Back to the future. There's no maths in it. We just wanted to watch a good film. I suppose we should talk about it too.   In today's programme:we travel through time at a rate of 1 second/second. is Harry Potter better than Back to the Future?how do the laws of physics change when we're moving?all our knowledge is guided by the wonderful Naomi Wray. Further reading: book your tickets to the Back to the Future The Musical; is time travel complicated? Take a look at this infographic and learn about 3 Theories of Time Travel;have a glimpse at Hannah's programme partying with Steven Hawking;watch Kip Thorne present on black holes at Cardiff University. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker. Hannah has one of those new-fangled instagrams.

When is Easter? I literally have no clue. Today's Maths at: justifies this ignorance!   In today's programme:we fail to do basic arithmetic;should you use Salad Cream at Easter? Thomas loses his mind. Further reading: So... when is Easter?Check your ethical compass. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker. Hannah has one of those new-fangled instagrams.

It's like the last day of school, because we are playing games!Wordle,Guess who,Hangman.Never has maths been so much fun. Further reading: Guess who fanfic What is the best Guess Who strategy?Three blue One Brown’s strategy for Wordle.Can you solve the longest word ladder? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker. Hannah has one of those new-fangled instagrams.

Did you know that:the Earth tilts at 23 degrees on its axis? (Well it's actually closer to 23.5 and degrees are an arbitrary unit of measurement); 2 divided by 3 is 0.666 recurring? (Although if you round it properly it would be 0.667, which is the Devil's next door neighbour); if you rearrange the letters in "The Number Twenty Three" you get "This is all Hogwash"? Isn't numerology incredible? This week we watched Joel Schumacher's 23rd film: "The Number 23", starring Jim Carrey. And we ask, perhaps, the most important question of all - was this film actually a secret sequel to Ace Ventura Pet Detective? We're through the looking glass here people!  If you're interested in watching The Number 23 then please recondsider watching Paddington (one or two, they're both good.) Your regulars, Thomas and Ben are joined by Hannah Veale and you can either tickle your eyeballs and/or your ear drums. We're so good to you. Further reading: How do you spot a conspiracy theory?James Grime demonstrating Benford's law in an everyday paper.??? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker. Hannah has one of those new-fangled instagrams.

It is with a heavy heart that we have to inform all of our viewers and listeners that The Wonderful Liz, otherwise known as Lydia Menzies passed away in late 2020. Lydia, by her own choice, wanted to be enigmatic. So although you gained glimpses into her past career as a school teacher you rarely got insight into the funny, passionate and ebullient life that she lived. Which is a great shame, because her impact on the lives around her was tremendous. So much so that she even received tributes in the house of commons from Angus MacNeil and Jacob Rees-Mogg. A fundraising page for Breast Cancer Now was set up in her honour and we hope that you are able to donate whatever you can to this cause. This podcast covers the maths of bitcoin and guest stars one of Lydia's oldest friends, Duncan Coutts, who is currently developing one of the bitcoin alternatives. Did we learn what bitcoin is?Or did we just start to question all money?Join us in Lydia's final podcast. We hope you enjoy it. Further reading: What on earth is Haskell? If you can't donate money to a cancer charity then perhaps you could donate your time through  fundraising? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.  

 TITS! Tits. TiTs... TIIIIIIITS,(tits)t...i...t...sYup, we we've found our level. This week we're joined by the wonderful (soon to be doctor) Natasha Ellison (good luck, Natasha!), from the Unviersity of Sheffield and she takes us on a whirlwind tour of her thesis results of where you should look for tits in a forest and how the mathematics stems from understanding wolf pack dynamics. Alongside our ecological leanings we also discuss Augusta Ada King, or Ada Lovelace to her friends. Tuesday 13th October marks Ada Lovelace day. As one of the first ever computer programmers to exist why not crack open your favourite programming language and have a go at saying:HELLO WORLD! Further reading: Follow Natasha on twitter; Learn more about Ada Lovelace day;How to say Hello World in 28 different programming languages. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.  

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that noone likes tidying up. So, if you want a reason to not bother then give us a listen. Once again your regulars, Ben, Liz and Thomas, seek answers to such questions as:Why are people in London Freezing?Do butterflies fart? How many toilets do you need to make everyone happy?  All questions and no answers in today's Maths at:   Further reading: House always messy? Just blame it on the second law of thermodynamicsNo more queuing at the ladies' roomDo butterflies fart? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

