LIFITV Episode 2: Rachel Riley on why maths is everywhere

Plenty of people will tell you they’re “just not a numbers person”. Rachel Riley has spent much of her career gently arguing otherwise, from the Countdown numbers board to her work helping adults rebuild their confidence with maths.

On Wednesday 7 October, she led Is maths the root of everything? in the Courtyard at Leeds Playhouse, a LIFI Futures event marking Leeds becoming the UK’s first City of Maths. Alongside Dr Katie Chicot, Professor Ben Gaunt, Dr Ollie Halliday and Professor Catherine Noakes OBE, she went looking for maths in the places you’d least expect it, from composing music and modelling disease to forecasting the weather.

Shortly after she stepped off stage, we caught up with her for the second episode of LIFITV.

What is LIFITV?

LIFITV is our behind-the-scenes series from LIFI26. Throughout the festival, our team ran a pop-up studio at Leeds Playhouse, catching speakers, hosts and audiences in the moments either side of the main event. The result is a run of short, unpolished conversations you won’t have seen anywhere else.

Episode 2 is out now on the LIFI YouTube channel, with more episodes rolling out over the coming weeks. Subscribe so you don’t miss them.