Seasons & Episodes
Benford’s Law
Frank Benford observed that the number one seems to pop up a lot in both in the supermarket and on tax bills. In underst
Newton and the Infinitesimal Calculation
Speed is such a common term that it's easy to forget how much of a role maths plays in understanding it. Until three or
To Infinity, and Beyond
A circle is also a triangle and a triangle is a square. Sound impossible? Not in the realm of topology, which even appli
On the Road to Infinity
In this episode of our travels in the land of maths, we are heading towards Infinity. And even beyond, because infinity
Gödel’s Theorem
In this episode, we look at the relationship between maths and truth. Maths is meant to be certain, either right or wron
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Two prisoners must choose between cooperation and betrayal without consulting each other. This famous prisoner's dilemma
The Game of Life
In October 1970 Scientific American magazine introduced a game under the heading “Mathematical Games” that quickly b
Irrationality
25 centuries ago, the well-ordered world of natural integers and fractions had to expand to accommodate monsters like π
A Complex Picnic
We have known for a long time that some equations can't be solved as the answers are numbers that don't exist. Fortunate
The Riemann Hypopthesis
End of the trips in the land of math with an arduous hike. It is better to be strong on the complex plane. Because it is
The Monty Hall Problem
The Monty Hall paradox, named after a game show from the 60s, concerns the way in which information acquired during the
Simpson's Paradox
Statistics seem, almost by their very nature, to convey a positivist message. They are, in fact, a formidable tool in th
Non-Euclidean Geometries
For centuries, geometry was based on Euclid's postulates, which seemed eternal and irrevocable. However, one of the pos
Planar Tessellations
A tessellation is a way of covering a plane with a repeating pattern... Basically, it's like creating wallpaper. In 197
Graph Theory
The question is how to make a network that is both "economical" and "robust" without taking up too much space. This is
Alicia Boole in the Land of Polytopes
To begin with, there are the five "Platonic solids" beloved of geometers: the cube, the tetrahedron, the octahedron, the
The Kepler Conjecture, or How to Store Your Cannonballs
When mathematics tells us the best way to stack oranges... Formulated in 1611, Kepler's conjecture was finally proved b
Chaos Theory or Order in Disorder
Can the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil trigger a tornado in Texas? Behind Edward Lorenz's all-too-famous questio
Kovaleskaya's Spinning Top or The Best Way to Spin
How do you model the movement of a potato in space? Many a mathematician has struggled with this question. At the end o
Entscheidungsproblem: The End of Mathematics?
Imagine a world where a machine could calculate true and false... Failing that, Church, Herbrand, Gödel and Turing eac
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