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My Favorite Theorem

Science Podcasts

Join us as we spend each episode talking with a mathematical professional about their favorite result. And since the best things in life come in pairs, find out what our guest thinks pairs best with their theorem.

Location:

United States

Description:

Join us as we spend each episode talking with a mathematical professional about their favorite result. And since the best things in life come in pairs, find out what our guest thinks pairs best with their theorem.

Language:

English


Episodes
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Episode 91 - Karen Saxe

4/3/2024
Karen Saxe is an analyst who spends her days representing mathematics on Capitol Hill. She really likes the isoperimetric inequality and its many uses. Also tennis.

Duration:00:34:17

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Episode 90 - Corrine Yap

1/23/2024
Corrine Yap loves math, graph theory in particular, and also loves to perform her one-person play about Sonya Kovalevskaya. Also, tofu.

Duration:00:33:46

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Episode 89 - Allison Henrich

11/12/2023
Allison Henrich studies knots and her favorite theorem is about how one might unknot a knot. Also, music.

Duration:00:35:04

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Episode 88 - Tom Edgar

10/9/2023
We all know the (probably apocryphal) story of Gauss adding up the first 100 positive integers as a child. Well, Tom Edgar really likes this result and will be happy to tell you about dozens of different ways to prove it. Also, Groundhog Day.

Duration:00:26:15

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Episode 87 - Tatiana Toro

9/7/2023
Tatiana Toro is a geometer and therefore loves the ur-theorem of geometry, "due" to Pythagoras. She also likes to walk.

Duration:00:23:42

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Episode 86 - Sarah Hart

7/20/2023
Gresham Professor of Geometry Sarah Hart likes cycloids and we talk at length about all their fascinating properties. Also, Moby Dick (or The Whale).

Duration:00:41:14

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Episode 85 - Matthew Kahle

6/2/2023
Euler's polyhedral formula continues to amaze Matthew Kahle as he finds it showing up in different places in mathematics. Also, Bach.

Duration:00:30:49

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Episode 84 - The Students of TCU

5/2/2023
Kevin visited Texas Christian University in March and recorded this episode with some math students. Excellent theorems and pairings.

Duration:00:50:21

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Episode 83 - Cihan Bahran

2/16/2023
Cihan Bahran has a popular twitter feed in which he shares surprising theorems. His favorite? Matrix mortality is undecidable.

Duration:00:26:52

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Episode 82 - Juliette Bruce

12/30/2022
Juliette Bruce is an algebraic geometer who loves to think about embedding curves in projective space. Also mountaineering.

Duration:00:29:19

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Episode 81 - Christopher Danielson

11/26/2022
Technically this is a theorem, but it seems so obvious that it's unclear that it needs a proof. In this episode Christopher Danielson points out that polygons have same number of sides as vertices. Many shapes make an appearance.

Duration:00:33:12

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Episode 80 - Kimberly Ayers

10/21/2022
Kimberly Ayers likes dynamics and so obvs her fave theorem is Sharkovskii's result that "period 3 implies chaos." Also taffy.

Duration:00:33:56

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Episode 79 - Philip Ording

9/15/2022
Philip Ording wrote a cool book (you should check it out) and he likes the Erlangen Program. Not really a theorem, but we're not purists around here.
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Episode 78 - Daina Taimina

8/11/2022
Daina Taimina is famous for her adventures in mathematical crocheting, but her favorite theorem comes from Desargues. She also likes to travel.
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Episode 77 - Tien Chih

7/13/2022
Tien Chih loves combinatorics, which means he really loves proving things by induction. In this episode we have a good time learning about this incredibly useful technique in mathematics.
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Episode 76 - Math Students of CSULA

6/9/2022
We are joined by a group of math students at Cal State University in Los Angeles for a diverse collection of theorems and pairings.
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Episode 75 - Dave Kung

3/17/2022
We can't believe it took 75 episodes to get to the Banach-Tarski paradox, but finally Dave Kung chose it as his favorite theorem. Also, Enigma Variations.
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Episode 74 - Priyam Patel

2/10/2022
An old favorite theorem makes its third appearance on the pod, but we always like to learn new points of view. Priyam Patel likes the Brouwer Fixed Point theorem, and this time we learn how it helps classify isometries of hyperbolic space. Also, rock climbing.
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Episode 73 - Courtney Gibbons

1/13/2022
Courtney Gibbons likes isomorphism theorems. All three of them, in fact, and she wants to remind you they are due to Emmy Noether, despite most textbooks ignoring that fact. Also, bunnies.
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Episode 72 - Kameryn Williams

12/9/2021
Kameryn Williams is a logician and their favorite theorem is the less well-known Condensation Lemma of Gödel. Also brie.