The Math Dude Quick and Dirty Tips to Make Math Easier

If you were handed a piece of string and a pencil, could you draw perfect (or nearly perfect) 30 and 60 degree angles? Why might this be a useful skill? Keep on listening to find out! Read the transcript here: http://bit.ly/1Bo56M0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many grains of sand are on Earth? How many stars are in the universe? How many atoms does our planet contain? What do these numbers have to do with how much you love your Valentine? Keep on listening to find out! Read the transcript here: http://bit.ly/17ORfkZ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you know what an arc is? Do you know that an arc has a length? And do you know how to calculate that arc length - or why you might want to? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1z79wiw Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When can addition speed up subtraction? What’s the most important trick for lightning quick mental subtraction? And what’s the fastest way to check your work? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1xv1YGJ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many different New Year's Eve countdowns are there around the world? When do astronauts celebrate New Year's? Who celebrates first? And last? Keep on listening to learn all about these New Year's math fun facts. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1BF8zRE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does subtraction have to do with lightning quick addition? And how can splitting numbers up into 2 or more smaller numbers make for faster addition? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1JKzQs2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do speed reading and speedy arithmetic have in common? What’s the fastest way to come up with approximate answers to addition problems? And how can multiplication help you add faster? Keep on listening to The Math Dude find out! Visit the website: http://bit.ly/1zuWHTY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever needed to find the center of a circle? It’s one of those things that seems easy...until you need to figure out how to do it. But rest assured there is a trick, and it's indeed fairly simple. Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out more! Visit the website: http://bit.ly/1ud9CDc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to learn a fun number trick? More importantly, want to learn the math behind why it works? Want to know how to figure out the arrangement of six marbles with only a single clue? Or the smallest number of cuts needed to turn one big cube into 27 smaller ones? Keep on reading to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’re into math and logic puzzles, you have probably heard of Martin Gardner. And if you’re not into those kinds of puzzles, you should be! The Math Dude highlights some of this math master's best teasers, for both novices and experts. Visit the website: http://bit.ly/14erBE1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever heard of a great circle? How about a small circle? Do the lines of longitude on Earth form great circles? How about the lines of latitude? How do these ideas explain the routes that airplanes fly? Keep on listening to find out! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1tALfDt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many degrees are in the angles of a triangle? What’s the shortest distance between two points? Do seemingly parallel lines ever cross? Think you know the answers? Think again! Keep on listening to find out why. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1ySDuw1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the difference between equilateral, isosceles, and scalene triangles? How about obtuse, right, and little acute ones? Keep on listening to find out! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1CSnpWB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the area of a triangle? Half its base times its height, right? Indeed, that's the formula. But why? Keep on listening to learn the secret behind this famous formula for the area of a triangle. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1CDTC3R Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that you can use Google to convert from miles to kilometers, and a bunch of other things? And did you know that you can use it to quickly graph functions? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out how! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much is a fluid ounce? How about a milliliter? Or a gallon? If you don't have an intuitive feel for exactly how much volume these quantities represent, keep on listening! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1lw33ya Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the chances that two players on the same soccer team share a birthday? How about two students in the same algebra class? Both seem pretty unlikely, right? The answer might surprise you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is your mass the same as your weight? If not, what's the relationship between these two ideas? And why do so many people get them confused? Keep on listening to find out! Visit the website to read the full transcript: http://bit.ly/1q8RPv4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn how to add and subtract mixed fractions like a math pro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn how to multiple and divide mixed fractions like a math pro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How big is the number 1 million? 1 billion? Or 1 million billion? How can you think about these and even larger numbers so that you actually comprehend their immense sizes? