practical concerns.
}
{T 00:26:21:46

}
{T 00:26:30:95
He became a backbone of Roman world.
}
{T 00:26:33:03

}
{T 00:26:33:04
As the romans used him to impose a rigid 
military greed on their army.
}
{T 00:26:38:15

}
{T 00:26:39:38
There were ten men in a section...
}
{T 00:26:41:59

}
{T 00:26:43:94
...and ten sections of hundred man who called a century.
}
{T 00:26:47:37

}
{T 00:26:51:66
Two centuries were called a manipulus.
}
{T 00:26:53:91

}
{T 00:26:53:91
Which means litterally: handful.
}
{T 00:26:56:35

}
{T 00:26:56:35
which I imagine two hundred roman soldiers probably were. 
}
{T 00:26:59:25

}
{T 00:27:02:44
Even punishments were dealt out on numerical principles.
}
{T 00:27:05:45

}
{T 00:27:05:45
If a legion suffered an humiliated defeat,
}
{T 00:27:08:14

}
{T 00:27:08:14
the entire legion was decimated...
}
{T 00:27:10:53

}
{T 00:27:10:53
...from the latin word for ten: decem.
}
{T 00:27:12:88

}
{T 00:27:14:09
Regardless of individual guilt,
}
{T 00:27:16:17

}
{T 00:27:16:17
one soldier in ten 
}
{T 00:27:17:99

}
{T 00:27:18:99
was killed.
}
{T 00:27:19:19

}
{T 00:27:29:46
The great aim of the Roman world was 
to keep things ticking over.
}
{T 00:27:33:58

}
{T 00:27:33:58
Theoretical mathematics just wasn't them.
}
{T 00:27:36:64

}
{T 00:27:37:72
Mark you I'm not surprised, I mean 
the roman rule doesn't make it easy.
}
{T 00:27:42:78

}
{T 00:27:42:78
I mean look at them.
}
{T 00:27:44:91

}
{T 00:27:44:91
It's just an elaboration of notches on a bone.
}
{T 00:27:47:63

}
{T 00:27:47:63
The only sophistication, the new symbols 
as the numbers get more unwilding.
}
{T 00:27:52:26

}
{T 00:27:52:27
V for five,
}
{T 00:27:53:57

}
{T 00:27:53:57
X for ten,
}
{T 00:27:54:38

}
{T 00:27:54:38
C for hundred.
}
{T 00:27:55:48

}
{T 00:27:55:48
Up to their symbol for the million.
}
{T 00:27:57:70

}
{T 00:27:57:70
But it's still just a simple counting system...
}
{T 00:28:00:92

}
{T 00:28:00:93
...fine for writing inscriptions on tombs... 
}
{T 00:28:03:13

}
{T 00:28:03:13
... but not much cope with the complication of theoretical maths.
}
{T 00:28:06:99

}
{T 00:28:06:99
Would you try writing a billion like that?
}
{T 00:28:09:55

}
{T 00:28:09:56
In modern numerals, it takes me about eight second, I tried it.
}
{T 00:28:13:27

}
{T 00:28:13:27
In roman numerals, it would take something like sixteen minutes.
}
{T 00:28:17:11

}
{T 00:28:19:86
It's no surprise then that roman numerals 
won't even use for calculating..
}
{T 00:28:24:58

}
{T 00:28:24:62
The actual calculating had to be done on a counting board.
}
{T 00:28:28:08

}
{T 00:28:28:08
an early version of the abacus.
}
{T 00:28:30:12

}
{T 00:28:36:18
The numerals themselves were just use for recording results.
}
{T 00:28:40:22

}
{T 00:28:40:62
Maybe it's no coincidence that, unlike the Greeks,
}
{T 00:28:44:57

}
{T 00:28:44:57
not a single roman mathematician is celebrated today.
}
{T 00:28:47:97

}
{T 00:28:56:83
As roman power spread,
}
{T 00:28:58:75

}
{T 00:28:58:76
so too did its numeral system.
}
{T 00:29:01:18

}
{T 00:29:02:36
Over the next five hundred years,
}
{T 00:29:03:83

}
{T 00:29:03:83
all of Europe from Spain to Turkey
}
{T 00:29:06:09

}
{T 00:29:06:09
came under the roman control.
}
{T 00:29:08:12

}
{T 00:29:09:09
And even when their Empire eventually crumbled,
}
{T 00:29:12:07

}
{T 00:29:12:07
their numerals were left stand.
}
{T 00:29:14:79

}
{T 00:29:18:78
But though the roman system might 
have seen undestructible, it wasn't. 
}
{T 00:29:23:01

}
{T 00:29:23:31
Its nemesis came from the East.
}
{T 00:29:25:40

}
{T 00:29:25:40
To be precised, from India.
}
{T 00:29:27:47

}
{T 00:29:27:47
In five hundred A.D.
}
{T 00:29:29:54

}
{T 00:29:29:54
...or thereabouts!
}
{T 00:29:31:04

}
{T 00:29:41:27
One had an indian cousin...
}
{T 00:29:42:98

}
{T 00:29:42:98
...who there sometime would be living in 
a more rarefied atmosphere.
}
{T 00:29:46:97

}
{T 00:29:53:92
The Indians seemed to be less concerned 
about military organisation.
}
{T 00:29:57:58

}
{T 00:29:57:58
than about enhancing the world and founding enlightment.
}
{T 00:30:02:11

}
{T 00:30:03:52
But Nirvana is not just on the road.
}
{T 00:30:05:92

}
{T 00:30:05:92
To reach it is a very, very long journey...
}
{T 00:30:09:43

}
{T 00:30:09:43
...which takes a very, very long time.
}
{T 00:30:11:91

}
{T 00:30:11:91
And to convey that fact that Indians came up 
with some stupendously big numbers.
}
{T 00:30:18:76

}
{T 00:30:23:14
Take a Rajju for example.
}
{T 00:30:24:52

}
{T 00:30:24:52
A rajju is the distance covered by God in six months...
}
{T 00:30:29:43

