{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Shakespeare and Mathematics","description":"Many Shakespeare fans don\u2019t think of themselves as \u201cmath people.\u201d They\u2019re theater kids, poetry lovers, bookworms, right? But in Shakespeare\u2019s world, math and literature were deeply intertwined. In Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare\u2019s Mathematical Life and Times, mathematician Rob Eastaway explores how mathematical thinking shaped Shakespeare\u2019s language and imagination. Shakespeare lived at a moment of major intellectual change, when England was newly encountering Indo-Arabic numerals, experimenting with new systems of calculation, and redefining ideas of measure and proportion. Eastaway shows how Shakespeare delighted in numbers and patterns, playing with \u201cscores,\u201d fractions, and symmetry in works like Othello, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, and The Winter\u2019s Tale. Even familiar references to \u201cnothing,\u201d time, and music take on new meaning when viewed through a mathematical lens. In this episode, Eastaway reveals how math was woven into everyday life in Shakespeare\u2019s time and how reading with our \u201cmath glasses\u201d on can offer fresh insights into Shakespeare\u2019s language. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published January 27, 2025. \u00a9 Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica, with Garland Scott serving as executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Technical support was provided by London Broadcast Studio and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Web production was handled by Paola Garc\u00eda Acu\u00f1a. Transcripts are edited by Leonor Fernandez. Final mixing services were provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Rob Eastaway has authored and coauthored several bestselling books that connect math with everyday life, including Why Do Buses Come in Threes? and How Many Socks Make a Pair? He is the director of Maths Inspiration, an interactive lecture program that has reached over 250,000 teenagers in the United Kingdom, New York, and Sydney. In 2017, he received the Zeeman Medal for excellence in the public communication of mathematics, and in 2025, he delivered the BSHM Gresham College Lecture on the subject of Shakespeare and mathematics. He lives in London. ","author_name":"Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited","author_url":"http:\/\/www.folger.edu\/shakespeare-unlimited","html":"