The first episode got us all up to speed as to what on earth Fantasy Football was all about. The Maths at: team is now ready to plunder the depths of Josh's strategies and Thomas has been editing in haste.  We can 100% guarantee that if you follow the strategy as specifed by Josh you will be in with a chance of winning and that's no Bull. Once again your regulars, Ben and Thomas, are joined by the knowledgable Hannah Veale and the intriguing Josh Bull. Gather round as they seek answers to such questions as:is it luck, or is it skill? is it better to have consistent scorers, or one off star strikers? why is everyone regressing to the mean? Of course, the simple answer is that you get reddit to do the hard work for you! See how in today's podcast. Further reading: Josh Bull's Fantasy Football page, which contains all the history of his choices.Why not have a go at your own Fantasy team through The official Fantasy Premier League? For actual tips on Fantasy Football, Josh recommends Reddit.Alongside being brilliant at everything Hannah Veale is also a photographer. Why not check her out?Interested in the statistics that Ben showed? This paper quantifies the effect of having a crowd on your win ratio. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

WELCOME TO A NEW DIMENSION OF MATHS AT: We recorded our first ever video, so that we may delight your eyes, as well as your ear canals. However, for those of you still living in the 20th century we've stripped the video off. Of course, you'll miss the visual tom foolery, but we're sure that your imagination can fill in the blanks. Fantasy football is the name of the game today and your regulars Ben and Thomas are joined by the knowledgable Hannah Veale and the intriguing Josh Bull. Josh recently topped the Fantasy Premier League and we though we'd take the time to interview him about his secrets. At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, the idea of "fantasy" led Thomas astray. So if you're interested in knowing the answers to such questions as:Why isn’t Gandalf available in fantasy football?Would Gandalf would be a good striker?Would Gandalf be a good head of a university? Then we're the podcast for you!       Further reading: Josh Bull's twitter account contains all the latest Fantasy Football tips and tricks (may actually just be mathematical musings).Why not have a go at your own Fantasy team through The official Fantasy Premier League? For actual tips on Fantasy Football, Josh recommends Reddit. Alongside being brilliant at everything Hannah Veale is also a photographer. Why not check her out? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

WE'RE BACK FOR A ONE OFF SPECIAL! What could be special enough to bring us back? Well nothing more than a bloomin' election! That's right we're going to look at how maths infuses even our democratic duties. Today's discussion points: How are Thomas and Liz now that they're parents? How do we deal with having no perfect voting systems? Rude diagrams and asymptotes. All this and more in this week's Maths at. In you're interested in more political theory then the UK will be going to the polls on November 12th! Enough stats to make you go blind. Further reading: This YouTube Playlist provides a really wonderful overview of why all voting systems are bad. Take a look at what your vote is really worth at voterpower.org. How does tactical voting work? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

We can't be perfect all the time. From everyone at maths at have a good year and we hope to be back at some point in the future.

WE DID IT! Another series done! Marriages, prenancies, black holes, none of these stopped us getting the best quality maths film chat from our mouths to your ears. The question is: after all that will there be a third series? Today's discussion points: Are opinion polls pointless? Which way does the inequality point? What instrument can you play? All this and more in this weeks Maths at. In you're interested in watching Travelling Salesman you don't need to buy it off Amazon, you can just watch it on YouTube! Look a James Stewart's pretty face below. Further reading: Have a look at the New York Times' scathing review of this charming film. A Journalist’s Guide To Opinion Polls from the British polling council. Four times when having an online poll was a bad idea. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

The government didn't want you to hear this podcast. They tried to pay us off! Just remember as you listen to it: we are not responsible for any repercussions if you decide to watch Travelling Salesman. Today's discussion points: How many tickets do you have to buy to win the lottery? Squashed research! How many actors can you have playing the same character? All this and more in this weeks Maths at In you're interested in watching Travelling Salesman you don't need to buy it off Amazon, you can just watch it on YouTube! They can't even give it away! Further reading: Should you feel guilty about watching the film on YouTube, you can give the creators your money, through their official website. An easy description of the P vs NP problem. Sorting algorithms through dance. Color visualization of sorting algorithms. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

Maths at... proudly* sponsored by Prof. Elizabeth Baldwin!  *we have no idea of how proud she is. Care to sponsor an episode? It'll cost you 77p! Sorry about the quality of Thomas' microphone, he had trouble recording. Won't happen again (until the next). This week we watched Contact and are joined, once again, by Dr William Taylor  His enthusiasm is so infectious! So whilst he tried to educate us, we try to divert his attention with such discussion points as: Spice girls! A very strong start? We didn't do the "you can't be Sirius Joke!" (Although I did, but no-one laughed so I cut it. But feel free to add it back in... you'll know when). Jane Fonda, or Jodie Foster? Thomas is tired, Liz is Pregnant and Ben can't find his mass, can you find it?   If you're interested in watching Contact you can follow the Amazon link below.  Further reading links: Can you tell what the Arecibo Message is? Hubble Image of Galaxy Cluster Converted Into Sound Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

