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Join Sofia Baca and her guests Millicent Oriana from Nerd Forensics and Arianna Lunarosa as they discuss energy. The sound that you're listening to, the device that you're listening on, and the cells in both the ear you're using to listen and the brain that understands these words have at least one thing in common: they represent the consumption or transference of energy. The same goes for your eyes if you're reading a transcript of this. The waves in the ears are pressure waves, while eyes receive information in the form of radiant energy, but they both are still called "energy". But what is energy? Energy is a scalar quantity measured in dimensions of force times distance, and the role that energy plays depends on the dynamics of the system. So what is the difference between potential and kinetic energy? How can understanding energy simplify problems? And how do we design a roller coaster in frictionless physics land?[Featuring: Sofia Baca; Millicent Oriana, Arianna Lunarosa] This episode is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Full text here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

The world around us is a four-dimensional world; there are three spatial dimensions, and one temporal dimension. Many of these objects emit an almost unfathomable number of photons. As we developed as creatures on this planet, we gathered the ability to sense the world around us; and given the amount of information represented as photons, it is no surprise that we developed an organ for sensing photons. But because of the amount of photons that are involved, and our relatively limited computational resources, it is necessary to develop shortcuts if we want to simulate an environment in silico. So what is raytracing? How is that different from what happens in games? And what does Ptolemy have to do with 3D graphics? All of this and more on this episode of Breaking Math. Theme was Breaking Math Theme and outro was Breaking Math Outro by Elliot Smith of Albuquerque. This episode is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. License information can be found here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch]

Physical objects are everywhere, and they're all made out of molecules, and atoms. However, the arrangement and refinement of these atoms can be the difference between a computer and sand, or between a tree and paper. For a species as reliant on tool use, the ability to conceieve of, design, create, and produce these materials is an ongoing concern. Since we've been around as humans, and even before, we have been material scientists in some regard, searching for new materials to make things out of, including the tools we use to make things. So what is the difference between iron and steel? How do we think up new things to make things out of? And what are time crystals? All of this and more on this episode of Breaking Math. This episode is released under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. More information here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch; Taylor Sparks]

Robert Black is an author who has written a six-book series about seven influential mathematicians, their lives, and their work. We interview him and his books, and take a peek into the lives of these influential mathematicians. Addendum: Hey Breaking Math fans, I just wanted to let y'all know that the second material science podcast is delayed. [Featuring: Sofía Baca; Robert Black]

Matter is that which takes up space, and has mass. It is what we interact with, and what we are. Imagining a world without matter is to imagine light particles drifting aimlessly in space. Gasses, liquids, solids, and plasmas are all states of matter. Material science studies all of these, and their combinations and intricacies, found in examining foams, gels, meshes, and other materials and metamaterials. Chris Cogswell is a material scientist, and host of The Mad Scientist Podcast, a podcast that takes a critical look at things ranging from technological fads, to pseudoscience, and topics that deserve a critical eye. On the first of a pair of two episodes about material science, we interview Chris about his experience with studying material science, and ask questions about the subject in general. Links referenced by Chris Cogswell: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUvi5eQhPTc is about nanomagnetism and cool demonstration of ferrofluid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dlt63N-Uuk goes over nanomagnetic applications in medicine - http://yaghi.berkeley.edu/pdfPublications/04MOFs.pdf Great review paper on new class of materials known as MOFs which are going to be very important in coming years - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkYimZBzguw Crash course engineering on nanomaterials, really good introduction to the field - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7EYQLOlwDM Oak Ridge national lab paper on using nano materials for carbon dioxide conversion to other carbon molecules - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxVFopLpIQY Really good paper on carbon capture technology challenges and economics [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch, Meryl Flaherty; Chris Cogswell] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

Seldom do we think about self-reference, but it is a huge part of the world we live in. Every time that we say 'myself', for instance, we are engaging in self-reference. Long ago, the Liar Paradox and the Golden Ratio were among the first formal examples of self-reference. Freedom to refer to the self has given us fruitful results in mathematics and technology. Recursion, for example, is used in algorithms such as PageRank, which is one of the primary algorithms in Google's search engine. Elements of self-reference can also be found in foundational shifts in the way we understand mathematics, and has propelled our understanding of mathematics forward. Forming modern set theory was only possible due to a paradox called Russel's paradox, for example. Even humor uses self-reference. Realizing this, can we find harmony in self-reference? Even in a podcast intro, are there elements of self-reference? Nobody knows, but I'd check if I were you. Catch all of this, and more, on this episode of Breaking Math. Episode 70.1: Episode Seventy Point One of Breaking Math Podcast [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch; Millicent Oriana] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

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Hello, listeners! This is Sofia with an announcement. Season 4 is about to start, and we have some great episodes planned. The last few weeks have been busy for us in our personal lives, and we apologize for our spotty release schedule lately. We're excited to bring you more of the content you've grown to love. Today, we're going to have a rerun of our first episode on. This episode is a little rough at points, but we're choosing to rerun it because it captures the spirit of the podcast so elegantly. So, without further ado, here is Breaking Math episode 1: Forbidden Formulas. [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch; Amy Lynn] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

On this problem episode, join Sofía and guest Diane Baca to learn about what an early attempt to formalize the natural numbers has to say about whether or not m+n equals n+m. [Featuring: Sofía Baca; Diane Baca] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

