Chat Ed : Hello Nicola, Paul...

seven : Hi there!

Nicola Black : Hi guys I'm here. This is Nicola Black the producer/director of the programme and Paul Gallagher whose brilliant idea the programme was.

seven : Paul is one of my top 14 fave names!
Another David : Helllllllllllooooooo
seven : How did you come up with the idea of a show on numbers?

Nicola Black : I think we read an article in The Telegraph about Martin Rees' new book, the astronomer who came up with the theory that the universe is made up of six numbers. So we got really interested in this and tried to find out how numbers shape our lives.

Flibble : do you believe that numbers will be the method we use for communicating with alien races?

Nicola Black : I think that was one of the most intriguing things for me. As far as I know they are using binary codes and beaming them out into space to try and connect with any other intelligent beings that might exist.

sally : I saw the film extracts from Pi in your programme, how well researched is that film, is it all based on actual theories or was there a lot of make believe in it?

Nicola Black : Difficult for me to say. But the theory of the Kabbalah is certainly one the Jewish people believe in. The rest I believe is a fictional account.

ultraman : how did you decide on your interviewees - Jo Guest seems a strange choice...

Paul Gallagher : For the same reason that she says in the programme - she was defined by her statistics, like having a prison number. Those numbers don't obviously make her or the individual as she is.
Nicola Black : We suggest that we are not numbers we are free men. But if you say 34-24-36 you know immediately that we are referring to a very curvy woman.

Numerologist : What do you think the future is for us all - are we going to start having numbers assigned from birth do you think?

Paul Gallagher : According to numerology we have numbers assigned to us at birth. This number can be worked out by adding up all of the digits in your date of birth. So if your date of birth is 10/02/62 those digits would add up to 21, 2 + 1 = 3, so 3 would be their number and define that persons life path. The numerologist in the show Sonia Ducie, has written many books on numerology. Including 'The Complete Illustrated Guide to Numerology', which will tell you everything you need to know.

sally : Are there any good websites for finding out interesting information about number theories for non-mathematicians?

Paul Gallagher : Yes there are, 'disinfo.com', has a site that deals with the number 23 which offers you about thirty or forty different related websites. If you look under a search engine for numbers it will invariably bring some interesting things up.

d-machine : Please list the six 'scientifically important' numbers mentioned in the show.
JimmyTheWig : Why was the speed of light not one of the 6 important numbers?

coma : do you think this obsession with numbers is an attempt to rationalise the inexplicable?

Paul Gallagher : Hmm
Nicola Black : It's an attempt at making sense of the world that we live in which is accelerating around us. It's part of the obsession with information exchange. As the show suggests numbers don't have any answers to the questions that arise from contemporary culture. They only serve to help us try and understand what is happening around us.

gerry : is there really anything to numerology?

Paul Gallagher : Numerology has been with us since the beginning of history. It was very important to the Babylonians, who believed that in numerating the stars and the heavens and our planets and their cycles, that we could explain the meaning of life. From this we get the calendar, the solar calendar and lunar calendar by which the Babylonians were able to navigate the seas. From this came the belief that we have numbers that define our cycles and patterns.

Geoffrey : Decimal is the human number base, Binary the computer base, but base 1 (Unary?) is human and emotion and can never be programmed. Do you agree?
Billy : Why are feelings and emotions not (yet) quantifiable by numerical values?

Paul Gallagher : Emotion is only a part of the human condition, rational thought is the other half. Both are complementary and neither one is dominant. In the same way, Jeremy Gray said in the show, you can't say you love someone 9.5 today. That's meaningless.

Carole : exactly!

Paul Gallagher : However, numbers can quantify information about individuals from their bank account, to their date of birth.

ultraman : even though numbers play such an important role in our lives, and are 'man made' just like language - why do we have so much difficult in working with them? - computer programming for example is continually moving further away from numbers into language.

Paul Gallagher : That's a good one!

ultraman : why thank you

Paul Gallagher : Ultimately both systems, are like hieroglyphs. They signify a language which is mathematics.

Sally Barton : Why did the show have so many men and so few women? As a female mathematician fascinated by numbers as objects of art in their own right, I was offended by the stereotype of women not being into numbers.

Nicola Black : It's a perennial problem in TV production, trying to represent a valid gender balance on screen. As a woman who produces and directs shows I endeavour to include as many and as fair a balance as I can. The balance can sometimes seem tipped towards the male, but this is often because in some of the subjects that we deal with the field tends to be more male heavy. In terms of digits, Sonia Ducie, the numerologist, is definitely into numbers since that's her area of expertise.

Gavpowell : what practical uses can your research be put to for the benefit of society as a whole?

Nicola Black : Good question

Gavpowell : thanks, I try :)

Nicola Black : I can only say that if our programme contributes to a debate around the significance, or lack thereof, of numbers in contemporary society, and the idea that our lives are becoming increasingly enumerated and the civil libertarian issues that this implies... then, hopefully the programme has some practical result.

Chat Ed : Last question then, folks.... Nicola and Paul want to watch Big Brother :)

Nicola Black laughs

Gavpowell : What are your feelings towards the so called 'bible code' in which the bible can be subjected to a mathematical process and allegedly reveal hidden information?

Paul Gallagher : It is becoming more apparent that the Bible contains many codes... Not just numerical, but words and metaphors. This is becoming more apparent since the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 and 1948. Only a part of these scrolls have been made available to the public, but from what little has been seen there is evidence, objective evidence, that there are number patterns in the Bible. Hopefully the show will encourage people to think about numbers and codes and where they come from.

happykid : before you go, how do I find out more about this?
Crys : (I think numbers, not the Bible code)
Sally Barton : As was said on the show there are patterns in anything if you try hard enough - the really interesting numbers are those were there is no pattern - like pi.

Nicola Black : You could follow our practice and do some internet research. There's plenty of diverse material on the net. The disinfo.com site is interesting as a starting point.

Chat Ed : That's it folks! Thanks for coming, Nic & Paul - hope you enjoyed it.

Paul Gallagher : Thank you everybody that has taken the trouble to watch the programme and log on. It's great for us to get feedback.

JimmyTheWig : Keep counting :)
happykid : thanks
Trevie : thanks
ultraman : thanx Nic & Paul

Nicola Black : Thank you goodbye
Nicola Black leaves the room
Paul Gallagher leaves the room