A Problem Squared Matt Parker & Bec Hill
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- Comedy
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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.
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084 = Indicators and In Da Cake-ers
In this episode...
🎂 Where did birthday cake come from?
🚗 How come my indicator is never in sync with other cars waiting to turn?
💼 And, as always, some business from the business briefcase.
Nina, here’s that recipe for Greek Honey Cake: https://www.food.com/recipe/greek-honey-cake-428671
And for more cake from around the world, look no further than this infographic: https://i.imgur.com/lhhotIE.png
Here’s the Ben Eater video referenced by Matt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRlSFm519Bo
And the fascinating paper about time perception and its illusions: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2866156/
Please do send us your problems and solutions to the website: www.aproblemsquared.com
If you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon. -
083 = Sunbeams and Dog Dreams
🌒 What’s the best place to see the next solar eclipse?
💤 Do animals dream?
💼 The Any Other Business briefcase is…half open.
Send your problems and solutions to our website: www.aproblemsquared.com.
For a detailed look at the path of the 2026 eclipse, here’s the website referenced by Matt: https://eclipsophile.com/future-eclipses-2024-2028/
If you want to hear the full interview with David Pena Guzman about animal consciousness referenced by Bec, you can do that here: https://news.uchicago.edu/do-animals-dream-david-m-pena-guzman.
Videos of Sky potentially dreaming will be on social media. Tell us what you think? Do dogs dream?
And, if you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon. -
An Emergency Broadcast to Solve an Emergency Problem.
🔔🚨This is an emergency broadcast🚨🔔
Unfortunately a bout of sudden food poisoning has got in the way of our latest recording session. Everyone's safe (now) but as you may have noticed, we're missing an episode.
We've now got a new date in the diary but the podcast won't be back for two weeks - sorry about that everyone!
SO in this episode, A Problem Squared presents...
🧙♀️ The first EVER episode of bonus podcast I'm A Wizard.
🪄A latter and very silly episode of I'm A Wizard.
We HOPE this is a good solution to our emergency problem, but only you, the listener, can give us that ding.
And if you'd like to hear more from the Wizards, you can join up on Patreon and give as little or as much as you like.
Thanks everyone! -
082 = What Is Lint and Zero Hints
In this episode...
🧺 What is lint?
👌 When does zero count?
💼 And, as always, some business from the business briefcase.
Please do send us your problems and solutions to the website: www.aproblemsquared.com.
Bec’s got loads of gigs coming up! If you wanna go see her check out dates on her website: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigs.
Matt’s also got an Evening of Unnecessary Detail every two weeks at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, London.
There’s going to be a mathssive (get it) Evening of Unnecessary Detail Extravaganza show at the Bristol Beacon on the 12th March.Find details for those here: https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/.
If you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon. -
081 = Pi Prize and Square Stairs
In this episode…
🥧 Can Pi ever repeat itself?
🪜 Is it impossible for cube-based stairs to be identical?
📈 And some Business of an Any Other Nature.
If you want to see the biggest hand calculation in HISTORY, you can! Just head over to Matt’s YouTube channel on the 14th of March: https://www.youtube.com/@standupmaths
An Evening of Unnecessary Detail is BACK IN NEW YORK! On the 14th of April, at The Bell House in Brooklyn from 7:30pm!
You can get tickets for that here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/matt-parker-an-evening-of-unnecessary-detail-tickets-847453715877?aff=oddtdtcreator
Ever wanted to know the answer to whether ALL Japanese snacks scale with the packaging imagery? Well now you can, on Bec’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-roi6FdISY&ab_channel=BecHill
GO SEE BEC! She’s playing in Reading and Louth in April. You can find the dates for that, here: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigs
YOU CAN PRE-ORDER MATT’S NEW BOOK ‘Love Triangle’ NOW!
For a signed, but full priced copy with a special dust jacket follow this link: https://mathsgear.co.uk/products/love-triangle-by-matt-parker-signed
Or for 21% off your pre-order, follow this link to Waterstones: https://tinyurl.com/2fdjnwwz
As always, please send your problems and solutions to the Problem Solving Page, here: www.aproblemsquared.com.
If you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon. -
080 = Naming Clichés and Squaring Birthdays
In this episode…
🍼 What’s the best method for naming a human child?
🎊 How do you turn 45^2=2025 into a birthday celebration?
📜 AYE-YOOO-BEEEE.
Please do send us your problems and solutions to the website: www.aproblemsquared.com
Bec’s got loads of gigs coming up! If you wanna go see her check out dates on her website: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigs
Matt’s also got an Evening of Unnecessary Detail every two weeks at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, London.
There’s going to be a mathssive (get it) Evening of Unnecessary Detail Extravaganza show at the Bristol Beacon on the 12th March.
Find details for those here: https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/
If you want more from A Problem Squared, you can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord and on Patreon.
Customer Reviews
A reliable source for a good mood
This is my happy place podcast. So I always have to keep some unlistened for emergencies.
Thank you, Bec and Matt!
Amazing
Every episode is such a pleasure
Dinglarious
A Problem Squared is a podcast that is a bit like a mathematician in that it concerns itself with problems that would appear largely irrelevant to the non-epsilontic fraction of Earth’s population but are nonetheless deeply pleasing to solve, brought to you by Matt Parker who is a bit like a mathematician in that they find the most difficult way of explaining seemingly simple things and Bec Hill who is a bit like a mathematician in that they may sometimes provide solutions that are perfectly correct but entirely useless. Very enjoyable entertainment created by a brilliant team, even if the Dude (who tries to give the impression of a true nerd) in the context of the fastest species of Penguins fails to mention the source-code-based Linux distribution of the same name!