Marcus du Sautoy

My big thesis is that although the world looks messy and chaotic, if you translate it into the world of numbers and shapes, patterns emerge and you start to understand why things are the way they are.

Mathematics is a place where you can do things which you can't do in the real world.

The reason why we do maths is because it's like poetry. It's about patterns, and that really turned me on. It made me feel that maths was in tune with the other things I liked doing.

I studied international relations and economics at the University of Virginia. I paid my way by working as a bartender in the summer and at three part-time jobs during the year.

By pouring money and goods into devastated regions, foreign aid workers sometimes compound the disruption and debauch the survivors.

I'm an ambassador 24 hours a day.