Mr. Johnson

The Best Stats You've Ever Seen

You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."

The Beautiful Math Behind the World's Ugliest Music

Scott Rickard is a professor at University College Dublin. His interest in both music and math led him to try and solve an interesting math problem: a musical score with no pattern. He has degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering from MIT, and MA and PhD degrees in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton.

At University College Dublin, he founded the Complex & Adaptive Systems Laboratory, where biologists, geologists, mathematicians, computer scientists, social scientists and economists work on problems that matter to people. He is also the founder of ScienceWithMe!, an online community dedicated to engaging youth through science and math.

Robert Lang: The math and magic of origami

Origami, as Robert Lang describes it, is simple: "You take a creature, you combine it with a square, and you get an origami figure." But Lang's own description belies the technicality of his art; indeed, his creations inspire awe by sheer force of their intricacy. His repertoire includes a snake with one thousand scales, a two-foot-tall allosaurus skeleton, and a perfect replica of a Black Forest cuckoo clock. Each work is the result of software (which Lang himself pioneered) that manipulates thousands of mathematical calculations in the production of a "folding map" of a single creature.

The marriage of mathematics and origami harkens back to Lang's own childhood.  As a first-grader, Lang proved far too clever for elementary mathematics and quickly became bored, prompting his teacher to give him a book on origami. His acuity for mathematics would lead him to become a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, and the owner of nearly fifty patents on lasers and optoelectronics. Now a professional origami master, Lang practices his craft as both artist and engineer, one day folding the smallest of insects and the next the largest of space-bound telescope lenses.

Hexaflexagons

Historical Note: This video is based on a true story. Arthur H. Stone really did invent the hexaflexagon after playing with the paper strips he'd cut off his too-wide British paper, and really did start a flexagon committee (which we'll hear more about in the next video). The details and dialogue, however, are my own invention.

This video is based on, and in honor of, Martin Gardner's first Mathematical Games column from 1956, "Hexaflexagons," which can be found here: http://maa.org/pubs/focus/Gardner_Hex...

October 21st is Martin Gardner's birthday, which is why every October the recreational mathematics community celebrates his life and work. This year we're having hexaflexagon parties. You can join in too: http://www.puzzles.com/hexaflexagon/

Math Might Not Actually Exist

Math is invisible. Unlike physics, chemistry, and biology we can't see it, smell it, or even directly observe it in the universe. And so that has made a lot of really smart people ask, does it actually even EXIST?!?! Similar to the tree falling in the forest, there are people who believe that if no person existed to count, math wouldn't be around . .at ALL!!!! But is this true? Do we live in a mathless universe? Or if math is a real entity that exists, are there formulas and mathematical concepts out there in the universe that are undiscovered? Or is it all fiction? Whew!! So many questions, so many theories... watch the episode and let us know what you think!

9.999... reasons that .999... = 1

Point Nine Repeating Equals One!
9.999... reasons in 9.999... minutes.

Doodling in Math: Sick Number Games

I don't even know if this makes sense. Boo cold.