The Math Club

How much do you think you spent on gas when you took your last road trip?  If you live in the United States, chances are that would make you think about your car's miles per gallon.  But in other parts of the world, fuel effieciency is measured not in MPG, but in gallons per hundred miles.  In this epsiode, Pete and Noah examine this fraction-flipping phenomenon, and weigh in on which version they...

If we gave you a bunch of positive whole numbers and asked what you get when you add them all up, you'd have a pretty easy time of it...  you are The Math Club, after all.  But what if we gave you an infinite series of positive whole numbers and asked you what you get when you add them all up?  In this episode, Pete and Noah talk about how mathematicians go about assigning a value in this seemingl...

If you ever took a geometry class, you probably had to do some mathematical proofs.  From the ancient Greeks to modern day mathematicians, proofs have played a vital role in advancing our understanding of the world around us.  In this episode, Pete and Noah talk about their own experiences with proofs and look at several different kinds of proof along the way.  Hop aboard the math train, and join...

This week Pete and Noah team up with Shane and Mealey from the Unprofessional Development podcast, a show that features guests from the world of education sharing their stories about teaching.  This joint episode finds the four hosts discussing teaching, math, teaching math, and spicy foods.   • Unprofessional Development Podcast • Follow @unprocast on Twitter • Leave us a voice message • Email us...

When you think about parts of a whole, you probably picture fractions that consist of a numerator and a denominator.  But that's not how all cultures throughout history worked with fractional parts.  In this episode, Pete and Noah visit ancient Egypt and discuss the completely different way their mathematicians showed parts of a whole.  Plus, there's a puzzle about camels! • Rhind Mathematical Pap...

In September of 1990, Parade Magazine columnist Marilyn vos Savant answered a reader's question about a mathematical brain teaser, and received quite the backlash when most of the math community thought her solution was incorrect.  Just about three years later, two new friends (and future Math Club hosts) bonded over math for the first time, discussing and debating this exact same puzzle.  In this...

This episode is a special math adventure for younger listeners.  Pete and Noah are called into school to help with all of the mathy details around a class pizza party, and quickly discover that math is all around us all of the time.  Chock full of interesting characters and math challenges for listeners to solve, this story is sure to delight listeners from third grade on up.   Interactive website...

In this episode, Noah comes to Pete for some help with a really big paint job.  After Pete explains just how big (and impossible) the job really is, they have a conversation about surfaces of revolution, and the seeming paradox of Gabriel's Horn.   Hyundai's 35 meter vuvuzela Leave us a voice message with your favorite math joke • Email us • Follow us on Twitter Questions Answered in the Episode:...

Season's Greetings, Math Club!  With the holidays on the horizon, a famous song leads Pete and Noah to talk about strategies for adding up long sequences of numbers.  Come join the fun, and learn how a young Carl Gauss may (or may not) have done it.  And if you're up for a challenge, we even "sum it up" with a special holiday puzzle for you to try. • Brian Hayes's article in American Scientist • S...

In our last episode, Pete explained to Noah that imaginary numbers aren't so imaginary after all. This time around, he shows Noah how all the other numbers kinda  are . So, if you thought there was something less than real about the square root of negative one, wait 'til you hear about the square root of positive two! Buckle up, Math Club, it's time to let our imagination run wild!! 3Blue1Brown's...

Imaginary numbers. We've all heard about them, but… what are they? Why are they imaginary? And what can we do with them? In this episode, Pete and Noah take on these questions and explore a bit of the history and practical applications of these unusual and complex numbers.   • Leave us a voice message • Email us • Follow us on Twitter Questions Answered in the Episode: • Who coined the term imagin...

In this episode, Noah's having trouble with an old game from his childhood until Pete saves the day by tackling the twisty turns of topology. From donuts to coffee cups, and spheres to tori (or, as Noah calls them: toruses), come explore the interesting world of continuous deformations.  It's time to get into shape! • Leave us a voice message • Email us • Follow us on Twitter Questions Answered in...

