Breaking Math Podcast

We live in an era of unprecedented change, and the tip of the spear of this era of change is currently the digital revolution. In fact, in the last decade we’ve gone from an analog to a digitally dominated society, and the amount of information has recently been increasing exponentially. Or at least it seems like it’s recent; in fact, however, the digital revolution has been going on for hundreds of centuries. From numerals inscribed in“We live in an era of unprecedented change, and the tip of the spear of this era of change is currently the digital revolution. In fact, in the last decade we’ve gone from an analog to a digitally dominated society, and the amount of information has recently been increasing exponentially. Or at least it seems like it’s recent; in fact, however, the digital revolution has been going on for hundreds of centuries. From numerals inscribed in bone to signals zipping by at almost the speed of light, our endeavors as humans, and some argue, our existence in the universe, is ruled by the concept of digital information. So how did we discover digital information? And what has it been used for?--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

“ABABABABABABABAB”. How much information was that? You may say “sixteen letters worth”, but is that the true answer? You could describe what you just read as “AB 8 times”, and save a bunch of characters, and yet have the same information. But what is information in the context of mathematics? The answer is nothing short of miraculous; information theory has applications in telephony, human language, and even physics. So what is information theory, and what can we learn from it?--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

The void has always intrigued mankind; the concept of no concept defies the laws of human reasoning to such a degree that we have no choice but to pursue it. But ancient Assyrian, Norse, Judeo-Christian creation stories, and even our own scientific inquiries have one thing in common: creation from “nothingness”. But is it really nothingness? The ancients used the term “chaos”, and, although to some “chaos” has become synonymous with “bedlam” or “randomness”, it has much more to do with the timeless myths of creation of form from the formless. So how does chaos take form? And is there meaning to be found in the apparent arbitrariness of chaos, or is it a void that defines what we think it means to be?Ways to support the show:-Visit our Sponsors:   theGreatCoursesPlus.com/breakingmath Get a free month of the Great Courses Plus while supporting this show by clicking here and signing up!           brilliant.org/breakingmath Sign up at brilliant.org, where breaking math listeners get a 20% off of a year subscription of Brilliant Premium!Patreon-Become a monthly supporter at patreon.com/breakingmathMerchandise-Purchase a Math Poster on Tensor Calculus at our facebook store at facebook.com/breakingmathpodcast--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

From Pythagoras to Einstein, from the banks of the Nile to the streamlined curves of the Large Hadron Collider, math has shown itself again and again to be fundamental to the way that humans interact with the world. Then why is math such a pain for so many people? Our answer is simple: math is, and always has been, in one way or another, guarded as an elite skill. We visit the worlds that were shaped by math, the secrets people died for, the false gods created through this noble science, and the gradual chipping away of this knowledge by a people who have always yearned for this magical skill. So what is it? And how can we make it better?Ways to support the show:   Help Support The Podcast by clicking on the links below: Try out ZenCastr w/ 30% Discount  Use my special link to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan Patreon YouTube Breaking Math WebsiteEmail us for copies of the transcript![Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch; Amy Lynn, Ian McLaughlin]