A Problem Squared

Matt Parker, Bec Hill
  • 4.9 (239)
  • Comedy
  • Updated Biweekly

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.

  1. 3d ago

    146 = Five-ish or Four-ish and Have Tank But No Fish

    🟰 How do you round 0.44999999... to 1 decimal place? 🐟 What creative things can be done with a fish tank that has no fish? 🍂  And we have some Autumnal Other Business Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see some platonic solids for platonic friends, some gorgeous Welsh scenery, some diorama inspo, some toilet wine and a really old maths book. BBC Archive: The Street With Confounding House Numbers from 1961 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr6Gxb97W_c   How the Japanese house numbering system works… https://geoawesome.com/how-the-crazy-japanese-addressing-system-works-explained/  Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  2. Oct 12

    145 = Trousers & Socks and Heaviest Blocks

    🧦 Do you put your trousers or socks on first ?👖 🎲 How much would a standard pair of dice weigh if they were made up of just protons and neutrons? 🎲 🏉 And we have some Australian Ozzie Ballness that may or may not be in the right order. Thank you to everyone who responded to our questionnaire about number and clothing ordering! All the results are in this episode. What would happen if a tablespoonful of a neutron star was brought to Earth? https://www.astronomy.com/science/what-would-happen-if-tablespoonful-neutron-star-was-brought-to-earth/  Take a trip back in time to see Matt putting both his socks on simultaneously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7fg27Iiq8  Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  3. Sep 28

    144 = Numbering Tomfoolery and Number-Based Jewellery

    #️⃣ How wrong can a sequence of numbers be? 👂 What maths-related diagrams that would look good as a pair of earrings? ☕ And we have some Any Other Baristaness  Here is our dual-purpose Google Form - please answer our questions about number and clothing ordering! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tTb398TTacxoqlqJHGonkldwDsqnnMN6V4fRagfPOEI/ Behold the weird balls! Here is Thomas Fernique’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernik_art/p/DcVerFCDiwr/  And head to our Instagram to see Matt looking really happy with a weird football and Bec looking really sad with a weird football. Some visuals to inspire designs for duallery - Brown University: Dual Shapes: https://www.math.brown.edu/tbanchof/Beyond3d/chapter5/section03.html Some pre-made mathematical earrings from Maths Gear: https://mathsgear.co.uk/collections/jewellery-etc   Vanessa Schattman on the maths of cat’s cradle: https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2026/bridges2026-669.html#gsc.tab=0 Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Matt has extended his tour - and he’s filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here: http://standupmaths.com/shows  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  4. Sep 14

    143 = What Comes After Thrice and Coffee Roulette Advice

    📖 What comes after thrice? ☕ How can I increase my chances of winning a free coffee? 🎹 And we have some Any Other Beatness  Thank you to everyone who sent in audio or visuals of the Thue-Morse pattern! Here is Damien’s Thue-Morse Visualiser which is really fun to play with: https://damienkee.github.io/thue-morese_visualiser/  And here is the keyboard visualisation of Thue-Morse sonified by Seta Lyas: https://www.reddit.com/r/AProblemSquared/comments/1vl0m8s/140_thuemorse_sonified  Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see the full run down of Bec’s post-thrice words. Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Matt has extended his tour - and he’s filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here: http://standupmaths.com/shows  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  5. Aug 31

    142 = How Long Would YouTube Take to View and How to Display Without Glue or Screws

    📺 How long would it take to watch all of YouTube? 🪧 How can you make an interesting public display board without damaging the walls? 🏖️ And we have Any Other Beachness (it’s a bit windy and a bit crabby) Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see Matt and Bec’s differing experiences of the solar eclipse. Here’s Count Binface and Matt the Count Binface Count Agent getting papped in Clacton: https://tinyurl.com/2h7apka7  And here's Matt's Stand-Up Maths video - Can Count Binface win? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zn1pGRgEoo If you like the sound of David Elms Describes A Room, you can find out more here: ⁠https://www.davidelmsdescribesaroom.com/⁠  Here are the places to go for a deep dive into YouTube Stats: https://tubestats.org/  Counting YouTube Videos via Random Prefix Sampling: https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/2068816.2068851  A Transparent, Replicable, and Large-Scale Census of YouTube Channels and their Subscriber Counts Over Time https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06999  Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Matt has extended his tour - and he’s filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here: http://standupmaths.com/shows  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  6. Aug 17

    141 = What If Peer Was More and What If Pi Was Four?

    👬 How do you know if a work-friend is a real-friend? ⭕ What would happen if Pi was 4? 😴 And we have Any Other Boring-Stories… Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see Bec’s selfies with The Stars of Space (real and fictional), and the cute-faced Rivian Car. Why not try Hyperbolic Crochet?! https://startcrochet.com/ultimate-beginners-guide-to-hyperbolic-crochet/ Why not try a checked 25x25 grid crossword from Sweden?! https://fatherben.se/wordpress/digitalt-korsord-i-sydsvenskan/  Robert Llewelyn’s YouTube channel - Everything Electric CARS  If you’re at the Edinburgh Fringe and would like to see Bec’s Work In Progress show, tickets are available here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/bec-hill-s-work-in-progress  Matt has extended his tour - and he’s filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here: http://standupmaths.com/shows  Want to pose a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Head over to https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  7. Aug 10

    140 = ABBABAAB and AI-Bah! 

    ⚽ What’s the fairest way to pick teams? 🤖 How do you discourage colleagues from using AI to write everything? 🚗 And this road trip is jeopardised by playing ‘Accelerator or Break?’ Thanks to all of you who sent in answers to “what are you doing while you’re listening to A Problem Squared?” - we go through as many as we possibly can in this episode! Here is kram1032’s post on Maths Stack Exchange that helped Matt with his problem solving: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2078609/whats-the-fairest-turn-sequence-for-n-players  Here’s more info on Open Sauce: https://www.opensauce.com/ And here’s a kind stranger’s Insta reel of the Ratatouille robot: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DbGwSh4vHQq/  And here’s more info on UKIE: https://ukie.org.uk/  And the stream of Bec hosting the event: https://www.youtube.com/live/4lw_ypXroa4  Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see the U-Haul-Truck-Camera photo of Matt.  If you’re at the Edinburgh Fringe and would like to see Bec’s Work In Progress show, tickets are available here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/bec-hill-s-work-in-progress  Matt has extended his tour - and he’s filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here: http://standupmaths.com/shows  Want to pose a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Head over to https://www.aproblemsquared.com/  Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard! If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!    If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

  8. Trailer

    A Problem... Delayed

    There's no new episode of A Problem Squared this week - sorry everyone - but we will be back with your scheduled Episode 140 on MONDAY 10TH AUGUST 2026, and our normal twokly service will be resumed from MONDAY 17TH AUGUST 2026. We're delaying one episode by one week due to general busyness and time-zone clashes but rest assured you will be getting your full quota of August episodes of A Problem Squared. Thank you for your patience!

See All (150)

Trailer

Hosts & Guests

4.9
out of 5
239 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Parker, Bec Hill
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    150
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Matt Parker, Bec Hill
  • Show Website
    A Problem Squared

You Might Also Like