In this episode, Pete and Noah are joined by Dan Finkel, founder of Math for Love and co-creator of the award winning game, Prime Climb.  Listen in as they talk about Dan's work making math fun and accessible by tapping into children's natural desire to play.  And because we know you love to play, too, Dan will also challenge you with a puzzle. Math for Love Dan's TED Talk - 5 ways to share math w...

Today's match-up answers the age-old question of what happens when an unstoppable brain meets an unbreakable cipher.  In the red corner, weighing in at 2,193 digits….   Noah's deviously encrypted message!  And in the blue corner.... The Commissioner of Codebreaking….  The Foreman of Frequency Analysis….  Pete's decoding skills!  Only one will leave the ring victorious.  Who will it be?  Tune in an...

Surprise!!!  Pete needs some more time with the codebreaking challenge, so this week we're giving you a previously unaired bonus episode from The Math Club's earliest days (six months ago).  Also, Alexa finally grows too big for her britches. • Leave us a voice message • Email us • Follow us on Twitter Questions Answered in the Episode: • How did Archimedes approximate the value of pi? • Why is th...

Yesterday's episode explored the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange algorithm, including a section in which Pete and Noah came up with a valid generator for a modulus of 23.  The rules about what makes a generator valid can be a bit tricky without visuals, so we made this video bonus to help illustrate what's going on here.

If you use the internet, you rely on mathematical algorithms to securely transmit your private data over public networks. In this episode, Noah describes an encryption scheme he made up in high school, which leads to a discussion about how computers securely exchange encryption keys today. It all ends up with Noah getting Pete to put his money where his math is, by accepting an interesting decodin...

Pete's out with a broken leg, so Noah and Alexa use math to investigate the mathematics of his skateboarding accident.  Listen in as they talk about angular momentum, the acceleration of falling bodies, and pounds of force generated upon impact. Free Fall with Air Resistance Calculator Force of Impact Car Crash Calculator • Leave us a voice message • Email us • Follow us on Twitter Questions Answe...

Math always seems so objective, with little room for debate.  In other fields there are sometimes huge disagreements among experts.  But what about math?  In this episode, Pete and Noah discuss the age-old argument of where math came from...  was it a discovery or was it an invention?  Join us as we dive into the debate. Here's a place where you can share your thoughts about our previous seven top...

Infinity.  Most kids first learn about this neverending concept when double and triple jinx don't seem to do enough anymore.  There are infinity pools, the Infnity Engine, and even an Inifinity War.  But how does infinity differ from the counting numbers and the familiar rules that govern them?  In this episode, Pete and Noah use the paradox of Hilbert's Grand Hotel to explore infinity and discuss...

Yesterday's episode dove into the numbers around a positive test result that is 99% accurate, when 1 in 100 people have a specific condition.  The result was a bit surprising and counterintuitive, and this video bonus helps to show why it comes out the way it does. 

In this episode, Noah's certain that he has a disease because he tested positive on a test that's 99% accurate.  Does that mean he almost certainly has the disease?  Pete's not so sure, and brings up a statistics concept to help shed some light on the numbers. • Our online simulator that you can play with • Submit your puzzle answer here • Leave us a voice message • Email us • Follow us on Twitter...

In our last episode, Pete asked us to envision the rotational symmetry of a square as a way to simplify the same concept as it applies to the Rubik's Cube.  Here's a video bonus to help visualize this example.

Lots of us have played with a Rubik's Cube at one time or another, but did you know this simple little toy is chock full of math?  Join Pete and Noah as they talk about billions of combinations, set theory, and the maximum number of moves required to solve the cube.  *Skateboard not required. • Leave us a voice message • Email us • Follow us on Twitter Questions Answered in the Episode: • How many...

You've heard about two-factor authentication, but have you heard about two-factor numbers? Of course you have! They're called primes, and in this episode Pete and Noah discuss what they are, how we find them, and some of the more interesting (and as-yet unproven) conjectures about them.  Pete even speculates about how primes might make their Broadway debut! • Leave us a voice message • Email us •...