}
{T 00:30:29:43
...if he traveled a million kilometers...
}
{T 00:30:32:60

}
{T 00:30:32:60
...in every blink of his eyelid.
}
{T 00:30:34:73

}
{T 00:30:37:72
How about the Palya?
}
{T 00:30:38:99

}
{T 00:30:38:99
A palya is the length of time that would take me...
}
{T 00:30:41:97

}
{T 00:30:41:97
...to build a cube of lamb's wool...
}
{T 00:30:43:72

}
{T 00:30:43:72
...ten kilometers high...
}
{T 00:30:45:20

}
{T 00:30:45:20
...if I would to lay one strand...
}
{T 00:30:47:98

}
{T 00:30:47:98
...every century.
}
{T 00:30:49:29

}
{T 00:30:50:32
Here is one I made earlier.
}
{T 00:30:51:80

}
{T 00:30:55:45
Well, these are the sort of numbers 
that could have made one feel, well... small!...
}
{T 00:31:00:68

}
{T 00:31:00:68
...if he hadn't had a little help from his friends.
}
{T 00:31:05:06

}
{T 00:31:09:51
Unlike the Romans, the Indians diviced 
a system that could cope with vast numbers.
}
{T 00:31:14:69

}
{T 00:31:14:69
They developped a different symbol for every number from one to nine.
}
{T 00:31:18:89

}
{T 00:31:18:89
One.
}
{T 00:31:20:01

}
{T 00:31:21:01
Two.
}
{T 00:31:21:55

}
{T 00:31:22:25
Three.
}
{T 00:31:23:05

}
{T 00:31:24:34
Or you write them quickly, you get arabic numerals.
}
{T 00:31:28:,28

}
{T 00:31:35:71
He's right you know!
}
{T 00:31:35:71

}
{T 00:31:39:18
The numbers we use today...
}
{T 00:31:40:53

}
{T 00:31:40:53
...are called arabic, but in fact...
}
{T 00:31:42:20

}
{T 00:31:42:20
they began life here in India,
}
{T 00:31:44:56

}
{T 00:31:44:56
as early as 500 B.C.
}
{T 00:31:47:00

}
{T 00:31:48:49
But there, around fifteen hundred years ago, 
}
{T 00:31:50:78

}
{T 00:31:50:78
or a little longer if you're watching a repeat this program,
}
{T 00:31:53:69

}
{T 00:31:53:69
someone came up with a stupendous, 
incredible, extraordinary idea.
}
{T 00:31:59:73

}
{T 00:31:59:73
The biggest revolution in numbers since 
the Sumerians invented maths.
}
{T 00:32:04:69

}
{T 00:32:04:69
A creation that would change the world.
}
{T 00:32:07:18

}
{T 00:32:07:88
They invented an entirely new number.
}
{T 00:32:12:17

}
{T 00:32:14:62
And it's in here.
}
{T 00:32:16:10

}
{T 00:32:16:10
Inside this tiny eleven hundred year old temple...
}
{T 00:32:19:85

}
{T 00:32:19:85
...in Gwalior, North of India...
}
{T 00:32:21:25

}
{T 00:32:21:25
...is this new number.
}
{T 00:32:23:97

}
{T 00:32:24:49
And after four thousand miles journey,
}
{T 00:32:27:27

}
{T 00:32:27:27
I'm finally going to get to see it.
}
{T 00:32:30:07

}
{T 00:32:35:66
Nick! It's locked.
}
{T 00:32:38:13

}
{T 00:32:44:58
So, we wait.
}
{T 00:32:45:89

}
{T 00:32:45:89
And while we wait, I start to wonder.
}
{T 00:32:48:67

}
{T 00:32:48:67
How was it this new number,
}
{T 00:32:51:48

}
{T 00:32:51:48
wasn't invented sooner?
}
{T 00:32:53:40

}
{T 00:32:53:50
It's such a simple little number,
}
{T 00:32:56:51

}
{T 00:32:56:51
that takes only a moment to say...
}
{T 00:32:58:73

}
{T 00:32:58:73
... and even less to write.
}
{T 00:33:00:09

}
{T 00:33:02:23
Ah!! Here he is.
}
{T 00:33:03:09

}
{T 00:33:03:09
But once invented, he transformed the life of one...
}
{T 00:33:07:41

}
{T 00:33:07:41
...in a way that would eventually change the entire world.
}
{T 00:33:11:66

}
{T 00:33:15:51
Well, here we are.
}
{T 00:33:16:90

}
{T 00:33:16:90
The fist undisputed example of 
Indians greatest invention.
}
{T 00:33:21:90

}
{T 00:33:21:90
The new number.
}
{T 00:33:24:08

}
{T 00:33:24:08
The Holy Grail of numbers.
}
{T 00:33:26:48

}
{T 00:33:28:13
ZERO!
}
{T 00:33:29:03

}
{T 00:33:30:01
For the first time in human history,
}
{T 00:33:32:53

}
{T 00:33:32:53
...someone had made nothing a number.
}
{T 00:33:35:36

}
{T 00:33:38:16
The inscription says that a garden was planted 
to produce flowers for the temple.
}
{T 00:33:43:59

}
{T 00:33:44:95
And to ensure they had enough, 
that garden had to be 187 by 270 asters.
}
{T 00:33:52:30

}
{T 00:33:52:30
About 20 acres.
}
{T 00:33:53:84

}
{T 00:33:53:84
Knowing what Romans were using numbers to,
}
{T 00:33:57:17

}
{T 00:33:57:17
record their conquests and count dead bodies,
}
{T 00:34:00:00

}
{T 00:34:00:00
these people were using them to make sure...
}
{T 00:34:02:96

}
{T 00:34:02:96
...they had adequate supplies for the flowers arrangments.
}
{T 00:34:05:82

}
{T 00:34:08:27
What's all that fuss about?
}
{T 00:34:10:55

}
{T 00:34:10:55
I mean: what's so wonderful inventing 
a symbol that means nothing?
}
{T 00:34:14:27

}
{T 00:34:14:27
I mean if somebody asked me: "How much I've got in my hand?"
}
{T 00:34:17:28

}
{T 00:34:17:28
I can just say: "I haven't got anything in my hand."
}
{T 00:34:18:99

