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YouTube

Math in Real Life

TED-Ed via YouTube

Overview

Explore a diverse collection of math-related videos covering real-world applications, historical insights, and mind-bending puzzles. Dive into topics ranging from perpetual motion machines and mathematical symbols to fast alphabetization techniques and airline overbooking strategies. Discover the unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night," solve challenging riddles, and unravel paradoxes like the Infinite Hotel. Learn about exponential growth, geometric principles in nature, and the intricacies of probability. Investigate the math behind sports, online dating, and conspiracy theories. Gain insights into mathematical concepts like vectors, matrices, and fractals. Explore the intersection of math with art, literature, and philosophy. Engage with thought-provoking questions about the nature of mathematics and its role in shaping our world.

Syllabus

Why don't perpetual motion machines ever work? - Netta Schramm.
Where do math symbols come from? - John David Walters.
What's the fastest way to alphabetize your bookshelf? - Chand John.
Why do airlines sell too many tickets? - Nina Klietsch.
What's the difference between accuracy and precision? - Matt Anticole.
How high can you count on your fingers? (Spoiler: much higher than 10) - James Tanton.
The unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night" - Natalya St. Clair.
The Infinite Hotel Paradox - Jeff Dekofsky.
Can you solve the bridge riddle? - Alex Gendler.
Can you solve the prisoner hat riddle? - Alex Gendler.
Can you solve "Einstein’s Riddle"? - Dan Van der Vieren.
Can you solve the temple riddle? - Dennis E. Shasha.
Can you solve the three gods riddle? - Alex Gendler.
Can you solve the locker riddle? - Lisa Winer.
Can you solve the passcode riddle? - Ganesh Pai.
Can you solve the prisoner boxes riddle? - Yossi Elran.
Can you solve the frog riddle? - Derek Abbott.
Can you solve the counterfeit coin riddle? - Jennifer Lu.
Can you solve the control room riddle? - Dennis Shasha.
Can you solve the virus riddle? - Lisa Winer.
Can you solve the airplane riddle? - Judd A. Schorr.
Why do competitors open their stores next to one another? - Jac de Haan.
Can you solve the river crossing riddle? - Lisa Winer.
Can you solve the pirate riddle? - Alex Gendler.
Exponential Growth: How Folding Paper Can Get You to the Moon.
Can you solve the fish riddle? - Steve Wyborney.
Can you solve the egg drop riddle? - Yossi Elran.
Exploring other dimensions - Alex Rosenthal and George Zaidan.
Why do honeybees love hexagons? - Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson.
What is Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox? - Colm Kelleher.
The mathematical secrets of Pascal’s triangle - Wajdi Mohamed Ratemi.
Is math discovered or invented? - Jeff Dekofsky.
Can you solve the dark coin riddle? - Lisa Winer.
Group theory 101: How to play a Rubik’s Cube like a piano - Michael Staff.
How to defeat a dragon with math - Garth Sundem.
Check your intuition: The birthday problem - David Knuffke.
One is one ... or is it?.
The last banana: A thought experiment in probability - Leonardo Barichello.
How many ways can you arrange a deck of cards? - Yannay Khaikin.
Inside OKCupid: The math of online dating - Christian Rudder.
What's an algorithm? - David J. Malan.
Can you solve the seven planets riddle? - Edwin F. Meyer.
A brief history of banned numbers - Alessandra King.
The math behind Michael Jordan’s legendary hang time - Andy Peterson and Zack Patterson.
The origin of countless conspiracy theories - PatrickJMT.
How many ways are there to prove the Pythagorean theorem? - Betty Fei.
The infinite life of pi - Reynaldo Lopes.
How to spot a misleading graph - Lea Gaslowitz.
A clever way to estimate enormous numbers - Michael Mitchell.
Why do people get so anxious about math? - Orly Rubinsten.
The case of the missing fractals - Alex Rosenthal and George Zaidan.
What happens if you guess - Leigh Nataro.
Making sense of irrational numbers - Ganesh Pai.
How the Königsberg bridge problem changed mathematics - Dan Van der Vieren.
Pizza physics (New York-style) - Colm Kelleher.
The beauty of data visualization - David McCandless.
Did Shakespeare write his plays? - Natalya St. Clair and Aaron Williams.
The mathematics of sidewalk illusions - Fumiko Futamura.
Why are manhole covers round? - Marc Chamberland.
Can you find the next number in this sequence? - Alex Gendler.
What is a vector? - David Huynh.
A brief history of numerical systems - Alessandra King.
The coin flip conundrum - Po-Shen Loh.
The mighty mathematics of the lever - Andy Peterson and Zack Patterson.
What in the world is topological quantum matter? - Fan Zhang.
An introduction to mathematical theorems - Scott Kennedy.
How algorithms shape our world - Kevin Slavin.
How to visualize one part per million - Kim Preshoff + The TED-Ed Community.
How does math guide our ships at sea? - George Christoph.
How to organize, add and multiply matrices - Bill Shillito.
The time value of money - German Nande.
A trip through space to calculate distance - Heather Tunnell.
Euclid's puzzling parallel postulate - Jeff Dekofsky.
Math class needs a makeover - Dan Meyer.
Gridiron physics: Scalars and vectors - Michelle Buchanan.
Why can't you divide by zero? - TED-Ed.
The beautiful math of coral - Margaret Wertheim.
Fractals and the art of roughness - Benoit Mandelbrot.
Symmetry, reality's riddle - Marcus du Sautoy.
Building unimaginable shapes - Michael Hansmeyer.
Can you solve the Mondrian squares riddle? - Gordon Hamilton.
How exactly does binary code work? - José Américo N L F de Freitas.
Can you solve the Leonardo da Vinci riddle? - Tanya Khovanova.
The greatest mathematician that never lived - Pratik Aghor.
The satisfying math of folding origami - Evan Zodl.
The paradox at the heart of mathematics: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem - Marcus du Sautoy.
The method that can "prove" almost anything - James A. Smith.

Taught by

TED-Ed

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

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  • Hemant Keshari
    THE COURSE WAS VERY HELPFUL The study has not been done in isolation. There are several people that have helped me in different ways. First and foremost, I am immensely grateful to Otto B. Bekken for his advice and support during recent years. He ha…

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