A Problem Squared

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Comedy
**A Problem Squared**

Matt Parker and Bec Hill present: A Problem Squared.

A podcast dedicated to solving problems of all kinds, such as, “What should I listen to right now?”. A Podcast Squared. First one’s free. You’re welcome.

Episodes released twokly on Mondays.

Latest Episodes:

096 = Movie Pairs and Moving Flares Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

🎞 Why would competing studios release movies in the same year that have the same concept or plot?

🔭 Why are we seeing the Aurora Borealis in the UK?

📈 Business of an any other nature.

If you want to have a listen to Bec on Tom Scott’s podcast ‘Lateral’ you can do that here, at some point soon: https://open.spotify.com/show/1TthQOE4Fx6gBPW8l48cfN

Their book can also be brought here! It’s really good: https://lateralcast.com/book/

To see a history of solar flare data going back to 1700, follow this link here: https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/ssngraphics

Please send your problems and solutions into the website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!

And if you want (we’re not forcing anyone) to leave us a review, show the podcast to a friend or give us a rating! Please do that. It really helps.

Finally, if you want even more from A Problem Squared you can connect with us and other listeners on Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

095 = Friday Fears and Disco Spheres Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

🍀 Does the 13th really fall more frequently on Friday?

💿 How do you make a giant disco ball wearable?

🍩 And we have some any other doughness.

If you want to find out more about the cardboard related event (called Number City!) Matt attended on Orkney Island, have a look at this link: https://oisf.org/fest-event/number-city/.

Do send your problems and solutions to the website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!

And if you like, leave us a review, pass the podcast onto a friend or give us a rating! Every little helps.

If you want even more from A Problem Squared, you can find us onTwitter,Instagram, and on Discord.

094 = The First Podcasts and Votes Precast Sep 30, 2024

Show notes

💿 What did the first ever podcast sound like?

🗳 How do you REALLY lose an election in the US?

📰 Business will be closed, and opened.

Thank you to Emily for the Maths mittens! To see pictures of those, head over to APS socials.

You can see the incredible Agree to Disagree podcast pages from 1999 here:

There is also a file, but we don’t think it contains any data. Can someone help find an original review?

https://web.archive.org/web/19991103231714/http://thealph.com/agree/episodes/6x02.shtml

Do send your problems and solutions to the website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!

And if you like, leave us a review, pass the podcast onto a friend or give us a rating! Every little helps.

If you want even more from A Problem Squared, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord

093 = Game Solutions and Neil Distributions Sep 16, 2024

Show notes

⭕ Circle Can Tic-Tac-Toe ever be fun?

🤏What is the smallest Neil called?

🗞There’s some Any Other Business!

⚔️Battleships continues.

If you want to read the works referenced by Matt in his tic-tac-toe / naughts and crosses problem, take a look below:

Solo Noughts and Crosses, James Grime: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10724117.2023.2168434

Tic-tac-tome, Willy Yoners: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tic-Tac-Autonomous-Playing-Book/dp/1594746877

A Knowledge-based Approach of Connect-Four The Game is Solved: White Wins, Victor Alis: https://disi.unitn.it/~montreso/asd/docs/connect4.pdf

Is ultimate tic-tac-toe solved? https://www.joachim-breitner.de/blog/604-Ultimate_Tic_Tac_Toe_is_always_won_by_X

Please send your problems and solutions to the website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!

And if you like, leave us a review, pass the podcast onto a friend or give us a rating! Every little helps.

If you want even more from A Problem Squared, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord

092 = Broken Hands and Alexander's Bands Sep 02, 2024

Show notes

🌈 How many colours are really in a rainbow?

🕰 How often is a broken clock is right?

💼 The Any Other Business briefcase is open. Briefly.

🏴‍ And we have a NEW POST CREDITS easter egg.

To hear more about the brilliant and terrible Emily In Paris premier, listen to this episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/point-break-pt-1-season-04-episode-01/id1720149980?i=1000666164553

If you want to see where the Mattparker asteroid / minor planet is in the universe, you can locate it on this NASA database: https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=314159&view=VOP

A full circle rainbow was captured by aerial photographer Colin Leonhardt while flying through a rain shower just above Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia: https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/cn_round_rainbow_australia_jc_141010_16x9_992.jpg?w=1600

And if you want to be even more wowed, you can see a reflective rainbow (or six!) in Norway: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0709/sixrainbows_nordvik_big.jpg

Finally, send your problems and solutions to our website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!

And if you like, leave us a review, pass the podcast onto a friend or give us a rating! Every little helps.

If you want even more from A Problem Squared, you can find us onTwitter,Instagram, and on Discord

091 = Optimal Darts and Smelling Sharks Aug 12, 2024

Show notes

🎯 What is the optimal layout for a dart board?

🦈 How soon after a cut does a shark smell your blood?