}
{T 00:34:18:99
I don't need a zero to do that.
}
{T 00:34:21:51

}
{T 00:34:24:41
Well, zero on its own would be nothing.
}
{T 00:34:26:59

}
{T 00:34:26:59
Obviously, but when team zero up with one,
}
{T 00:34:30:54

}
{T 00:34:30:54
...magic started to happen.
}
{T 00:34:32:48

}
{T 00:34:40:16
And when they were joined by the rest of the troup,
}
{T 00:34:42:43

}
{T 00:34:42:43
...the result was spectacular.
}
{T 00:34:44:19

}
{T 00:34:44:19
With just ten digits, the Indians could make 
numbers infinitely large...
}
{T 00:34:48:49

}
{T 00:34:50:88
...as well as infinitely small.
}
{T 00:34:53:57

}
{T 00:34:55:48
The Romans couldn't do that.
}
{T 00:34:56:95

}
{T 00:34:59:54
One had found his perfect mate in zero.
}
{T 00:35:02:44

}
{T 00:35:02:44
And it is a partnership that 
was gonna change the world.
}
{T 00:35:05:79

}
{T 00:35:10:12
Together with the rest of the team,
}
{T 00:35:12:05

}
{T 00:35:12:05
...they enabled Indians science to storm ahead.
}
{T 00:35:15:21

}
{T 00:35:15:21
Indian astronomers for example,
}
{T 00:35:17:68

}
{T 00:35:17:68
...were centuries ahead of christian worlds.
}
{T 00:35:20:55

}
{T 00:35:27:16
Indian scientists worked out that 
the Earth spins on its axis.
}
{T 00:35:31:03

}
{T 00:35:31:03
And, that it moves around the sun.
}
{T 00:35:33:94

}
{T 00:35:33:94
Something that only in Europe Copernicus would have 
figured out until a thousand years later.
}
{T 00:35:39:90

}
{T 00:35:42:58
Indian scientists also calculated the diameter of the globe.
}
{T 00:35:46:19

}
{T 00:35:46:19
...and they were less than one percent 
of what it actually is.
}
{T 00:35:49:73

}
{T 00:35:52:24
All this was possible because of one, zero 
and the rest of the troup of performing numbers.
}
{T 00:35:57:79

}
{T 00:36:01:76
They were a sensation.
}
{T 00:36:03:71

}
{T 00:36:03:71
Their fame soon began to spread across the globe.
}
{T 00:36:06:72

}
{T 00:36:10:27
A conflict with the numbers of Rome 
was about to happen sooner or later.
}
{T 00:36:13:82

}
{T 00:36:13:82
But for now, one, and zero and their friends ...
}
{T 00:36:17:09

}
{T 00:36:17:09
... made their way across the desert of Arabia...
}
{T 00:36:20:12

}
{T 00:36:20:13
... to take on one of the most 
sophisticated societies of the age.
}
{T 00:36:24:02

}
{T 00:36:24:02
And what is now Irak.
}
{T 00:36:26:30

}
{T 00:36:34:99
When Islam was a little more than one hundred years old,
}
{T 00:36:37:54

}
{T 00:36:37:54
Bagdad was ruled by the great calif Al Mansour.
}
{T 00:36:41:22

}
{T 00:36:43:45
Now the calif wished his people 
to live according to the Coran. 
}
{T 00:36:46:45

}
{T 00:36:46:45
So he set up courts and judges to apply 
the law of the Prophet.
}
{T 00:36:51:12

}
{T 00:36:55:22
Now the law of the Prophet is full of instructions..
}
{T 00:36:58:89

}
{T 00:36:58:90
...that require serious mathematical calculations.
}
{T 00:37:02:33

}
{T 00:37:02:34
If they are to be carried out exactly.
}
{T 00:37:05:13

}
{T 00:37:08:75
For example, unlike christianity, the Coran 
insists that women share in any inheritants.
}
{T 00:37:15:23

}
{T 00:37:15:24
The book says: "There is a share for men,
and a share for women...
}
{T 00:37:19:14

}
{T 00:37:19:14
...each are depending on the number of relatives 
and their relation to the deceased."
}
{T 00:37:24:02

}
{T 00:37:25:13
Working all that hard required fractions and ratios.
}
{T 00:37:27:75

}
{T 00:37:27:75
But these people were counting 
on their fingers.
}
{T 00:37:31:46

}
{T 00:37:33:39
It's not like they went out to complex mathematics.
}
{T 00:37:35:63

}
{T 00:37:35:63
It was just their number system was holding them back.
}
{T 00:37:39:00

}
{T 00:37:43:63
But one day, there arrived in the court...
}
{T 00:37:46:55

}
{T 00:37:46:55
...an ambassador from India.
}
{T 00:37:48:56

}
{T 00:37:48:56
He had to present to the great calif 
with a gift of some sort.
}
{T 00:37:52:47

}
{T 00:37:52:47
But the calif was a man of infinite riches.
}
{T 00:37:55:65

}
{T 00:37:55:65
It was hard to know what to give.
}
{T 00:37:58:13

}
{T 00:37:58:13
I mean, "I love India" tee-shirt 
was hard to do the job.
}
{T 00:38:01:54

}
{T 00:38:02:82
The ambassador has thought long and hard about this...
}
{T 00:38:05:34

}
{T 00:38:05:35
...and decided to present the calif with 
the greatest gift he could think of.
}
{T 00:38:10:09

}
{T 00:38:11:02
The gift of numbers!
}
{T 00:38:13:77

}
{T 00:38:33:35
Actually, we don't know for certain exactly how...
}
{T 00:38:35:69

}
{T 00:38:35:69
... indian new numbers were adopted in the islamic world,
}
{T 00:38:38:20

}
{T 00:38:38:20
...but the ambassador story is my favorite.
}
{T 00:38:41:87

}
{T 00:38:51:43
What we do know is that muslim scholars were bold over
by one, zero and the rest of the troup.
}
{T 00:38:56:42

}
{T 00:38:56:43
And the most famous of these scolars was 
a man of the name Al-Khwarismi.
}
{T 00:39:01:46

