The Art of Mathematics

Life-Changing Math

Ted Dintersmith, author of Aftermath: The Life-Changing Math that Schools Won't Teach You, argues that much of what we learn in math can be outsourced to machines. That f

Zeno's Paradox: Is Motion Possible?

Josh Cole discussed Zeno's paradox that says motion is not possible since you must go half-way, and then half of the remaining distance, and so on, infinitely. Aristotle

The Most Beautiful Formula

Joseph Bennish discusses Euler’s formula, which involves pi, e, the imagery i, 0 and 1, a beautiful formula that unites disparate types of numbers. We can think of e rais

Math as it Should Be

Aris Winger, Math Professor and Executive Director of the National Association of Mathematicians, has experienced first hand how math can save students' lives by upliftin

Crocheting Mathematics

Beyza Aslan, Associate Professor of Math at the University of North Florida, crochets mathematics. This turns abstractions, such as hyperbolic geometry, into something th

Pythagorean Triples and Some New Conjectures

Ben Cornish, host of The Mathematicians Podcast, discusses Pythagorean triples, integers that can be the sides of a right triangle. There are infinitely many primitive tr

Proofs and Buckets of Fish

Joel David Hamkins, author of Proof and the Art of Mathematics, presents the game Buckets of Fish, which seemingly will go on forever. Yet he presents a proof that it wil

Fractals: Simple rules, complex shapes

Krystal Taylor, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Ohio State University, discussed the surprising characteristics of fractals, "infinity in a box." They may have frac

The Many Facets of Math

Alon Amit addresses the various facets of mathematics. Is it an art or a science? Both? Neither? Is it invented or discovered? Why is math that's developed for purely aes

Will AI Replace Mathematicians?

Alon Amit, prolific Quora math answerer, discusses how Artificial Intelligence might change the role of the mathematician. AI will make mathematics more efficient but it

The National Museum of Mathematics

Cindy Lawrence is the Director and CEO of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City. She and a former math professor built it up from a grass-roots museum start

Contemporary Math Research for Artistic Undergrads

Veselin Jungic, teaching professor of mathematics at Simon Fraser University, introduces undergraduate math minors to contemporary math research. The focus is Ramsey theo

Where do Math Concepts Come From?

Joseph Bennish discusses math as a "concept factory." The concept of prime numbers came from a desire to break numbers down to their simplest atoms. This simple concept l

A Clockmaker, an Egg, and a Cathedral

Jeanne Lazzarini tells us how a clockmaker used an egg to win the competition to build the dome of the Florence Cathedral. The Cathedral had had a huge gaping hole for a

What is a Pattern?

Math is in a sense the science of patterns. Alon Amit explores the question of what exactly is a pattern. A common example is the decimal digits of pi. The statement that

What's the Big Deal about Pi?

Alon Amit joins us on the antipode of Pi Day to counter the myths and mysteries of this most famous irrational number. There's nothing magical about a non-repeating strin

Turning Math-Hating Prisoners into Mathematicians

Kate Pearce, a post-doc researcher at UT Austin, talks about her experience teaching math in a women's prison. Her remedial college algebra students came in with negative

Stop Overselling Mathematics

Alon Amit, prolific Quora math answerer, argues that an honest representation of mathematical ideas is enough to spark interest in math. It's not necessary to exaggerate

Math for Kids: It's not a Spectator Sport

Dave Cole, the author of the Math Kids series of books, talks about introducing kids to math as a fun challenge and puzzle beyond the rote memorization they've come to ex

Egyptian Fractions

Neil Epstein, Associate Professor of Mathematics at George Mason University, introduces us to the fractions used by the ancient Egyptians, well before the Greeks and Roma