During the pandemic, you may have seen graphs of data plotted on strange-looking (logarithmic) scales. Oliver will explain some of the basics and history of logarithms, and show why they are a natural tool to represent numbers ranging from COVID data to Instagram followers. In fact, we’ll see how logarithms can even help us understand information itself in a mathematical way.

The solution to the two maths questions puzzle occurs from 9.20 onwards, though the fuller explanation starts from the beginning of the lecture.

Oliver Johnson is Professor of Information Theory in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol. He has regularly appeared on radio and is the author of the book Numbercrunch (2023), which is designed to help a general audience understand the value of maths as a toolkit for making sense of the world.