The Math Club

Join hosts Peter Littig and Noah King as they discuss and explain mathematical topics with their own unique style. Full of information that will interest and entertain math lovers as well as those who maybe don’t love it quite that much… yet. Mathematical concepts, history, paradoxes, and puzzles await you, along with a generous helping of witty banter and fun. Calling all members…. The Math Club is open! Email - [email protected] Twitter - @mathclubpodcast

Proof of Concept 03/08/2023

Proof of Concept 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 us in an exploration of the fascinating world of mathematical proofs. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/26123880

The Unprofessional Math Development Club 02/22/2023

The Unprofessional Math Development Club 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. • • /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25999740

Math Like an Egyptian 02/08/2023

Math Like an Egyptian 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! • /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25831566

Game Changer 01/25/2023

Game Changer 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 episode, Pete and Noah weave the two stories together into an interesting discussion about conditional probability, counterintuitive results, and being gracious when confronted with, what you believe is, someone else’s error. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25694142

Math Club Junior 01/11/2023

Math Club Junior 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 that goes with the story: Leave us a voice message here: /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25499313

You Say You Want a Revolution 12/14/2022

You Say You Want a Revolution 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25319598

So Many Birds 11/30/2022

So Many Birds 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. • • • /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25162692

Imagining Numbers 11/16/2022

Imagining Numbers 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!! /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/25011612

Math Complex 11/02/2022

Math Complex 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24849870

Getting Into Shape 10/19/2022

Getting Into Shape 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! /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24717960

Sneak Peek - Getting Into Shape 10/12/2022

Sneak Peek - Getting Into Shape Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Getting Into Shape! /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24657465

Oh, For the Love of Math! 10/05/2022

Oh, For the Love of Math! 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24511179

Sneak Peek - Oh, For the Love of Math! 09/28/2022

Sneak Peek - Oh, For the Love of Math! Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Oh, For the Love of Math! /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24475533

Tales from Decrypt 09/21/2022

Tales from Decrypt 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 and find out! The match is about to begin... DING DING DING! • /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24430641

Pi-lot 09/07/2022

Pi-lot 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24261210

Sneak Peek: Tales from Decrypt 08/31/2022

Sneak Peek: Tales from Decrypt Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Tales from Decrypt /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24161670

Video Bonus: Key Ideas 08/25/2022

Video Bonus: Key Ideas 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24052191

Key Ideas 08/24/2022

Key Ideas 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 decoding challenge. • • Diffie and Hellman’s original paper: /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/24051486

Sneak Peek: Key Ideas 08/17/2022

Sneak Peek: Key Ideas Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Key Ideas. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23984982

Breaking News 08/10/2022

Breaking News 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23792423

Sneak Peek: Breaking News 08/03/2022

Sneak Peek: Breaking News Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Breaking News. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23792354

Discovery vs. Invention 07/27/2022

Discovery vs. Invention 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 topics Were they more invention or more discovery? /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23640149

Sneak Peek: Discovery vs. Invention 07/20/2022

Sneak Peek: Discovery vs. Invention Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Discovery vs. Invention. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23640056

Ad Infinitum 07/13/2022

Ad Infinitum 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 some of its interesting quirks. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23451359

Sneak Peek: Ad Infinitum 07/06/2022

Sneak Peek: Ad Infinitum Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Ad Infinitum. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23475710

Video Bonus: Positive Thinking 06/30/2022

Video Bonus: Positive Thinking 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23273810

Positive Thinking 06/29/2022

Positive Thinking 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. • • /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23257052

Sneak Peek: Positive Thinking 06/22/2022

Sneak Peek: Positive Thinking Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect in our next episode... Positive Thinking. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23216300

Video Bonus: Gleaming the Cube 06/16/2022

Video Bonus: Gleaming the Cube 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23273774

Gleaming the Cube 06/15/2022

Gleaming the Cube 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. /episode/index/show/0b052543-1863-478e-92db-66bf800d28f4/id/23157848

The Math Club

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