}
{T 00:39:08:99
That's right!
}
{T 00:39:09:69

}
{T 00:39:15:91
Al-Khwarismi and his colleagues taught 
the performing new rules...
}
{T 00:39:19:83

}
{T 00:39:19:83
...a whole host of brand new tricks.
}
{T 00:39:22:97

}
{T 00:39:25:10
Quadratic equations,
}
{T 00:39:26:32

}
{T 00:39:27:43
Algebra,
}
{T 00:39:28:32

}
{T 00:39:31:39
Reversed logarithmic cubic cake and...
}
{T 00:39:34:52

}
{T 00:39:34:82
Well, ok. I made that last one up.
}
{T 00:39:37:34

}
{T 00:39:37:82
But these new numerical fits enabled 
science, mathematics and astronomy
}
{T 00:39:42:58

}
{T 00:39:42:58
...to reach new heights in the Middle East.
}
{T 00:39:44:92

}
{T 00:39:44:92
And the indian troop became a smash-it 
throughout the islamic world. 
}
{T 00:39:49:22

}
{T 00:39:50:63
But on the other side of the Mediterranean
}
{T 00:39:52:85

}
{T 00:39:52:85
...christian Europe was still on the static grip 
of the old army of roman numerals.
}
{T 00:39:57:90

}
{T 00:39:57:90
And being Romans, they won't going to give way to 
the feisty newcomers that easily.
}
{T 00:40:03:36

}
{T 00:40:03:36
A showdown between the two systems was inevitable.
}
{T 00:40:07:19

}
{T 00:40:07:19
And when it came it would shake 
the destiny of the western world.
}
{T 00:40:11:53

}
{T 00:40:18:12
The beginning of the helm for roman numerals... 
}
{T 00:40:20:69

}
{T 00:40:20:69
...satrted on the shore of North Africa.
}
{T 00:40:22:81

}
{T 00:40:30:15
Most of the traders have been quicked to adopt 
one, zero and co for their business deal.
}
{T 00:40:34:76

}
{T 00:40:34:76
By the end of the twelfth century, 
the indian numerals were in common use.
}
{T 00:40:39:81

}
{T 00:40:42:47
And it was in the bustling port of Bejaia...
}
{T 00:40:44:91

}
{T 00:40:44:91
...that the young son of an italian diplomat,
}
{T 00:40:47:65

}
{T 00:40:47:65
...based in Algeria,
}
{T 00:40:48:81

}
{T 00:40:48:81
...first witnessed that amazing act.
}
{T 00:40:51:88

}
{T 00:41:05:62
"When I have been introduced...
}
{T 00:41:07:47

}
{T 00:41:07:47
...to the art of the Indians nine symbols,
}
{T 00:41:10:19

}
{T 00:41:10:19
...knowledge of the art very soon pleased me 
more than anything else.
}
{T 00:41:14:69

}
{T 00:41:14:69
And I came to understand it."
}
{T 00:41:17:81

}
{T 00:41:28:14
That young man was known as Fibonacci.
}
{T 00:41:30:37

}
{T 00:41:30:37
And he was so knock out by the Indian numerals
}
{T 00:41:33:14

}
{T 00:41:33:14
...that when he grew up, 
he decided to take them home.
}
{T 00:41:36:47

}
{T 00:41:39:60
In 1202, Fibonacci wrote a book about calculation...
}
{T 00:41:43:33

}
{T 00:41:43:33
...called, well, The Book of Calculation. (Liber abaci)
}
{T 00:41:46:21

}
{T 00:41:46:21
He's now regarded as one of the greatest mathematician of all time.
}
{T 00:41:50:93

}
{T 00:41:50:93
And his book was pretty much a showcase for Indian numbers.
}
{T 00:41:54:82

}
{T 00:41:56:27
Fibonacci wasn't just a highly tower theorist...
}
{T 00:41:59:12

}
{T 00:41:59:12
...part of his book of calculations...
}
{T 00:42:01:42

}
{T 00:42:01:42
...was aimed specifically at merchants...
}
{T 00:42:04:00

}
{T 00:42:04:00
...showing them how useful Indian numerals 
could be for, say... calculating their profits. 
}
{T 00:42:08:93

}
{T 00:42:10:75
Not exactly a page turning I think...
}
{T 00:42:12:98

}
{T 00:42:12:98
...but this was the time when capitalism was beginning 
to come out into the opening Europe.
}
{T 00:42:17:71

}
{T 00:42:17:72
Fibonacci's book was a "must read".
}
{T 00:42:20:60

}
{T 00:42:25:77
Unfortunately, ordinary people felt 
more comfortable with the old numbers.
}
{T 00:42:29:80

}
{T 00:42:31:46
After all, they lived with them part of a thousand years.
}
{T 00:42:34:14

}
{T 00:42:35:91
The old roman numerals won't going to make it easy...
}
{T 00:42:39:13

}
{T 00:42:39:13
...for the Indian newcomers.
}
{T 00:42:40:99

}
{T 00:42:50:25
And it wasn't just a question of tradition.
}
{T 00:42:52:27

}
{T 00:42:52:57
People had some pretty good reasons to prefer the old system.
}
{T 00:42:56:43

}
{T 00:42:56:43
For example, many medieval italian cities...
}
{T 00:42:59:44

}
{T 00:42:59:45
...had their own currency.
}
{T 00:43:00:70

}
{T 00:43:00:70
So, everytime I found myself in a new town...
}
{T 00:43:03:72

}
{T 00:43:03:72
a new set of extraneous costumes maybe,
}
{T 00:43:06:88

}
{T 00:43:06:88
I have to go to the money changes bench 
or "banca" as it's called.
}
{T 00:43:11:69

}
{T 00:43:11:69
The "banca" was a counting table.
}
{T 00:43:13:46

}
{T 00:43:13:46
Basically an abacus with counters instead of beads.
}
{T 00:43:16:26

}
{T 00:43:16:26
The man who aperated them, the banker,
}
{T 00:43:19:24

}
{T 00:43:19:24
...had to swear an oath, not to cheat the customers.
}
{T 00:43:22:79

