Yesterday, April 23, is the day on which William Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated; he was born long ago in 1564 and the actual date is uncertain. The BBC Radio Newshour today featured this event in its broadcast and told of ways that Shakespeare used mathematical ideas in his writing. A broadcast recording is available at this link; the Shakespeare-math info begins at approximately 25 minutes into the show. Ideas come from a book that is coming out next September, Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare's Mathematical Life and Times by Rob Eastaway.
One of the interesting items I found as I browsed was the phrase
eight score eight in Othello -- a three-syllable way for saying 168.
Here is a link to an article that focuses on Shakespeare's use of zero.
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