Summary
Do you have a favourite number - one you love, one you think stands out from all the others? Author Alex Bellos joins us to talk about his quest to find the world's favourite number and discuss whether numbers really can be magical, mystical and memorable, or whether it's all mumbo jumbo. Why are odd numbers so appealing? Which number strikes fear into some people's hearts? And why do lists of questions like these always come in threes? This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the short edition of Morales, first broadcast on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:05.0 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:08.0 | The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use |
| 0:12.0 | go to BBCWorldService.com slash podcasts. |
| 0:24.0 | Hello and welcome to Morales on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:28.0 | I'm Ruth Alexander and this week we're putting down the sword of statistical rigor, |
| 0:33.0 | taking off the armour of analytical certainty and getting in touch with our sensitive side. |
| 0:49.0 | This week the programme's about love, magic, fear and death. |
| 0:54.0 | We're talking about how we feel about numbers and about maths. |
| 0:59.0 | This is the love that Denmark speaks its name. People never talk about this sort of thing. |
| 1:04.0 | Helping us open our hearts to numbers is Alex Bellos, whose new book, Alex Through the Looking Glass, |
| 1:10.0 | documents his quest to find the world's favourite number. |
| 1:14.0 | When I wrote my first book, people would come up to me and they would always say, |
| 1:17.0 | so then, what's your favourite number? This wound me up because I just thought |
| 1:22.0 | that is just saying that you don't take what I'm doing seriously. |
| 1:25.0 | But what is your favourite number? |
| 1:27.0 | Well, that's things I don't have a favourite number. |
| 1:29.0 | So I thought this was a silly thing to ask. |
| 1:31.0 | And once I think I was at the end of my tether, it was probably the long day |
| 1:34.0 | and I just said, well, I don't know, what's your favourite number? |
| 1:37.0 | And they said, oh, 12 or 4. |
| 1:39.0 | Oh, 13 and it was a talk and I can remember things really. |
... |
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