Silver Spring, MD — The BBC makes math fun with their landmark documentary The Story of Math. Voted the best documentary of 2009 by BBC World News viewers, this highly-entertaining documentary debuts on DVD from Athena on March 30, 2010. The Story of Match shows how numbers explain our universe and reveal unseen worlds. With contagious enthusiasm and boundless energy, Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy makes math accessible, engaging, and relevant. Filmed around the globe and aided by clever computer graphics, this 4-episode series blends education and entertainment to make math mesmerizing. The 3-volume boxed set also includes The Music of the Primes, a feature-length bonus program about math’s greatest mystery ($59.99, www.AthenaLearning.com).

Mathematics forms the foundation for nearly everything we do—from finance to physics, and architecture to astronomy. Math not only describes our world, but also reveals its beauty and mystery. Filmed in Greece, Egypt, India, Russia, Germany, among many other exciting locales, Marcus du Sautoy and a host of distinguished experts crisscross the globe, bringing the colorful history of numbers to life.

Meet the men and women who conceived major mathematical breakthroughs and explored the farthest frontiers of abstract thought, often with tragic results. Learn how their discoveries still drive technology, science, and even philosophy. Using computerized visuals and healthy doses of humor, Du Sautoy makes the most complex concepts accessible and engaging. Passionate, engaging, and effusive, du Sautoy shows that math isn’t merely about making calculations, but also about finding patterns that expose the hidden relationships in our universe.

Oxford professor and winner of the London Mathematical Society’s Berwick Prize, Marcus du Sautoy contributes regularly to The Times and The Guardian (U.K.), has presented many TV and radio programs, and has authored numerous books, including Symmetry.

BONUS DISC: The Music of the Primes, a 78-minute, 3-episode bonus documentary also hosted by du Sautoy. Prime numbers inspired the creation of the computer, mirror the behavior of atoms, and drive every online financial transaction today. But their pattern remains a mystery. A renowned institute still offers a $1 million prize to whoever can definitively crack their code. Here, Marcus du Sautoy and his guests explain the search for harmony in these mysterious numbers.

Additional Bonus Features:

• 20-page viewer’s guide includes highlights, questions to consider, avenues for further learning, a glossary, a profile of the Pythagorean religious movement, and an explanation of proofs.
• Biographies of influential mathematicians, and more.

Street: March 30, 2010
SRP: $59.99
DVD 3-Vol. Boxed Set: 4 episodes - Approx. 232 min., plus 78 min. bonus - 16:9 widescreen - SDH subtitles

Athena is Acorn Media Group’s new home video brand for consumers interested in lifelong learning through documentary programming. Each Athena release provides an authoritative and entertaining learning experience through high quality, informative, non-fiction programming, along with a host of extras to extend the learning experience beyond the screen. Athena’s 2009 releases included Playing Shakespeare, The Shape of the World, The Adventure of English, The Genius of Charles Darwin, among several others. Special web content and clips are available at www.athenalearning.com. Athena’s DVD sets are available from select retailers, catalog companies, and direct from Acorn at (888) 870-8047 or www.acornonline.com.

Press Contact (screeners, box art/stills and interviews):
Chad Campbell, Acorn Media, 301.608.2115 ext. 138, ccampbell@acornmedia.com