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  • Talks 461
  • People 161
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Talks
1 - 30 of 461 results

Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón: Math is forever

With humor and charm, mathematician Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón answers a question that's wracked the brains of bored students the world over: What is math for? He shows the beauty of math as the backbone of science — and shows that theorems, not diamonds, are forever. In Spanish, with English subtitles.
https://www.ted.com/talks/eduardo_saenz_de_cabezon_math_is_forever

Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

From rockets to stock markets, many of humanity's most thrilling creations are powered by math. So why do kids lose interest in it? Conrad Wolfram says the part of math we teach -- calculation by hand -- isn't just tedious, it's mostly irrelevant to real mathematics and the real world. He presents his radical idea: teaching kids math through com...
https://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_math_with_computers

Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover

Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect -- and excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think.
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_class_needs_a_makeover

Emmanuel Schanzer: Why is algebra so hard? The answer is surprisingly simple

Why is algebra so hard? Math teacher Emmanuel Schanzer believes the problem with math lies in what we tell students math is. Learn how Schanzer's innovative online math curriculum teaches students to solve problems through design in this upbeat talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/emmanuel_schanzer_why_is_algebra_so_hard_the_answer_is_surprisingly_simple

Margaret Wertheim: The beautiful math of coral

Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician -- celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation.
https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_wertheim_the_beautiful_math_of_coral

Masha Gershman: How math can prepare new generations for the future

During the Cold War, Soviet educators were tasked with raising citizens who could out-innovate and out-build their American counterparts. One of their primary tools for doing so? Math. Educator Masha Gershman describes how the adaptive, highly social Soviet approach to teaching math can be deployed to prep new generations for an ever-shifting fu...
https://www.ted.com/talks/masha_gershman_how_math_can_prepare_new_generations_for_the_future

Cédric Villani: What's so sexy about math?

Hidden truths permeate our world; they're inaccessible to our senses, but math allows us to go beyond our intuition to uncover their mysteries. In this survey of mathematical breakthroughs, Fields Medal winner Cédric Villani speaks to the thrill of discovery and details the sometimes perplexing life of a mathematician. "Beautiful mathematical ex...
https://www.ted.com/talks/cedric_villani_what_s_so_sexy_about_math

Jeff Dekofsky: Is math discovered or invented?

Would mathematics exist if people didn't? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient and hotly debated question. [Directed by The Tremendousness Collective, narrated by Addison Anderson].
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_dekofsky_is_math_discovered_or_invented

Mohamad Jebara: This company pays kids to do their math homework

Mohamad Jebara loves mathematics -- but he's concerned that too many students grow up thinking that this beautiful, rewarding subject is difficult and boring. His company is experimenting with a bold idea: paying students for completing weekly math homework. He explores the ethics of this model and how it's helping students -- and why learning m...
https://www.ted.com/talks/mohamad_jebara_this_company_pays_kids_to_do_their_math_homework

Robert Lang: The math and magic of origami

Robert Lang is a pioneer of the newest kind of origami -- using math and engineering principles to fold mind-blowingly intricate designs that are beautiful and, sometimes, very useful.
https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_the_math_and_magic_of_origami

Adam Spencer: Why I fell in love with monster prime numbers

They're millions of digits long, and it takes an army of mathematicians and machines to hunt them down -- what's not to love about monster primes? Adam Spencer, comedian and lifelong math geek, shares his passion for these odd numbers, and for the mysterious magic of math.
https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_spencer_why_i_fell_in_love_with_monster_prime_numbers

Arthur Benjamin: Teach statistics before calculus!

Someone always asks the math teacher, "Am I going to use calculus in real life?" And for most of us, says Arthur Benjamin, the answer is no. He offers a bold proposal on how to make math education relevant in the digital age.
https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_teach_statistics_before_calculus

Rajiv Maheswaran: The math behind basketball's wildest moves

Basketball is a fast-moving game of improvisation, contact and, ahem, spatio-temporal pattern recognition. Rajiv Maheswaran and his colleagues are analyzing the movements behind the key plays of the game, to help coaches and players combine intuition with new data. Bonus: What they're learning could help us understand how humans move everywhere.
https://www.ted.com/talks/rajiv_maheswaran_the_math_behind_basketball_s_wildest_moves

James Earle: Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man of math

What's so special about Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man? With arms outstretched, the man fills the irreconcilable spaces of a circle and a square -- symbolizing the Renaissance-era belief in the mutable nature of humankind. James Earle explains the geometric, religious and philosophical significance of this deceptively simple drawing. [Directe...
https://www.ted.com/talks/james_earle_da_vinci_s_vitruvian_man_of_math

Eddie Woo: How math is our real sixth sense

In this engaging talk, high school math teacher and YouTube star Eddie Woo shares his passion for mathematics, calling it an extra sense that we can all access. Using real-world examples of geometry, he encourages everyone to seek out the patterns around them for "a whole new way to see the world."
https://www.ted.com/talks/eddie_woo_how_math_is_our_real_sixth_sense

Irina Kareva: Math can help uncover cancer's secrets

Irina Kareva translates biology into mathematics and vice versa. She writes mathematical models that describe the dynamics of cancer, with the goal of developing new drugs that target tumors. "The power and beauty of mathematical modeling lies in the fact that it makes you formalize, in a very rigorous way, what we think we know," Kareva says. "...
https://www.ted.com/talks/irina_kareva_math_can_help_uncover_cancer_s_secrets

