What will happen next? Chaos, mathematics and lemmings | Marcus du Sautoy | TEDxWhitehall

Mathematics is our most rigorous tool for predicting the future. In some situations, mathematics really can say what will happen next. But in others, the behaviour of even very simple systems is impossible to predict.
Using dice, pendulums, and a game of Lemming Musical Chairs, Professor Marcus du Sautoy gives a fun and frenetic introduction to the world of chaos theory.


Marcus du Sautoy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, where he holds the prestigious Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science and is a Fellow of New College.

Du Sautoy has received a number of awards for his work, including the London Mathematical Society’s Berwick Prize for outstanding mathematical research and the Royal Society of London’s Michael Faraday Prize for ‘excellence in communicating science’. He has been awarded an OBE for his services to science, and was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

His mathematical research has covered a great many areas, including group theory, number theory and model theory, but he has been equally successful in his promotion of mathematics to the general public. He has published a number of best-selling, non-academic books and appears regularly on television and radio.

@MarcusduSautoy

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx