Stanford University Emeritus Professor Keith Devlin tells Kathryn how despite technology, maths can remain relevant, including being used to track networks of people involved in planning terrorist attacks.
After 9/11 he was involved in a number of US Defence Department intelligence analysis projects for the CIA, US Navy and US Army.
Dr Devlin runs the Stanford Mathematics Outreach Project and he's in New Zealand to give a public lecture at the University of Auckland next Tuesday.