Math Mutation 258: Memory or Knot
Exploring the Incas' clever "quipu" system of data storage. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jan 25, 2020•4 min
Math Mutation
Welcome to Math Mutation, a podcast for people of all ages where we discuss fun, interesting, or just plain weird corners of mathematics that you would not have heard in school.(Feedback email erik@mathmutation.com).
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Episodes
Math Mutation 257: Turning Things Sideways in Time
Are memories just wires turned sideways in time? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Dec 29, 2019•5 min
Math Mutation 256: Crazy Eyed Fish
How symmetry and asymmetry naturally evolve in living creatures. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Nov 30, 2019•4 min
Math Mutation 255: Mountain Climbing with Dawkins
How Richard Dawkins' metaphor of "Mount Improbable" explains the evolution of the human eye. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Oct 07, 2019•6 min
Math Mutation 254: How To Annoy Your Cat
The mathematics of falling cats. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Aug 18, 2019•4 min
Math Mutation 253: Making Jewelry With Fermat
We discuss Fermat's Little Theorem, along with an elegant visual proof. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jul 21, 2019•5 min
Math Mutation 252: A Mathematician Translating Pushkin?
Why did a famous math author translate a classic Russian epic poem? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jun 23, 2019•5 min
Math Mutation 251: Paradoxes, Mathematical Oddities, and Formal Verification
Audio of a recent conference talk relating Math Mutation topics to the verification of processor designs. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
May 20, 2019•41 min
Math Mutation 250: Life on the Long Tail
How the Long Tail theory enables Math Mutation to exist. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Mar 31, 2019•6 min
Math Mutation 249: The Other Half of the Battle
How poor communication of accurate math destroyed a space shuttle. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Feb 18, 2019•6 min
Math Mutation 248: A Safe Bet
How the Base Rate Fallacy can help us find out if the sun has exploded. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jan 07, 2019•6 min
Math Mutation 247: Wombat Geometry
Exploring the secrets of the only animals with cubic dung. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Dec 28, 2018•4 min
Math Mutation 246: Election Solutions Revisited
Can we use mathemtical insights to reduce the partisan conflicts surrounding ballot counting after every election? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Dec 02, 2018•6 min
Math Mutation 245: How Far Apart Are Numbers?
What is the "right" way to draw a number line? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Oct 08, 2018•4 min
Math Mutation 244: Is Music Just Numbers?
Do digital methods truly represent the original music, or are we missing something? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Sep 08, 2018•6 min
Math Mutation 243: The Consciousness Continuum
Are being asleep and awake distinct states, or part of a continuous spectrum? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jul 29, 2018•4 min
Math Mutation 242: Effort and Impact
The pitfalls of planning using impact-effort analysis. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jun 24, 2018•7 min
Math Mutation 241: A Strange Fixation
The surprising properties of the number 6174, known as Kaprekar's Constant. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
May 31, 2018•6 min
Math Mutation 240: R.I.P. Little Twelvetoes
Discussing the late Bob Dorough's oddest song, "Little Twelvetoes". (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Apr 30, 2018•6 min
Math Mutation 239: The Shape of our Knowledge
What would a diagram of all human knowledge look like? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Mar 31, 2018•5 min
Math Mutation 238: Programming Your Donkey
Does the "Buridan's Ass" paradox prove the existence of free will? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Feb 18, 2018•6 min
Math Mutation 237: A Skewed Perspective
The strange relativistic phenomenon of Terrell Rotation. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jan 15, 2018•4 min
Math Mutation 236: A Stubborn Tortoise
Why do we believe basic logical arguments? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Dec 19, 2017•4 min
Math Mutation 235: Syntax Wars
Do human languages really need rules of syntax? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Nov 19, 2017•5 min
Math Mutation 234: Le Grand K
The suprisingly primitive method used for standardizing the kilogram. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Oct 14, 2017•5 min
Math Mutation 233: A Totalitarian Theorem
How the Pythagorean Theorem influenced Hobbes' Leviathan. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Aug 28, 2017•5 min
Math Mutation 232: Overcooked Bacon
Is there merit to the "Six Degrees of Separation" concept? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jul 26, 2017•6 min
Math Mutation 231: A New Dimension in Housing
Buckminster Fuller's first four-dimensional house. (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Jun 26, 2017•7 min
Math Mutation 230: Just Say The Dog Ate It
Should professors assign famous unsolved problems as homework? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
May 26, 2017•4 min
Math Mutation 229: When Numbers Change
If you test a conjecture with values up to 60 digits, can you assume it will be true forever? (Send feeback to erik@mathmutation.com)
Mar 26, 2017•5 min
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