Breaking Math Podcast By cover art

Breaking Math Podcast

By: Gabriel Hesch and Autumn Phaneuf
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  • Summary

  • Hosted by Gabriel Hesch and Autumn Phaneuf, who have advanced degrees in EE and industrial engineering/operations research respectively, come together to discuss mathematics as a pure field al in its own as well as how it describes the language of science, engineering, and even creativity.

    Breaking Math brings you the absolute best in interdisciplinary science discussions - bringing together experts in varying fields including artificial intelligence, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, physics, chemistry and materials-science, and more - to discuss where humanity is headed.

    website: breakingmath.io

    linktree: linktree.com/breakingmathmedia

    email: breakingmathpodcast@gmail.com
    Copyright Breaking Math
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Episodes
  • 94. Interview with Steve Nadis, Co-author of 'Gravity of Math'

    94. Interview with Steve Nadis, Co-author of 'Gravity of Math'
    Apr 30 2024

    Summary

    **Tensor Poster - If you are interested in the Breaking Math Tensor Poster on the mathematics of General Relativity, email us at BreakingMathPodcast@gmail.com

    In this episode, Gabriel Hesch and Autumn Phaneuf interview Steve Nadis, the author of the book 'The Gravity of Math.' They discuss the mathematics of gravity, including the work of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, gravitational waves, black holes, and recent developments in the field. Nadis shares his collaboration with Shing-Tung Yau and their journey in writing the book. They also talk about their shared experience at Hampshire College and the importance of independent thinking in education. In this conversation, Steve Nadis discusses the mathematical foundations of general relativity and the contributions of mathematicians to the theory. He explains how Einstein was introduced to the concept of gravity by Bernhard Riemann and learned about tensor calculus from Gregorio Ricci and Tullio Levi-Civita. Nadis also explores Einstein's discovery of the equivalence principle and his realization that a theory of gravity would require accelerated motion. He describes the development of the equations of general relativity and their significance in understanding the curvature of spacetime. Nadis highlights the ongoing research in general relativity, including the detection of gravitational waves and the exploration of higher dimensions and black holes. He also discusses the contributions of mathematician Emmy Noether to the conservation laws in physics. Finally, Nadis explains Einstein's cosmological constant and its connection to dark energy.


    Chapters

    00:00 Introduction and Book Overview

    08:09 Collaboration and Writing Process

    25:48 Interest in Black Holes and Recent Developments

    35:30 The Mathematical Foundations of General Relativity

    44:55 The Curvature of Spacetime and the Equations of General Relativity

    56:06 Recent Discoveries in General Relativity

    01:06:46 Emmy Noether's Contributions to Conservation Laws

    01:13:48 Einstein's Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy
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    53 mins
  • 93. The 10,000 Year Problem (feat. David Gibson of Ray Kitty Creation Workship)

    93. The 10,000 Year Problem (feat. David Gibson of Ray Kitty Creation Workship)
    Apr 23 2024

    Summary: The episode discusses the 10,000 year dilemma, which is a thought experiment on how to deal with nuclear waste in the future. Today's episode is hosted by guest host David Gibson, who is the founder of the Ray Kitty Creation Workshop. (Find out more about the Ray Kitty Creation Workshop by clicking here).

    Gabriel and Autumn are out this week, but will be returning in short order with 3 separate interviews with authors of some fantastic popular science and math books including:

    • The Gravity of Math: How Geometry Rules the Universe by Dr. Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis. This book is all about the history of our understanding of gravity from the theories of Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein and beyond, including gravitational waves, black holes, as well as some of the current uncertainties regarding a precise definition of mass. On sale now!
    • EVERYTHING IS PREDICTABLE: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World by Tom Chivers. Published by Simon and Schuster. This book explains the importance of Baye's Theorem in helping us to understand why highly accurate screening tests can lead to false positives, a phenomenon we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic; How a failure to account for Bayes’ Theorem has put innocent people in jail; How military strategists using the theorem can predict where an enemy will strike next, and how Baye's Theorem is helping us to understang machine learning processes - a critical skillset to have in the 21st century.
      Available 05/07/2024
    • A CITY ON MARS: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? by authors Dr. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. Zach Weinersmith is the artist and creator of the famous cartoon strip Saturday Morning Breaking Cereal!

