Reading, writing and arithmetic – the glorious interrelation of maths and literature

There are lots of reasons why non-scientists should be forced to study mathematics, but it’s hard to see why mathematicians should bother with literature. Literature is part of the entertainment industry: emotional manipulation, crippled by cheap assertions and hollow arguments. Maths is intellectual. Maths has rigorous standards. Literature hides guff under its pretty phrases.

Sarah Hart, a professor of mathematics, wants us to see literature and mathematics as the ancients did – mutually supportive, central elements of a rounded education.  Once Upon a Prime is an eager, straight-forward book. There is maths but, unless you’re embarrassingly innumerate, it’s not hard to grasp; there is Tiggerish enthusiasm. Like an eager parent trying to cajole a sullen child, she occasionally over-peppers her prose with exclamation marks and a little too much joshing modesty, but that’s not her fault, it’s ours.