Another sexy, sexy episode this week as we are joined by the NAKED MATHEMATICIAN Dr Thomas Crawford Get ready to feel dull by comparison! Today's discussion points include: Everyone's links to Countdown; Thomas tells us about the Greeks; Can you tell the difference between Jeff Daniels and Jeff Bridges? So put your feet up, get comfortable and get naked, as we talk about this week's movie The Martian. If you're into watching The Martian, you can follow the link below. Further reading links: There is actually a website that maintains a fact file on every episode of Countdown. Why not have a look at how Ben did? Recently the rover Opportunity made the news as it lasted 5,352 sols after being planned for only 90 sols, but what did it discover? Fancy having a go at surviving through The Martian's maths problems? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

Well, this was a pain in the backside to edit. The film is so tawdry and dull that we kept getting lost on tangents. Fear not though faithful listener, Thomas has edited the two hours of guff down to a single hour of solid... bronze. Today's discussion points include:  How should you flip a mattress? Does the culture you grow up in influence how you learn maths? BUMFIT! From our mouths to your ears, enjoy!   If you want to watch x+y, you can follow the link below. Further reading links: As per usual some artistic license was taken with this true story, this website provides the fact behind the fiction; Fancy testing yourself with real IMO problems? What is the difference between IMO problems and research mathematics? Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

This week is a little different, and I've got to say perhaps one of the most interesting episodes we've ever done! We are joined by the multi-talented Dr Lyle Skains who uses her research knowledge of evolutionary biology and digital literature to show us how to really write a good movie! Highlights this week are: Liz geeking out with Lyle, will they go on holiday together? Ben misunderstanding publishing, will he ever get his cheese and wine? Thomas reliving his childhood years, when did he stop being so nihilistic If you're interested in watching CUBE you can follow the Amazon link below.  Further reading links: Wondering what digital fiction looks like? Well try What football will look like in the future? and prepare to have your horizons expanded. If you're interested in the future of literature then have a look at Lyle's recent book. It discusses such subjects as: indie publishers, hybrid authors, and fanfiction writers. Lyle's also written plenty of digital fiction. Again, this is reading, but not as we know it. If you're lazy and got be bothered to read then why not try Lyle's podcast Wonderbox publishing. If you've seen CUBE, when not try CUBE ZERO and CUBE 2: Hypercube. They are equally as bonkers! The geocities CUBE website that actually investigated the mathematics more than we did! Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

Welcome to the strangely erotic episode of Maths at, where we watch the tense, psychological thriller, Fermat's Room (or La Habitación de Fermat, for you Spanish speakers) and we ask the real questions of... WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BOAT? As per usual, the time line is all wonky. This episode does follow on from A Beautiful Mind, but was recorded a long time after, so although we talk about our lives having changed dramatically, it's only bee two weeks for you and you already know what's happened if you've listened to our Christmas episode. It's so hard living in a linear timeline. So if you want to know: what Liz's ovaries sound like; which superpower our hosts would rather have; how Ben would overhaul examination procedures, then join us in our latest episode of being distracted by pop corn makers.    If you're interested in watching Fermat's Room and want an easier time than we had in finding it, simply click the Amazon link below. Further reading links: videos of every puzzle from the film; a complete writeup of questions and answers from the film A duck popcorn maker, should you want such a thing. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

Last week we did A Beautiful Mind and now Good Will Hunting. We are really hitting all the well-known maths films at the moment aren't we? More importantly joining us this week we have the wonderful Dr James Grime Philanthropist, playboy, billionaire... he is none of this things, but he may have identified the real Will Hunting! This week we touch on such subjects as: Is University a scam? Good Will Hunting needs a prequel! Will James and Liz ever write a paper about the maths of Dirty Dancing?   If you're interested in watching Good Will Hunting you can follow the Amazon link below.  Further reading links: What is the Hadwiger-Nelson problem and who is Aubrey de Grey? We also mention the fields of Combinatorics, Graph theory and Fourier theory. Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.

Ok, so the "Maths at" timeline is a mess. The Christmas episode was recorded in November. The Christmas episode reveals secrets from later on in the series. We tried to hide these secrets in the Mean Girls episode, which was recorded around seventh, but released first. When we I say that we've had a complaint about Liz's language it from the pi day episode, not the Mean Girls episode. Is that all clear? And this is all because the recording quality of this episode is a little dodgy! Sorry about all that. Just pretend that Thomas, Ben and Liz are Time Lords. Anyway, we had to get there eventually. Probably number one of many science film lists: A Beautiful Mind. The biopic of John Nash, a prodigy behind the field of game theory. To help us discern our cooperators from our defectors we are joined by the wonderful Dr Vince Knight So, if you're wondering: which queue to join; which region in Risk to take; or simply how to win at Monpoly, then don't ask us, we're all about the theory! If you're interested in watching A Beautiful Mind you can follow the Amazon link below. Further reading links: John Nash's biography; John Nash's reference letter, thesis and other assorted ephemera; Subscribe via iTunes. Follow us on twitter @PodcastMathsAt, as well as @ThomasEWoolley and @benmparker.