About this episode
A story about a town of mathematicians and the distinction between knowledge and understanding.
Folklore tells of a town where everyone was a mathematician. Each person was an expert, whether in arithmetic, algebra, geometry or topology; thanks to this expertise, measurements were always very precisely measured, definitions very precisely defined and costs very precisely calculated. Yet, as a mathematician called Simplex discovered, just because people think they've got everything worked out, doesn't mean they won't find themselves confronted by new ideas... A story about quadrilaterals, and the difference between knowledge and understanding.
People in this episode
Host: James Lark
Topics covered
- mathematics
- folklore
- knowledge
- understanding
- quadrilaterals
Keywords
- mathematician
- Simplex
- town
- quadrilaterals
- knowledge
- understanding
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Rectangles
Places: town
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