Stamp prices and the first maths book
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2012
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Royal Mail says UK stamp prices are still among the best value in Europe, despite an imminent steep price rise. Tim Harford finds out whether this is true, and compares the price of postal services around the world. Plus, he finds out how, after being invented by Indian mathematicians, modern numbers became established in the ancient Arab world and then journeyed on to Europe in what was essentially the first maths textbook ever written, "Liber Abaci". Its author was Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci. Tim speaks to Keith Devlin, author of The Man of Numbers, to find out more. This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:04.0 | The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use go to bbcworldservice.com |
| 0:10.0 | slash podcasts. |
| 0:12.0 | This is more or less the program which finds poetry in data. |
| 0:17.0 | We make an addition of the program for BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:20.0 | But this episode was broadcast on the World Service. |
| 0:24.0 | Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:28.0 | We're your weekly guide to the numbers in the news and in life. |
| 0:31.0 | And I'm Tim Harford. |
| 0:33.0 | This week we bring you the story of the very first maths book. |
| 0:37.0 | The beginning of the 13th century nobody in Europe had ever seen that kind of thing before. |
| 0:42.0 | But first, the price of posting a letter is going up sharply in the UK by 30% for first class mail and almost 40% for second class mail. |
| 0:51.0 | The Royal Mail says it has to put up the price to protect its future. |
| 0:54.0 | And it says that UK stamp prices are still amongst the best value in Europe. |
| 1:00.0 | Are they right? |
| 1:01.0 | And what is the cheapest place in the world to post a letter? |
| 1:04.0 | Or for that matter, the most expensive? |
| 1:06.0 | Ruth Alexander has been tending to the great more or less spreadsheet. |
| 1:10.0 | And what secrets it holds, Tim? |
| 1:12.0 | Yes. |
| 1:13.0 | The Royal Mail has said the UK will remain the cheapest place in Europe to post a letter. |
| 1:18.0 | Or at least a certain type of letter, Ruth? |
... |
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