}
{T 00:43:23:19
Well if a magistrate find he is cheating me,
}
{T 00:43:26:12

}
{T 00:43:26:13
...they'll come and break his bench.
}
{T 00:43:28:06

}
{T 00:43:28:06
This "banca" would be "rupta"...
}
{T 00:43:30:59

}
{T 00:43:30:59
...which is the word for broken.
}
{T 00:43:31:68

}
{T 00:43:31:68
And he will be declared "bancarupta"...
}
{T 00:43:33:81

}
{T 00:43:33:81
...which is why we get the word "bankrupted".
}
{T 00:43:35:94

}
{T 00:43:35:95
-"Hi."
}
{T 00:43:36:43

}
{T 00:43:36:43
Now with these coins, how much can I get? 
}
{T 00:43:40:39

}
{T 00:43:42:96
What he is trying to get now it is reassuring to see...
}
{T 00:43:46:63

}
{T 00:43:46:63
...he is using numerals I am familiar with...
}
{T 00:43:48:51

}
{T 00:43:48:51
...which are roman numerals of course.
}
{T 00:43:50:03

}
{T 00:43:50:03
And using this abacus, at least 
I can see what he is doing.
}
{T 00:43:53:61

}
{T 00:43:53:61
-"Ah I get that much? Right. Well. thanks a lot."
}
{T 00:43:57:21

}
{T 00:43:57:22
Nice doing business with you.
}
{T 00:43:58:94

}
{T 00:43:59:69
But what if I was to go after one of the smart chaps 
using the new fungle indian numerals?
}
{T 00:44:04:82

}
{T 00:44:08:19
-"Hi."
}
{T 00:44:08:19

}
{T 00:44:08:20
What would you give to me for that?
}
{T 00:44:10:35

}
{T 00:44:16:30
You see, this is the problem.
}
{T 00:44:17:87

}
{T 00:44:17:87
As a medieval punter I haven't got an idea of what he's writing.
}
{T 00:44:22:51

}
{T 00:44:22:51
I mean normally people were suspicious 
}
{T 00:44:24:72

}
{T 00:44:24:72
I mean if my bank starts to keep my account in chinese.
}
{T 00:44:27:21

}
{T 00:44:27:21
I'd be suspicious.
}
{T 00:44:28:59

}
{T 00:44:29:38
-"Oh! Thanks."
}
{T 00:44:29:97

}
{T 00:44:29:97
I have no idea how you arrived to that,
but thanks anyway.
}
{T 00:44:33:41

}
{T 00:44:35:50
This distrust went right to the top...
}
{T 00:44:38:08

}
{T 00:44:38:08
...in 1299, the city of Florence actually banned 
merchants from using the new numbers in account.
}
{T 00:44:44:73

}
{T 00:44:44:73
They had to use roman numerals.
}
{T 00:44:46:98

}
{T 00:44:50:30
But no number was treated with more 
suspicion than one's partner, zero.
}
{T 00:44:54:97

}
{T 00:44:55:76
One writer called zero "a sign which 
creates confusion and difficulties".
}
{T 00:45:00:10

}
{T 00:45:06:06
Zero was called "sifra".
}
{T 00:45:07:68

}
{T 00:45:07:68
And it was regarded with such suspicion...
}
{T 00:45:10:40

}
{T 00:45:10:40
...that that word became our word for secret code.
}
{T 00:45:13:61

}
{T 00:45:13:61
A cipher.
}
{T 00:45:14:75

}
{T 00:45:16:49
But the days of the old system were numbered.
}
{T 00:45:18:49

}
{T 00:45:18:49
I suppose you could blame good old human greed.
}
{T 00:45:21:52

}
{T 00:45:24:25
The traditionalists who come with 
the abacus and Roman numerals,
}
{T 00:45:27:47

}
{T 00:45:27:47
...had never had to calculate interests on loans.
}
{T 00:45:30:19

}
{T 00:45:30:19
Because the catholic church said 
charging into some loan was a sin.
}
{T 00:45:34:50

}
{T 00:45:34:50
That was called usery.
}
{T 00:45:35:94

}
{T 00:45:36:77
But come a reformation, the protestant 
churches were all business friendly.
}
{T 00:45:41:03

}
{T 00:45:41:03
And the long held christian objection to capitalism,
}
{T 00:45:43:99

}
{T 00:45:43:99
seem to... well... disappear.
}
{T 00:45:46:25

}
{T 00:45:49:46
So, in this new money landing, interest charging evironment...
}
{T 00:45:53:51

}
{T 00:45:53:51
...which would prove the more useful:
}
{T 00:45:55:85

}
{T 00:45:55:85
...Indian numbers or the abacus?
}
{T 00:45:58:59

}
{T 00:45:58:59
Well, let's find out.
}
{T 00:46:00:45

}
{T 00:46:03:42
On my right, one first class mathematician,
}
{T 00:46:06:05

}
{T 00:46:06:05
...on my left, one first class abacist.
}
{T 00:46:09:17

}
{T 00:46:09:17
So, supposing I lend someone, 10 pounds
}
{T 00:46:13:51

}
{T 00:46:13:52
...at half a percent interest a month...
}
{T 00:46:17:03

}
{T 00:46:17:03
...how much do they owe me at the end of the year?
}
{T 00:46:20:58

}
{T 00:46:20:58
Ok?!
}
{T 00:46:21:76

}
{T 00:46:21:76
Ready...
}
{T 00:46:22:68

}
{T 00:46:22:68
Steady...
}
{T 00:46:23:50

}
{T 00:46:23:71
Go!
}
{T 00:46:24:38

}
{T 00:46:27:78
Kimy has been an abacist since she's been just her fifteen...
}
{T 00:46:30:33

}
{T 00:46:30:33
...and is using modern soroban model.
}
{T 00:46:32:48

}
{T 00:46:32:48
But just as they did in the sixteenth century.
}
{T 00:46:34:70

}
{T 00:46:34:70
She's ranging the numbers to the nearest penny as she goes.
}
{T 00:46:37:90

}
{T 00:46:37:90
Let's hope she can range herself up into first place.
}
{T 00:46:40:88

}
{T 00:46:44:64
Marcus is using a pen and paper...
}
{T 00:46:46:45

}
{T 00:46:46:45
...so he's working to a high popping twelve decimal places.
}
{T 00:46:49:80

