Math in a Minute

Hello everyone, Jacob here! If you've been following the Center's videos for the past few months, you might have noticed that I like to say a whole lot of things about any given topic, and that makes my videos go on pretty long. So, with me on the way out and the next math co-op coming in soon,  I decided to challenge myself to do the opposite: in this new mini-series, you'll see me tackle some classic but nontrivial problems from all different branches of mathematics, each in a single video whose duration is sixty seconds or less. Keep reading to watch Math in a Minute!

HyperRogue and hyperbolic geometry

One mathematical field that I find particularly interesting and beautiful is hyperbolic geometry: it's the same as Euclidean geometry, but takes the axiom that for any line and any point outside of that line, there's more than one line passing through that point which doesn't intersect the given line. In the past, hyperbolic geometry has featured heavily in the works of mathematically inclined artists like M.C. Escher.

Recently, over the past few years, independent developer ZenoRogue has created a video game that utilizes hyperbolic geometry, by the name of HyperRogue. The game is in the roguelike genre, but rather than using turn-based game evolution on a square or hexagonal grid, the game is based on the truncated order-7 triangular tiling of the hyperbolic plane, often called the "hyperbolic soccer ball," which is what gives it all sorts of interesting non-Euclidean properties. Keep reading to watch a Center of Math original video of HyperRogue gameplay, along with commentary about how the mathematical properties of hyperbolic space affect the game.

Holiday Math: Secret Santa

Around the holidays, one fun tradition is to set up an arrangement wherein members of a group anonymously trade gifts with one another, a process which is often called "Secret Santa." In this new video by the Center of Math, we mathematically investigate the odds that randomly assigning people around will create a valid exchange: it's a bit more complicated than you might think! Keep reading to watch it here.

Star Wars Video Special

Hey there! I bet you're all quite excited about today's release of Star Wars Episode VII: I know I am. To celebrate this great film series' revival, I've made a video where I apply a bit of science and mathematics to one of the iconic scenes of Episode IV. Keep reading to see what it is!

Video series: Group theory basics

The Worldwide Center of Mathematics is dedicated to more venues of mathematics education than just textbooks, and for this reason we've made a new video series, detailing some of the basics and interesting concepts in the mathematical field of group theory. Keep reading to learn more...

TeachingCenter - From Comedy Central's Key & Peele

Key & Peele - TeachingCenter

Just added to the Center of Math Liked Videos Playlist

Imagine a world in which society places as much importance on teachers and academics as it does athletes and athletics.

For more math videos visit us at youtube.com/centerofmath

The Center on College Admissions Exams

Here at the Worldwide Center of Mathematics, Tori, an intern working as the Assistant Director of Mathematical Content, has been hard at work creating new math resources and posts. She’s recently starred in several short videos that were made to help students study for the math section of the ACT (the next exam is February 7^th). Watch the playlist here! Tori is currently a math student at Northeastern University in Boston, and truly enjoys breaking down math problems into simpler, understandable pieces.

Here's one of Tori's first ACT videos

From a big-picture perspective, we want you, the students, parents, or teachers who watch these videos, to think of the Center of Mathematics as your main resource for math help. Our founder, David B. Massey, has given a multitude of lectures on his books and upper-level mathematics that are all available on our Youtube channel. We are not just a textbook publisher; we are a network of teachers and resources, and we are here to help students learn the intricacies of their mathematics courses.

A video from the second ACT shoot

We know that standardized, college-admission tests may seem daunting. They put a lot of pressure on the student, both in terms of time and emotion. They require quick recall of subjects learned all throughout high school. Our videos are meant to help train you to approach ACT or SAT math problems as simply as possible. Often you’ll see Tori use the same methods in several videos- that’s because she knows the techniques to simplify the problems. Math isn’t everyone’s favorite subject, but with Tori’s help (and the help of past and future interns), we can hopefully ease the burden and relax the stigma that is associated with mathematics on standardized tests.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future videos, let us know in the comments!

Want to Know the Secret of Life? It's Math!

Ever wonder what distinguishes life from death? According to physicist, Max Tegmark, math is what defines everything. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor argues that consciousness consists of nothing more than mathematical patterns and that nothing but changes in atom arrangement differentiate life from death. You can watch it right here!

This video was recorded during his talk at TEDxCambridge last month. Check out the other speakers and performers here!