Michael Brooks is a science writer who specializes in making difficult concepts easier to grasp. In his latest book, Brooks goes through several mathematical concepts and discusses their motivation, history, and discovery. So how do stories make it easier to learn? What are some of the challenges associated with conveying difficult concepts to the general public? And who, historically, has been a mathematician? All of this and more on this episode of Breaking Math.  Songs were Breaking Math Intro and Outro by Elliot Smith of Albuquerque.  This episode is published under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribute-ShareAlike-NonCommercial license. For more information, visit CreativeCommons.org  [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch, Meryl Flaherty; Michael Brooks] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

There are times in mathematics when we are generalizing the behavior of many different, but similar, entities. One such time that this happens is the use cases of Big O notation, which include describing the long-term behavior of functions, and talking about how accurate numerical calculations are. On this problem episode, we are going to discuss Big O notation and how to use it. This episode is licensed by Sofia Baca under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For more information, visit CreativeCommons.org. [Featuring: Sofía Baca] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

The world is often uncertain, but it has only been in the last half millennium that we've found ways to interact mathematically with that concept. From its roots in death statistics, insurance, and gambling to modern Bayesian networks and machine learning, we've seen immense productivity in this field. Every way of looking at probability has something in common: the use of random variables. Random variables let us talk about events with uncertain outcomes in a concrete way. So what are random variables? How are they defined? And how do they interact? All of this, and more, on this episode of Breaking Math. Interact with the hosts: @SciPodSofia @TechPodGabe Or the guest: @KampPodMillie Patreon here: patreon.com/breakingmathpodcast Featuring music by Elliot Smith. For info about music used in ads, which are inserted dynamically, contact us at breakingmathpodcast@gmail.com [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch; Millicent Oriana] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

Mathematics is a subject that has been used for great things over time: it has helped people grow food, design shelter, and in every part of life. It should be, then, no surprise that sometimes mathematics is used for evil; that is to say, there are times where mathematics is used to either implement or justify regressive things like greed, racism, classism, and even genocide. So when has math been used for destructive purposes? What makes us mis-apply mathematics? And why can oversimplification lead to devastation? All of this, and more, on this episode of Breaking Math. Theme song is Breaking Math Theme by Elliot Smith of Albuquerque. This episode is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For more information, go to CreativeCommons.org --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

Join Sofía Baca with her guest Millicent Oriana from the newly launched Nerd Forensics podcast as they discuss some apparent paradoxes in probability and Russian roulette. Intro is "Breaking Math Theme" by Elliot Smith. Ads feature "Ding Dong" by Simon Panrucker [Featuring: Sofía Baca; Millicent Oriana] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

Katharine Hayhoe was the lead author on the 2018 US Climate Assessment report, and has spent her time since then spreading the word about climate change. She was always faced with the difficult task of convincing people who had stakes in things that would be affected by acknowledging the information in her report. In her newest book, “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World”, she discusses the challenges associated with these conversations, at both the micro and macro level. So who is Katherine Heyhoe? How has she learned to get people to acknowledge the reality of climate science? And is she the best, or worst, person to strike up a discussion about how the weather’s been? All of this, and more, on this episode of Breaking Math. Papers Cited: -“99.94 percent of papers agree with the scientific consensus.” More info: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0270467617707079 This episode is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International License. For more information, visit creativecommons.org. Intro is "Breaking Math Theme" by Elliot Smith. Ads feature "Ding Dong" by Simon Panrucker [Featuring: Sofía Baca, Gabriel Hesch, Meryl Flaherty; Katherine Heyhoe, Elliot Smith] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

One tells a lie, the other the truth! Have fun with Sofía and Meryl as they investigate knight, knave, and spy problems! Intro is "Breaking Math Theme" by Elliot Smith. Music in the ads were Plug Me In by Steve Combs and "Ding Dong" by Simon Panrucker. You can access their work at freemusicarchive.org. [Featuring: Sofia Baca; Meryl Flaherty] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial license. For more information, visit creativecommons.org. Ian is an author who has written many math and science books, and collaborated with Terry Pratchett. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

The world is a big place with a lot of wonderful things in it. The world also happens to be spherical, which can make getting to those things a challenge if you don't have many landmarks. This is the case when people are navigating by sea. For this reason, map projections, which take a sphere and attempt to flatten it onto a sheet, were born. So what is a map projection? Why are there so many? And why is Gall-Peters the worst? All of this, and more, on this episode of Breaking Math. Theme was written by Elliot Smith. This episode is distributed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial International License. For more information, visit CreativeCommons.org. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support

This is a rerun of one of our favorite episodes! We hope that you enjoy it if you haven't listened to it yet. We'll be back next week with new content! Thank you so much for listening to Breaking Math! Math is a gravely serious topic which has been traditionally been done by stodgy people behind closed doors, and it cannot ever be taken lightly. Those who have fun with mathematics mock science, medicine, and the foundation of engineering. That is why on today's podcast, we're going to have absolutely no fun with mathematics. There will not be a single point at which you consider yourself charmed, there will not be a single thing you will want to tell anyone for the sake of enjoyment, and there will be no tolerance for your specific brand of foolishness, and that means you too, Kevin. Theme by Elliot Smith. Distributed under a CC BY-SA-NC 4.0 license. For more information visit CreativeCommons.org --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/breakingmathpodcast/support