}
{T 00:46:49:80
He lives in North London where his lovely wife Shany...
}
{T 00:46:52:32

}
{T 00:46:52:33
...and three charming children.
}
{T 00:46:54:51

}
{T 00:46:54:51
He's not big but he is clever.
}
{T 00:46:57:23

}
{T 00:47:00:10
Wouah! 
}
{T 00:47:01:00

}
{T 00:47:01:00
Kimy has got an answer.
}
{T 00:47:01:74

}
{T 00:47:01:74
Kimy:
}
{T 00:47:02:69

}
{T 00:47:02:69
What's your answer?
-"Ten pounds sixty."
}
{T 00:47:05:32

}
{T 00:47:05:32
Ten pounds sixty.
}
{T 00:47:06:84

}
{T 00:47:06:84
So, compound interests of the year would be 
ten pounds sixty.
}
{T 00:47:10:40

}
{T 00:47:10:41
And the abacus seems to get that before the mathematician.
}
{T 00:47:13:40

}
{T 00:47:13:40
I don't want to put a temper of things,
}
{T 00:47:14:84

}
{T 00:47:14:84
but I that the answer is actually wrong
}
{T 00:47:17:02

}
{T 00:47:17:02
I got 10 pounds sixty one... 
(well read it yourself! Transcripter is fed up)
}
{T 00:47:24:99

}
{T 00:47:24:99
...to be precised.
}
{T 00:47:26:07

}
{T 00:47:26:07
I've actually picked up the certainty of coumpound interest
}
{T 00:47:28:95

}
{T 00:47:28:95
...which is, it's a little bit each month,
}
{T 00:47:30:93

}
{T 00:47:30:94
...but it adds up, so I've got these extra
1.67... p.
}
{T 00:47:34:68

}
{T 00:47:37:23
For the medieval businessman it would mean 
a difference between making a living and not.
}
{T 00:47:41:96

}
{T 00:47:41:96
Maybe that's why the abacus user looks so miserable.
}
{T 00:47:45:26

}
{T 00:47:47:03
As capitalism gains respectability,
}
{T 00:47:49:69

}
{T 00:47:49:69
...calculating interests and coupound interests
}
{T 00:47:52:32

}
{T 00:47:52:32
...became "de rigueur" for any self respecting businessman. 
}
{T 00:47:55:73

}
{T 00:47:55:73
And for doing that, even with an abacus,
}
{T 00:47:58:61

}
{T 00:47:58:61
...the old roman system was simply no match...
}
{T 00:48:01:56

}
{T 00:48:01:56
...for the indian numerals.
}
{T 00:48:03:02

}
{T 00:48:06:34
After centuries Fibonacci brought them to Europe,
}
{T 00:48:09:60

}
{T 00:48:09:60
...the Indian numbers finally outnumbered the old Roman's.
}
{T 00:48:14:10

}
{T 00:48:19:44
They were quick and versatile.
}
{T 00:48:20:87

}
{T 00:48:20:87
And with one and zero in the lead just that excelled team worked.
}
{T 00:48:25:13

}
{T 00:48:30:62
When the end came in, it was a push-over.
}
{T 00:48:32:91

}
{T 00:48:32:91
The old roman numerals were at last... banca rupta!
}
{T 00:48:37:44

}
{T 00:48:39:50
But one and zero had even bigger plans for the future
}
{T 00:48:43:66

}
{T 00:48:43:66
and they didn't include the other numerals.
}
{T 00:48:47:09

}
{T 00:48:51:41
In the meanwhile, the full tribe of the indian numbers
}
{T 00:48:53:49

}
{T 00:48:53:49
...took over the western world.
}
{T 00:48:54:67

}
{T 00:48:56:46
With them, european navigators
}
{T 00:48:58:32

}
{T 00:48:58:32
...found it easy how to calculate the latitude.
}
{T 00:49:00:43

}
{T 00:49:00:43
So they dared to cross the great oceans
}
{T 00:49:02:62

}
{T 00:49:02:62
...out of the sighted land.
}
{T 00:49:03:73

}
{T 00:49:03:73
That's how they discovered America.
}
{T 00:49:05:44

}
{T 00:49:08:03
All the new numbers became the vocabulary 
of the modern bankers as we know.
}
{T 00:49:11:65

}
{T 00:49:13:82
But there was still plenty of room for that old problem:
}
{T 00:49:16:82

}
{T 00:49:16:83
Human error!
}
{T 00:49:17:99

}
{T 00:49:28:35
Colombus thought he got to Japan...
}
{T 00:49:30:17

}
{T 00:49:30:17
...but in fact he got to West Indies (Antilles)
}
{T 00:49:32:01

}
{T 00:49:32:01
Half the world away!
}
{T 00:49:33:50

}
{T 00:49:35:58
He'd made a mistake.
}
{T 00:49:37:23

}
{T 00:49:37:23
Humans do.
}
{T 00:49:37:66

}
{T 00:49:37:66
Which is something one man was determined to stop.
}
{T 00:49:41:11

}
{T 00:49:41:11
It all happened round about sixteen... 
}
{T 00:49:43:50

}
{T 00:49:43:50
...there you are, you've got it again.
}
{T 00:49:45:37

}
{T 00:49:50:77
Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz was 
one of the greatest mathematician of all time.
}
{T 00:49:56:69

}
{T 00:49:56:69
He set out to rid mankind of the curse of human error.
}
{T 00:50:01:36

}
{T 00:50:07:00
In trying to do this, Liebniz invented something 
that still affects us everyday of our lives.
}
{T 00:50:12:54

}
{T 00:50:12:54
What's more, it's an invention that was to give 
our old friend one chance to rule the world.
}
{T 00:50:18:93

}
{T 00:50:22:18
Liebniz was convinced that he could eradicate error 
by inventing a mechanical calculating machine.
}
{T 00:50:28:63

}
{T 00:50:28:63
And in fact, he built one.
}
{T 00:50:30:55

}
{T 00:50:30:55
Using all the numerals from zero to nine.
}
{T 00:50:32:95

}
{T 00:50:32:95
But then, he had a better idea.
}
{T 00:50:35:87

}
{T 00:50:35:87
And it was one that has insired by its philosophy.
}
{T 00:50:39:18

