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.
🎶 Why are songs easier to remember than sentences?
⚙️ Can we come up with new names (that meet strict criteria) for leader/follower motors?
🌟 And it’s a glitzy, toothy, clackety AOB
As discussed in the intro, here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter:
And here's the link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/standupmaths/moon-pi-were-going-to-calculate-on-the-moon
And head to our socials to see the Corris Railway Traverser!
For tickets to Bec Hill’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at the Museum of Comedy, London on 19/06/2025, go here: https://museumofcomedy.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873654374
For some glittery further reading, here’s that NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/style/glitter-factory.html
If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/
And you can get tickets to see Matt here:
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths
If you’re 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.
🎲What’s the best design for non-traditional dice?
📄 What should you call paperwork that doesn’t involve paper?
🙋And it’s more a comment than a question in AOB
Head to our socials to see Matt’s excellent Angry Man In Local Newspaper photos.
If you’d like to peruse and purchase more dice variations, head here:
https://mathsgear.co.uk/collections/dice
If you have any paperlesspaperwork suggestions, join in here!
https://www.reddit.com/r/AProblemSquared/
If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Matt here:
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths
And you can get tickets see Bec here:
https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/
If you’re 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.
4️⃣ What would it look like to be trapped in a 4D world?
🥰 What is the meaning of marriage?
✨Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get AOBusy
Head to our socials to see some fantastic representations of 2D meets 3D meets 4D in fiction, some magical magic, and an alphabetically perfect travel route (for 40 days in 1990).
If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Matt here:
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths
And you can get tickets see Bec here:
https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/
If you’re 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.
🍻What’s the best way to politely tell a friend that they’ve had too much to drink?
🗞️ Is there a way to prove that something existed before a certain date?
❌And AOB brings us some friendly corrections…
A useful menu of alcoholic choices…
A hash of a DING!
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If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see Matt here:
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths
And Bec’s show will be onsale soon!
If you’re 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 - including the pictures mentioned herein! - you can connect with us and other listeners on BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
🧱How many megabytes are actually in a gigabyte?
🌕There have been some Moon Developments…
😎And AOB will bring a little sunshine into your life
Here is NASA’s Press Release about navigation on the moon:
And some further reading from Matt:
https://www.gpsworld.com/lugre-receiver-captures-gnss-signals-in-lunar-orbit/
https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/icg/2024/WG-B_Lunar_PNT_Jun24/LunarPNT_Jun24_01_03.pdf
The Biggest Bike!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG4Gbrys3NL/?igsh=dTBqeG0wZGVpcXhs
Prawn News!
If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see Matt here:
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths
And Bec’s show will be onsale soon!
Make sure you look after your teeth, kids...
If you’re 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, 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
🗺️ Is there an alphabetically perfect travel route?
🪵 What can be done with karate chopped wood?
🤙 And we ride the crest of the Any Other Business wave
You can find the data-basis for the alphabetically perfect travel route here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_number_of_land_borders
Here are some of Bec’s aesthetically pleasing solutions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JubeLHRYl80
https://www.myveryeducatedmother.com/2015/12/turn-broken-karate-boards-into-coat-rack.html
https://www.ellemariehome.com/upcycle-karate-break-boards-into-wood-signs/#google_vignette
And you can find Brendan’s magical web app here:
https://bren.app/podcasteveryday/
If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see Matt here:
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths
And Bec’s show will be onsale soon!
If you’re 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, 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
📆 When is the next Prime Number Day?
🤣 What is the oldest joke?
🪨 And we get to the rock bottom of Any Other Business
You can find Matt’s Divisibility Rules video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pLz8wEQYkA
You can read more about the world’s oldest joke here:
https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2022/08/05/sumerian-joke-one
And you can get your Philogelols right here:
If you’re 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, 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
📃 Is a sheet of A-45 paper big enough to wrap the earth?
✏️ Why do we still call pencil graphite lead?
👔 There’s business to attend to.
You can find Matt and Hannah’s protractor up the shard video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcdqlo3pYc&ab_channel=Stand-upMaths
Here’s Matt’s Truncatable Prime Pencil: https://mathsgear.co.uk/products/truncatable-prime-pencil?srsltid=AfmBOorhZ6qk_IAhKnCjtjoVM3wM-GXMTaFporL13aTjdOokjGG_hkxY
And the oldest known pencil in the world: https://www.penciltalk.org/2021/02/worlds-oldest-pencil
If you want to know more about that 1889 World Fair and that luxury yellow pencil you can do that here: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-little-known-reason-pencils-yellow
Here is the link to David’s MIT Maze turned Sudoku, Go check it out, it’s very cool: https://sudokupad.app/arbp91du01
If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!
If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do 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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
🤫 Which synonyms are Caesar ciphers of each other?
🎨 Bec and Matt attempt to help a listener decorate their home.
💼 The tax business briefcase is wide open.
⚔️ And battleships heats up.
It’s time to go see ‘Bec Hill: Guess Who's Bec, Bec Again?’ at The Adelaide Fringe! https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bec-hill-guess-who-s-bec-bec-again-bec-hill-s-bec-tell-a-friend-af2025
You can see Matt Live! https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/
Here are just some of the sources that inspired Bec’s answer to Paul’s problem:
And The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things: http://www.worldslargestthings.com/mobilemuseum.htm
If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post!
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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
✅ What’s the best way to leave your mark?
🗓️ Can Saturday Night Live be on Every Day?
📍 And there are some big locations in AOB
Top Marks: https://neatnik.net/steganographr/#results
SNL Spreadsheet: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i9leqlafx0orjfp6l8a6t/weekend_whatdate.xlsx?rlkey=vetpi2qg9etbb35jq0zculjt1&e=1&st=q5vl7052&dl=0
Big Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8kf2XcYPXWnqGqn88
See Matt Live! https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/
See Bec Live! https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bec-hill-guess-who-s-bec-bec-again-bec-hill-s-bec-tell-a-friend-af2025
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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.
🔺 What are the most “interesting” years?
🍌 Bec goes big on Big Things
🎉 When Party Tricks Go Wrong
🔢 And there's some numerical AOB
Here’s Max-matics’ video that Matt mentioned - Turning a 2024 Ball Pyramid in to a 2025 Ball Square for NYE 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXUlKCIgV8U
Some further reading on the 2025 maths https://aperiodical.com/2025/01/numerical-coincidences-for-2025/
It’s a banger - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJS3xnD7Mus
Some further reading on BIG THINGS -
https://www.spottobooks.com.au/shop/p/bigthings
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/figure/10.1080/14443058.2022.2144928
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 BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.