      We've got a lot of great episodes coming up! Stay tuned.


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    35 mins
  • 92. The Mathematical Heart of Games Explored with Prof. du Sautoy

    92. The Mathematical Heart of Games Explored with Prof. du Sautoy
    Apr 16 2024

    An interview with Prof. Marcus du Sautoy about his book Around the Wold in Eighty Games . . . .a Mathematician Unlocks the Secrets of the World's Greatest Games.

    Topics covered in Today's Episode:

    1. Introduction to Professor Marcus du Sautoy and the Role of Games

    - Impact of games on culture, strategy, and learning

    - The educational importance of games throughout history

    2. Differences in gaming cultures across regions like India and China

    3. Creative Aspects of Mathematics

    4. The surprising historical elements and banned games by Buddha

    5. Historical and geographical narratives of games rather than rules

    6. Game Theory and Education

    7. Unknowable questions like thermodynamics and universe's infinity

    8. Professor du Sautoy's Former Books and Collections

    9. A preview of his previous books and their themes

    10. Gaming Cultures and NFTs in Blockchain

    11. Gamification in Education

    12. The Role of AI in Gaming

    13. Testing machine learning in mastering games like Go

    14. Alphago's surprising move and its impact on Go strategies

    15 . The future of AI in developing video game characters, plots, and environments

    16. Conclusion and Giveaway Announcement

    *Free Book Giveaway of Around The World in 88 Games . . . by Professor Marcus Du Sautory! Follow us on our socials for details:

    Follow us on X: @BreakingMathPod

    Follow us on Instagram: @Breaking Math Media

    Email us: BreakingMathPodacst@gmail.com

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    1 hr and 15 mins
Mathematics Science
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Profile Image for jamesk479

Epsiode 1 - Too much non-math and pomposity.

I started with the first one mostly on elitism and Pythagoras. Any commentary on Pythagoras that doesn't start with "we don't know much about him with certainty" because he never wrote anything, and it all comes from biased or mythologized secondhand accounts is suspect. There is simply too much wrong with this episode. Why is it so difficult to find a good math Podcast in which people stay in their lane of what they know, or at least have guests that do? Sounds like a bunch of pompous hipsters. Sad..
They need to stop trying too hard to sloppily fit everything to their narrative about elitism. There was obviously a lot of politics involved when opponents labeled Pope Sylvester II a sorcerer. But the way these hipsters present it, with zero social or cultural nuance regarding the times, it was all because he dared to use foreign Arabic numerals. They are straining to have everything fit their per-determined narrative about elitism. They give a long quote from a Galilean book presented as some kind of lame "proof” of Aristotelian ignorance, but they do not bother to mention that it is a fictional dialogue. The language and translations are probably deceiving but again, they are determined to keep themselves and the listener stuck within their modern lens.

Still wondering where the math is and how this makes math more accessible.

They then provide a questionable definition about cults stating they all have the characteristic of starving and restricting adherents into submission, even ridiculously positing out of thin air that that makes sense evolutionary. Sure, why not throw in some armchair evolutionary biology too. But actually, competition makes just as much sense as cooperation evolutionary, probably even more so. The audacity to think they can apply a questionable modern definition to something so long ago that we have little evidence of is absurd. Everything was called a "cult" in those ancient Greek days, partly because they didn't have a word for religion. These people are ignorantly stuck in their modern hipster lens of what "cult" means combined with the story of the guy who was supposedly murdered for revealing the irrationals (probably a baloney account for all that we know) and then essentially concluding that the Pythagoreans must be an elitist cult no different than David Koresh or something. I am not sure how these hipsters got degrees.

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