Mathematics and Mathematicians in Old Time Radio

Several philosophers maintain that if there is a universal truth, the language in which it will be expressed is mathematics. No matter what culture or faith you are brought up in, it is hard to refute the facts when they are presented with mathematical precision. Math is a truly universal language, and sooner or later, a mathematician will find a way to measure and describe every element in human experience using the cold, hard figures of mathematics.

Not everyone has the same appreciation for numbers and figures as a trained mathematician, of course. Mathematicians specialize in recognizing patterns and using logic and abstraction to explain and measure those patterns. Not everyone's mind is able to get a hold on such abstractions, but that is the flavor of life.

• One of the most beloved stories in the English language, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, was created by an Oxford mathematician Lewis Caroll for his young friends, Edith and Alice Liddell when he took the young girls on a picnic. 
• One of the amazing things about mathematics is that the truths it reveals are open to anyone who can understand its magic language, no matter what their background. Lest We Forget tells the story of a black child who had a knack for numbers and dreamed of using them to make the world a better place but got sidetracked into making a living in the boxing ring.
• People who can do figures in their heads are amazing to those who struggle with math. When a criminal steals a savant patient from the mental institution, it is a simple matter for Mr. District Attorney to follow the crook to a sideshow and then a night club where the crook is making a profit off his hapless victim in "The Money Machine".
• Math is the basis of finance, which is a little beyond Lucille Ball's Liz Cooper on My Favorite Husband. Liz goes to night school to improve her mathematical prowess and winds up entered in a math contest! What could go wrong?
• Philo Vance comes up against a conman whose game is to trick the marks using a simple math trick but has moved up to murder in "The Mathematical Murder Case".
• Although a mathematical mind can reside in a body of either sex, life at Halls of Ivy University is sent topsy-turvy when the new head of the mathematics department turns out to be a pretty woman. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with a woman in charge of the mathematics department; as Benita Hume as Mrs. Hall points out, the world depends upon them for multiplication.
• Lux Radio Theatre takes us behind the scenes in Hollywood in their adaptation of The Stand-In (1937) where a financier with a fool-proof mathematical formula for success takes over a poverty row movie studio, but his new studio secretary shows him that the human factor can be more important than the figures in his formula.
• Math problems were the worst problems many of us faced in grammar school, but the gang at Quiz Kids have a way of surprising and delighting the audience with the way they deal with figures.

See also mathematician Sir Bertrand Russell Recordings.