📜 And there’s some AYE-YOOO-BEEEE.

To see the Percy Arrangement mentioned by Matt follow this link: https://www.globaldarts.de/globalDartsEN/sport/Percysboard.html

And for the “Optimal Dartboard Design” reveal, see here! https://journals.indexcopernicus.com/api/file/viewByFileId/1980058
If you want to learn more about shark senses, check out Sensory Biologist Dr. Lauren Eve Simonitis‘s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanexplauren/?hl=en

And if you like, leave us a review, pass the podcast onto a friend or give us a rating! Every little helps.

Finally, if you want even more from A Problem Squared, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord

090 = Washing Machine Lies and Lincoln Penny Highs Jul 29, 2024

Show notes

🧺 Why is the cycle time on my washing machines always wrong?

🪙 How long will it take to sell 400 Lincoln memorial pennies for $20,000?

🔔 We have DINGS!

🧳 And the business briefcase is open!

Disclaimer: You may hear a slight change in tone on Matt's audio at points throughout, that's back up audio which sounds different.

If you want to find out more about the IMO, or International Mathematics Olympics, you can do that here: https://www.imo-official.org/

And if you’re in London and you want to experience the janky eclipse, why not visit Novelty Automation! You can find details about this gem of a place here: https://www.novelty-automation.com/10_current-machines.htm"

Finally, send your problems and solutions to our website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!

And if you like, leave us a review, pass the podcast onto a friend or give us a rating! Every little helps.

Finally, if you want even more from A Problem Squared, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord

089 = Venomous Snakes and Doggy Legs Jul 15, 2024

Show notes

On this episode...

🐍If you pooled up all the snake venom in the world would it be enough to kill all the non-immune mammals?

👢Do dogs have 2 arms? Or do we have 4 legs?

📜And we open the business briefcase.

If you want to know more about lizard sampling, do that here: ‘Hierarchical distance sampling to estimate population sizes of common lizards across a desert ecoregion’:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.4780

There’s a great video by Technology Connections to turn signals and specifically syncing them up, you can find that here: https://youtu.be/2z5A-COlDPk?si=SWSE_FX3fuyLH1X0

You can find the rude praying hands here: https://www.reddit.com/r/teams/comments/xvpefh/can_we_please_talk_about_the_praying_emoji_on/

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/hand-gestures-in-microsoft-teams-free-ff2354cd-17fa-44fc-80c9-3d88c577a1ad

As always, send your problems and solutions to our website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

And, if you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon.

088 = Tired Tires and Curvy Cubes Jul 01, 2024

Show notes

🚘 What happens when tires get tired?

🧊 What is the equation for the curve on a spinning Ruibik’s cube?

📜 And there’s some pin related AOB!

Find out more about the counting crows here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0984

You can hear Bec on Ali Plumb’s podcast ‘Screen Time’ here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02r4zfx/episodes/downloads

If you want to learn more about the EMF Festival, follow this link: https://www.emfcamp.org/

To read ‘Where the tire meets the road: Emerging environmental impacts of tire wear particles and their chemical cocktails’, go here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171153

For more information on the cones, ruled surfaces, hyperbolic paraboloids and more, have a look at the links below!

You can see some nice hyperboloid structures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperboloid#Hyperboloid_structures

As always, send your problems and solutions to our website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

And, if you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon.

087 = Climbing Cliffses and Cloning Eclipses Jun 17, 2024

Show notes

🧗 Is it possible to climb every mountain?

🌞 Can you simulate an eclipse if you miss the real thing?

📜 And some loose ends (and change), in AOB!

If you’d like to enter the very same gravel race as Matt Parker, you can find out more details here: https://sevengravelrace.com/the-race/

You can listen to ‘Climb Any Mountain’ from the Sound of Music soundtrack here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKuqySkqhHw&ab_channel=COSMOTOPPER777

And to watch the 1991 The Shamen hit ‘Move Any Mountain’ referenced by Matt (which we later discovered was made by our very own Producer Lauren’s dad!) Follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpjnzxtZ6Qg&ab_channel=Vesanorabonah

You can find details for Matt’s Peak data here: https://peakvisor.com/

https://peakvisor.com/en/news/how_many_mountains_on_earth.html

https://peakvisor.com/en/news/unnamed-mountains.html

In our Dinglett this week Matt referenced JHelioviewer, where you can access real time solar image data. Do that here: https://www.jhelioviewer.org/

And Bec’s very sensible suggestion for Problem Poser Aaron, to watch the Oculus’ broadcast of the 2024 total eclipse: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/event/1074832456934803/

SFX for Bec’s victory can be found at Fresound.org, ‘VICTORY CRY Reverb 1’ was made by chripei and ‘Music: Orchestral Victory Fanfare’ was made by Sheyvan.

As always, send your problems and solutions to our website: www.aproblemsquared.com.

And, if you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon.

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