}
{T 00:50:41:21
"It is true that as the empty voids and dismal 
wilderness belong to zero...
}
{T 00:50:47:02

}
{T 00:50:55:42
...so the spirit of God and his light 
belong to old powerful one."
}
{T 00:51:00:15

}
{T 00:51:01:43
In other words, to paraphrase Liebniz very very loosely,
}
{T 00:51:05:09

}
{T 00:51:05:09
...the universe is a bit like swiss cheese.
}
{T 00:51:08:94

}
{T 00:51:08:94
Which some of us have suspected for years.
}
{T 00:51:12:06

}
{T 00:51:12:06
The holes are just has important as the cheese itself.
}
{T 00:51:16:21

}
{T 00:51:16:21
So, to construct the world,
}
{T 00:51:18:24

}
{T 00:51:18:24
...you need both something (good old number one) 
and also lots of nothing.
}
{T 00:51:23:21

}
{T 00:51:23:21
which is where zero comes in.
}
{T 00:51:25:35

}
{T 00:51:28:15
Liebniz was convinced that one and zero were 
the only numbers that anyone really needed.
}
{T 00:51:34:90

}
{T 00:51:38:47
With these two numbers, he claimed, 
he could achieve every mathematical dream.
}
{T 00:51:43:03

}
{T 00:51:43:03
And, what's more, eliminate human error.
}
{T 00:51:46:32

}
{T 00:51:47:22
So he got rid of the other numbers... 
}
{T 00:51:48:93

}
{T 00:51:48:93
...and developped a system using just ones and zeros.
}
{T 00:51:53:24

}
{T 00:51:53:24
It's called the binary system.
}
{T 00:51:57:66

}
{T 00:51:59:04
Wait a minute! How could you possibly express 
all numbers just with a one and a zero?
}
{T 00:52:04:77

}
{T 00:52:06:19
I think its time I speak to someone 
who knows what he's talking about.
}
{T 00:52:09:91

}
{T 00:52:09:91
-"Marcus!"
}
{T 00:52:11:49

}
{T 00:52:13:28
I need to understand the binary system.
}
{T 00:52:15:41

}
{T 00:52:15:41
Binary.
}
{T 00:52:16:49

}
{T 00:52:16:49
Ok. Let me give you a number in binary.
}
{T 00:52:18:13

}
{T 00:52:18:63
Here is the number nine written in binary.
}
{T 00:52:21:62

}
{T 00:52:21:63
So this is just using ones and zeros.
}
{T 00:52:23:89

}
{T 00:52:23:89
Ones and zeros for any number.
}
{T 00:52:25:55

}
{T 00:52:25:55
Just zeros and ones.
}
{T 00:52:26:96

}
{T 00:52:27:51
That's nine in binary .
}
{T 00:52:29:24

}
{T 00:52:29:24
Well it looks like a thousand and one to me.
}
{T 00:52:30:71

}
{T 00:52:30:71
That's because you're obsessed with your ten fingers, 
you like to keep track of things in tens.
}
{T 00:52:35:39

}
{T 00:52:35:39
Well this one keeps a track of how many ones.
}
{T 00:52:38:01

}
{T 00:52:38:01
The second column of how many tens there are.
}
{T 00:52:40:29

}
{T 00:52:40:29
Next, how many hundreds,
}
{T 00:52:41:64

}
{T 00:52:41:64
...and one lot of a the thousands.
}
{T 00:52:43:40

}
{T 00:52:43:40
But in binary things work rather differently.
}
{T 00:52:46:07

}
{T 00:52:46:07
In binary what's the colum keep tracking is how many ones,
}
{T 00:52:50:44

}
{T 00:52:50:44
how many twos,
}
{T 00:52:51:28

}
{T 00:52:51:28
how many fours,
}
{T 00:52:52:31

}
{T 00:52:52:31
how many eights there are.
}
{T 00:52:53:59

}
{T 00:52:53:90
Here we have an egg with whom I am 
to represent numbers using zeros and ones.
}
{T 00:52:58:80

}
{T 00:52:59:10
Ok. So now we're allowed... I need to put an egg in or not have an egg.
}
{T 00:53:02:60

}
{T 00:53:03:00
An egg in is one.
}
{T 00:53:04:23

}
{T 00:53:04:23
An egg represents one.
}
{T 00:53:05:40

}
{T 00:53:05:40
So let me show you what nine is in binary.
}
{T 00:53:08:01

}
{T 00:53:08:01
One lot of eight.
}
{T 00:53:09:14

}
{T 00:53:09:14
So I have an egg in the fourth column.
}
{T 00:53:10:98

}
{T 00:53:10:98
Yeah, that's one lot of eight. The fourth column.
}
{T 00:53:13:91

}
{T 00:53:14:25
And nine is eight plus one, so I need a one in the one's column.
}
{T 00:53:20:02

}
{T 00:53:21:36
In binary, the number nine is: 
}
{T 00:53:24:34

}
{T 00:53:24:34
one lot of eight, no fours, no twos and one one.
}
{T 00:53:28:42

}
{T 00:53:29:53
Amazing!
}
{T 00:53:30:03

}
{T 00:53:30:73
But, what about the other numbers?
}
{T 00:53:32:06

}
{T 00:53:32:89
Well, after just three short hours of tuition
}
{T 00:53:35:93

}
{T 00:53:35:94
I began to see that it was possible afterall to make 
every number using just ones and not ones.
}
{T 00:53:42:04

}
{T 00:53:42:96
What's more, I became convinced that 
you don't need to do it with eggs.
}
{T 00:53:46:74

}
{T 00:53:52:91
It's a sort of mechanical system.
}
{T 00:53:54:38

}
{T 00:53:54:38
It's very mechanical to add the ones and zeros.
}
{T 00:53:56:28

}
{T 00:53:56:28
That's why it's perfect for a machine.
}
{T 00:53:58:10

}
{T 00:53:58:10
And a machine doesn't really care too much 
about how big the numbers get.
}
{T 00:54:01:80

