S12:E01, “Math with Bad Drawings” edition, with Ben Orlin (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 17 November 2018

Streamed live on 8 November 2018.

Probability, statistics, and math–oh my! For some, it’s the stuff of nightmares, but reading Ben’s book makes it all more of a dream. Who ever thought math could be such fun!

Our guest in this episode was Ben Orlin, mathematician, bad artist, and author of Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas that Shape Our Reality. While his book is indeed all about mathematical ideas, Ben elucidates those ideas with accuracy, clarity, and interesting examples. And to be honest, the drawings are fun and DO help get the ideas across. We talked about math, what it’s like to be a mathematician, what it’s like to be a student trying to learn math, and what seems to work best helping novices successfully approach the important ideas of mathematics.

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