Painting With Numbers: Safety in Numbers

Marcus du Sautoy delves into the fascinating world of mathematical codes and shows us how modern technology relies on them to let us communicate quickly, effectively and safely. In this programme, Marcus explains how everything from the English language to our very own DNA is written in code, and how the language of maths can be used to construct codes so clever that they can detect and even correct errors in a message. Marcus meets Professor Keith Ball to discuss how these amazing codes work, and how they help us with daily activities like ordering books over the internet and receiving pictures from satellites deep in space. Marcus explains how a mathematical technique keeps us secure when we reveal our secrets to banks and businesses on the internet. He explores how this technology needs those mysterious numbers, the primes, and what will happen to our internet security should quantum computers become a reality. Marcus hopes to convince us that the information age is built on the mathematical foundations.