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many teams are playing in the 2014 World Cup? How many countries have ever won it? What are the odds that Brazil, this year's host country and 5-time winner, will win again? Keep on reading to find out and learn all about the math behind the World Cup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the biggest prime number? Is it the 17,425,170 digit prime discovered in January 2013? While that may be the largest prime number known today, it's certainly not the biggest...because there isn't a biggest! How do I know? Keep on listening to find out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is math? Numbers, shapes, logic, stuff like that, right? Sure, but what do all of these things have in common? In other words, what is math...really? Keep on reading to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find out why graduating from college isn't an excuse to forget all the math you've learned. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that 1 = 2? Think that sounds ridiculous? OK, I'll prove it to you. Then I'll show you why this "proof" is indeed, as you suspected, ridiculous. And we'll see what it all has to do with the number zero. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever heard of the Monty Hall problem? If so, did the world famous brain teaser leave you flummoxed? If not, how does getting flummoxed—and then just as quickly un-flummoxed—sound? I hope you're up for the challenge (and the fun) because that's exactly what's in store for today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You've probably heard about the recent discovery made by scientists in the South Pole. But what was it exactly and what does it mean for us? Math Dude explains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does the graph of a sine function look like? And how are sine functions related to the changing number of daylight hours throughout the year? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many minutes of daylight does the northern hemisphere gain every day in March? How about in June? What's the astronomical reason for these changes? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the odds of winning Warren Buffet's $1 billion prize for picking the perfect 2014 NCAA tournament bracket? Should Mr. Buffet be worried about his money? And how are the odds of winning related to the famous rice and chessboard problem? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How should you think about subtraction and negative numbers in modular arithmetic? How does the modulo operator work in terms of the order of operations? Keep on listening to learn the answers to these questions and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the domain and range of a function? What's the vertical line test for functions? And what's the best way to picture the meaning of a function in the first place? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is y = 3x - 2? An equation? Or maybe a function? Could it possibly be both? Keep on listening to learn all about functions and to find out how they're different from equations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever wondered if sines, cosines, and tangents are actually useful in the real world? If so, wonder no more! Today we're going to learn how the wonderful tools of trigonometry can be used to estimate the height of a tree. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to amaze your friends at that Super Bowl party you're going to? All you have to do is hit 'em with some Super Bowl math fun facts. Keep on listening to find out what I mean! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the difference between radians and degrees? Where did these units for measuring angles come from? And how do you convert from one to the other? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do sines, cosines, and tangents have to do with right triangles? And what are the "sin," "cos," and "tan" buttons on your calculator for? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You've probably heard of sine, cosine, and tangent before. But do you actually know what they are? While they sound like complicated ideas, they're really not. Keep on reading to learn more about the origins and uses of trigonometry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The number 9 is kind of amazing. How amazing? Listen for the exciting conclusion to Math Dude's story about the magical number 9. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever noticed that the number 9 is kind of amazing? What's that…did I hear you say "NO?" Then prepare yourself to be amazed and keep on listening to learn all about the magic behind the mysterious number 9. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Think of a number, add 3, double it, now subtract 4, divide by 2, and finally subtract your original number from the result. You get 1, right? How do I know? And what are some other fun math tricks that you can use to amaze your friends? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you turn a bunch of data into a super-handy graph? Keep on listening to learn the final 2 steps in my easy 4-step method for making graphs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are graphs? When are they useful? And how do you make one? Keep on listening to learn an easy 4-step method for making graphs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grammar Girl joins us to ask two grammar-related math questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division work when you're dealing with significant figures? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many significant figures does the number 1.25 have? What about 1.255? Or 1.250? What's the quick and dirty method that you can use to find out? Keep on listening for Math Dude's significant tricks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you know what significant figures are? Or why they matter? And what do significant figures have to do with making measurements and calculating things like speed and miles per gallon? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the percent increase in a population if it goes from 900 to 981? How can you figure out what 200 is 17% of? Keep on listening to learn the answers to these and more frequently asked questions about percentages! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there a difference between accuracy and precision? Is one more important than the other? When do the ideas of accuracy and precision show up in the real world? Keep on listening to find out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.