Scott Rickard: The beautiful math behind the world's ugliest music

Scott Rickard set out to engineer the ugliest possible piece of music, devoid of repetition, using a mathematical concept known as the Costas Array. In this surprisingly entertaining talk, he shares the math behind musical beauty ... and its opposite.
https://www.ted.com/talks/scott_rickard_the_beautiful_math_behind_the_world_s_ugliest_music

Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations

Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities -- that wealth, crime rate, walking speed and many other aspects of a city can be deduced from a single number: the city's population. In this mind-bending talk from TEDGlobal he shows how it works and how similar laws hold for organisms and corporat...
https://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_west_the_surprising_math_of_cities_and_corporations

Arthur Benjamin: The magic of Fibonacci numbers

Math is logical, functional and just ... awesome. Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin explores hidden properties of that weird and wonderful set of numbers, the Fibonacci series. (And reminds you that mathematics can be inspiring, too!)
https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_the_magic_of_fibonacci_numbers

Seena Mathew: How fast is the speed of thought?

Your mortal enemy has captured you and hooked you up to a bizarre experiment. He's extended your nervous system with one very long neuron to a target about 70 meters away. At some point, he's going to fire an arrow. If you can then think a thought to the target before the arrow hits it, he'll let you go. So who wins that race? Seena Mathew exami...
https://www.ted.com/talks/seena_mathew_how_fast_is_the_speed_of_thought

Dan Finkel: 5 ways to share math with kids

Mathematics is not about following rules, it's about playing—and exploring, fighting, looking for clues, and sometimes even breaking things, according to Dan Finkel. In this playful, inspiring talk, the founder of Math for Love offers teachers and parents alike a five-step guide to sharing the beauty and playfulness of mathematical thinking with...
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_finkel_5_ways_to_share_math_with_kids

Christian Rudder: Inside OKCupid: The math of online dating

When two people join a dating website they are matched according to shared interests and how they answer a number of personal questions. But how do sites calculate the likelihood of a successful relationship? Christian Rudder one of the founders of popular dating site OKCupid details the algorithm behind 'hitting it off.' [Directed by Franz Palo...
https://www.ted.com/talks/christian_rudder_inside_okcupid_the_math_of_online_dating

Laxmi Parida: What if the best fertilizer was an algorithm?

Beset by plunging biodiversity, pathogens and skyrocketing populations, our global food supply is at risk — but solutions that rely on chemicals and GMOs come with their own problems. Laxmi Parida proposes an organic solution instead: math.
https://www.ted.com/talks/laxmi_parida_what_if_the_best_fertilizer_was_an_algorithm

Jim Simons: The mathematician who cracked Wall Street

Jim Simons was a mathematician and cryptographer who realized: the complex math he used to break codes could help explain patterns in the world of finance. Billions later, he's working to support the next generation of math teachers and scholars. TED's Chris Anderson sits down with Simons to talk about his extraordinary life in numbers.
https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_simons_the_mathematician_who_cracked_wall_street

Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness

At TED2010, mathematics legend Benoit Mandelbrot develops a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 -- the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem unknowably complicated.
https://www.ted.com/talks/benoit_mandelbrot_fractals_and_the_art_of_roughness

Garth Sundem: How to defeat a dragon with math

Having trouble remembering the order of operations? Let's raise the stakes a little bit. What if the future of your (theoretical) kingdom depended on it? Garth Sundem creates a world in which PEMDAS is the hero but only heroic when in the proper order. [Directed by Mark Phillips, narrated by Garth Sundem].
https://www.ted.com/talks/garth_sundem_how_to_defeat_a_dragon_with_math

Natalya St. Clair: The unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

Physicist Werner Heisenberg said, "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." As difficult as turbulence is to understand mathematically, we can use art to depict the way it looks. Natalya St. Clair illustrates how Van Gogh captured this deep m...
https://www.ted.com/talks/natalya_st_clair_the_unexpected_math_behind_van_gogh_s_starry_night

Eugenia Cheng: An unexpected tool for understanding inequality: abstract math

How do we make sense of a world that doesn't? By looking in unexpected places, says mathematician Eugenia Cheng. She explains how applying concepts from abstract mathematics to daily life can lead us to a deeper understanding of things like the root of anger and the function of privilege. Learn more about how this surprising tool can help us to ...
https://www.ted.com/talks/eugenia_cheng_an_unexpected_tool_for_understanding_inequality_abstract_math

Harry Baker: A love poem for lonely prime numbers

Performance poet (and math student) Harry Baker spins a love poem about his favorite kind of numbers -- the lonely, love-lorn prime. Stay on for two more lively, inspiring poems from this charming performer.
https://www.ted.com/talks/harry_baker_a_love_poem_for_lonely_prime_numbers

Mathieu Lehanneur: Science-inspired design

Naming science as his chief inspiration, Mathieu Lehanneur shows a selection of his ingenious designs -- an interactive noise-neutralizing ball, an antibiotic course in one layered pill, asthma treatment that reminds kids to take it, a living air filter, a living-room fish farm and more.
https://www.ted.com/talks/mathieu_lehanneur_science_inspired_design
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