The Secrets of Mathematics

Oxford Students discuss the Prime Number Theorem. Prime numbers have fascinated mathematicians since there were mathematicians to be fascinated, and The Prime Number Theorem is one of the crowning achievements of 19th century mathematics. The theorem answers, in a precise form, a very basic and naive-sounding question: how many prime numbers are there? Proved in 1896, the theorem marked the culmination of a century of mathematical progress, and is also at the heart of one of the biggest unsolved problems in mathematics today.

Host: Aled Walker, 2nd year DPhil, Mathematics, Magdalen College
Guests: Simon Myerson, 4th year DPhil, Mathematics, Oriel College: Sofia Lindqvist, 1st year DPhil, Mathematics, Keble College, Jamie Beacom, 1st year DPhil, Mathematics, Balliol College.