}
{T 00:54:01:80
It can keep tracking very long numbers.
}
{T 00:54:03:74

}
{T 00:54:03:74
We are not very good at doing that.
}
{T 00:54:05:33

}
{T 00:54:05:33
What is interesting here is a very 
efficient way of adding numbers.
}
{T 00:54:08:84

}
{T 00:54:08:84
That's why machines love to put numbers into binary.
}
{T 00:54:11:23

}
{T 00:54:13:66
And Liebniz designed exactly such a binary machine.
}
{T 00:54:18:09

}
{T 00:54:18:09
Only he was using metal balls dropping into slots,
}
{T 00:54:21:87

}
{T 00:54:21:87
...instead of eggs and eggcups.
}
{T 00:54:24:06

}
{T 00:54:25:34
From now on, mistakes would be a thing of past.
}
{T 00:54:28:62

}
{T 00:54:28:62
The digital age, it seemed, was ready to take over the world.
}
{T 00:54:34:02

}
{T 00:54:36:16
Unfortunately, he never built it.
}
{T 00:54:38:09

}
{T 00:54:45:55
One and zero wold have to wait another 
two hundred and sixty-five years...
}
{T 00:54:50:24

}
{T 00:54:50:24
...before they could step into the limelight.
}
{T 00:54:53:23

}
{T 00:54:59:91
Meet Colossus. The world's first working binary computer.
}
{T 00:55:04:55

}
{T 00:55:04:55
It's Liebniz' dream made real.
}
{T 00:55:07:80

}
{T 00:55:07:80
But instead of dropping metal balls into slots,
}
{T 00:55:10:74

}
{T 00:55:10:74
...Colossus is electronic.
}
{T 00:55:13:85

}
{T 00:55:14:65
In here, one and zero, something and nothing
}
{T 00:55:18:25

}
{T 00:55:18:25
...have finally coming to their element as electrical current.
}
{T 00:55:22:83

}
{T 00:55:22:83
ON and OFF.
}
{T 00:55:25:67

}
{T 00:55:25:17
Colossus was created during the second world war.
}
{T 00:55:29:52

}
{T 00:55:29:52
And instored here in burden's code 
breaking center at Bletchley Park.
}
{T 00:55:34:12

}
{T 00:55:34:94
It is twelve hundred valves, miles of wire, 
hundreds of mechanical components.
}
{T 00:55:39:71

}
{T 00:55:44:19
But just like all computers today, 
}
{T 00:55:46:73

}
{T 00:55:46:74
...the beating heart of this machine...
}
{T 00:55:48:73

}
{T 00:55:48:73
...is one and zero.
}
{T 00:55:51:19

}
{T 00:55:52:21
In their electronic binary form,
}
{T 00:55:54:31

}
{T 00:55:54:32
...one and zero perform millions of rapid calculations.
}
{T 00:55:57:57

}
{T 00:55:57:57
...enough to crack enemies code...
}
{T 00:55:59:71

}
{T 00:55:59:71
...before the Germans had even sharpened their pencils.
}
{T 00:56:03:01

}
{T 00:56:05:36
Thanks to Colossus, the allies knew what german 
messages said even before Hitler did.
}
{T 00:56:11:93

}
{T 00:56:11:94
I mean maybe this extraordinary constraption 
helped shorten the war by as much as two years.
}
{T 00:56:18:06

}
{T 00:56:20:82
The technology that started here in Bletchley 
has changed our world forever.
}
{T 00:56:25:96

}
{T 00:56:28:39
You remember all these reasons for using and understanding numbers.
}
{T 00:56:31:16

}
{T 00:56:31:16
...doing astronomical calculations...
}
{T 00:56:32:69

}
{T 00:56:33:29
...working out measurements...
}
{T 00:56:34:45

}
{T 00:56:34:45
...or juggling with the division of property...
}
{T 00:56:37:08

}
{T 00:56:37:08
...computers can do it.
}
{T 00:56:38:88

}
{T 00:56:40:00
Working out the ten digits...
}
{T 00:56:41:32

}
{T 00:56:41:32
...currency exchange rate...
}
{T 00:56:42:69

}
{T 00:56:42:69
...and compound interest...
}
{T 00:56:44:34

}
{T 00:56:44:34
...all that calculation that preoccupied and sometimes 
perplexed the great mind of Antiquity...
}
{T 00:56:50:39

}
{T 00:56:51:44
Just leave it to the computers.
}
{T 00:56:52:93

}
{T 00:56:52:93
And we can all be simply happy ignoramuses... 
}
{T 00:56:55:70

}
{T 00:56:55:70
...don't even knowing whether the answer's right or wrong.
}
{T 00:56:59:09

}
{T 00:57:00:07
And that's got to be a good thing.
}
{T 00:57:01:28

}
{T 00:57:01:62
Isn't it?
}
{T 00:57:02:63

}
{T 00:57:07:04
-"Terry?" (not Thierry ok !!... so funny!)
}
{T 00:57:09:04

}
{T 00:57:09:04
-"Where are you going Terry?"
}
{T 00:57:11:50

}
{T 00:57:11:50
-"You're not leaving me. Are you Terry?"
}
{T 00:57:14:89

}
{T 00:57:15:41
-"Terry?"
}
{T 00:57:15:96

}
{T 00:57:18:04
-"Terry!!!"
}
{T 00:57:19:13

}
{T 00:57:20:21
In the computer age, a whole world runs 
on the stream of ones and not ones.
}
{T 00:57:25:39

}
{T 00:57:25:39
From my bank statements to my medical 
records to the bar code.
}
{T 00:57:29:61

}
{T 00:57:29:61
Everytime I buy tin of cat food
}
{T 00:57:31:66

}
{T 00:57:31:66
And the rest of the numbers can be consigned 
to the dustbin of history.
}
{T 00:57:36:49

}
{T 00:57:37:02
One and zero are all we need.
}
{T 00:57:40:53

}
{T 00:57:40:53
The old performing duo come out on top.
}
{T 00:57:44:60

}
{T 00:57:50:40
Let's just hope we can control the little blighters.
}
{T 00:57:53:94

}