Místo problémů

With Charles Kenney, a graduate student in combinatorics, we explore: - what do intense hatred and food allergies have in common - why to be more like a fox than a hedgehog - how to think about biases - the linguistic Rorschach test   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB stránka: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps:   (0:00) introduction (1:41) equalities and inequalities (5:17) the nature of combinatorics (18:11) the Bayes rule (25:56) handling uncertainty and biases (31:43) collaboration and author order (36:37) academia vs. industry (45:00) opportunity cost and habits (51:38) problem solving strategies   Links:   - foxes and hedgehogs: https://www.historyaccess.com/new/isaiah-berlins-hedgehogs-and-foxes/ - Erdős vs Grothendieck: https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2007/04/the_two_cultures_of_mathematic.html

Humnza Jamadar is a curious mechanical engineer. He offers insights into: - how to choose and lead an engineering team - what are the advantages of calm observation - how to learn through race car design - why water purification matters   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB stránka: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (1:07) curiosity and observation (11:22) engineering and project management (17:37) team leadership (24:56) water purification project (33:26) sustainability as a buzzword (38:14) entrepreneurship as an enabler   Links: - Humnza's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/humnzaj

Paul Ellis shares his decade's worth of experience with facilitating math circles. We will delve into: - where do math, zen, teaching, acting and parenting meet - what is the right age for problem-solving - why to do activities for their own sake - how to battle the sunk cost fallacy with free classes   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB stránka: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (0:46) building a math circle (07:01) teaching styles and community (25:20) breaking preconceptions (41:45) zen, ego, and presence (59:43) intrinsic motivation and side benefits   Links: - Westchester Area Math Circle: https://sites.google.com/site/westchestercountymathcircle - Paulus Gerdes: https://www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/vismath/gerdokt/index.html - Mathematics for human flourishing: https://www.francissu.com/flourishing - Five Fabulous Activities for Your Math Circle: https://naturalmath.com/five-fabulous-activities/ - Mathematician's apology: https://archive.org/details/hardy_annotated/page/24/mode/2up - Art of Problem Solving: https://artofproblemsolving.com/ - Nicomachean ethics: https://archive.org/download/AristotlesNicomacheanEthics/Aristotles%20-%20Nicomachean%20Ethics.pdf - What the best college teachers do: https://books.google.cz/books/about/What_the_Best_College_Teachers_Do.html?id=YwPCxQpxKbIC&redir_esc=y - Sonobe modules: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonobe - Paul's website: https://www.paulellis.org/ - Paul's mail: [email protected]

With board gaming veterans Doug and Keith, we explore: - the skills that gaming can teach us - high-level game designs and principles - the social aspect of gaming - our favorite gaming experiences   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB stránka: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (3:41) learning through games (08:38) breaking games down (24:26) cooperative games and replayability (34:45) gaming mechanisms and their evolution (41:16) the social aspect, luck and interaction (52:52) education and the value of games (1:12:40) gamification, parenting and problem solving   Links: - Board Game Geek: https://boardgamegeek.com/ - Board Game Arena: https://en.boardgamearena.com/ - Barrage: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251247/barrage - Brass: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224517/brass-birmingham - Carnegie: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/310873/carnegie - Castles of Burgundy: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271320/the-castles-of-burgundy - Champions of Midgard: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172287/champions-of-midgard - Codenames: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames - The Crew: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/284083/the-crew-the-quest-for-planet-nine - Gloomhaven: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174430/gloomhaven - Grand Austria Hotel: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182874/grand-austria-hotel - Hanabi: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/98778/hanabi - Inis: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155821/inis - Keyflower: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122515/keyflower - Lisboa: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161533/lisboa - Magic the Gathering: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/463/magic-the-gathering - Marco Polo II: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283948/marco-polo-ii-in-the-service-of-the-khan - Nucleum: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/396790/nucleum - Obsession: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231733/obsession - Old West Empresario: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/261342/old-west-empresario - Pandemic Legacy Season 1: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy-season-1 - Puerto Rico: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/108687/puerto-rico - Risk: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181/risk - Lost Ruins of Arnak: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/312484/lost-ruins-of-arnak - Trajan: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102680/trajan - Trickerion: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163068/trickerion-legends-of-illusion - Twilight Imperium: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233078/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition

Brian is a logician pilot with linguistic insights. We will delve into: - why to keep logicians alive - what to put on aviation checklists - where humor influences education - how to ignore people better thanks to linguistics   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (2:56) Russell's Paradox and the Hilbert program (12:28) the importance of logic (17:21) engineering versus logic (30:08) the philosophy of safe flying (42:15) skillsets for different planes (55:40) parallels between flying and other fields (1:05:55) aviation checklists (1:18:00) humor and education (1:26:11) everyday linguistic applications (1:32:51) unusual hobbies   Links: - Russel's paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox - Gödel's incompleteness theorems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems - the collision that ended well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_Brocklesby_mid-air_collision - Checklist manifesto: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6667514-the-checklist-manifesto - Czech phonology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_phonology - trucker's hitch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trucker's_hitch

Dustin Young is the president of the Rutgers chess club with an interest in historiography. We will explore: - what was Newton's take on religion - why study the interface of history, science, politics, and philosophy - where does chess come from and how it evolved - how to impress friends with a Taylor series party trick   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (0:56) historiography, Newton, and religion (17:31) natural philosophers and seperation of sciences (22:35) sources, bias, and motivation (36:03) cultures and approaches to chess (44:35) origin and developments of chess (57:15) no true objectivity   Links: - Newton project: https://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/ - council of Nicaea: https://www.britannica.com/event/First-Council-of-Nicaea-325 - De Morgan's laws: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/de-morgans-law/ - bongcloud: https://chess.fandom.com/wiki/Bongcloud - Taylor series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series - chaturanga: https://www.chess.com/terms/chaturanga-game - xiangqi: https://www.xiangqi.com/history

Alex Kontorovich is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University with lots of experience in teaching and outreach. In our talk, we will touch on diverse topics, including: - why care about math (and its history) - what can outsiders bring to the table - how useful it is to be the dumbest in the room - where music meets math and where it doesn't   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (00:46) problems, proofs, and thinking styles (13:16) outreach, motivation, and explaining concepts (28:06) interdisciplinarity and outsiders (33:30) people teaching computers and vice versa (39:52) stamina, humility, music, and gratitude   Links: - MoMath: https://momath.org/ - Natural Number Game: https://adam.math.hhu.de/#/g/leanprover-community/nng4 - Lean in the browser: https://live.lean-lang.org/ - Prime Number Theorem project: https://github.com/AlexKontorovich/PrimeNumberTheoremAnd - other Lean projects: https://leanprover-community.github.io/lean_projects.html - polymath projects: https://polymathprojects.org/ - Alex's website: https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~alexk/

In this condensed episode, Julián Hernández-Serrano employs his diverse backgrounds and personal experience to share with us: - how can good narratives help us solve problems - what can hurricanes teach us - why should we be careful when coding - when to ground ourselves in the center   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (2:28) capitalizing on different backgrounds (7:57) Puerto Rican environment and survivalist mindset (13:32) using storytelling for problem solving (22:30) a favorite story (26:42) systematizing experiments on narratives (33:55) the impact of the internet (36:44) the importance of staying in the center   Links: - Roger Schank: https://www.rogerschank.com/What-We-Learn-When-We-Learn-by-Doing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Ah3Om-sFY - Stories in problem solving: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226534846_Case-based_reasoning_and_instructional_design_Using_stories_to_support_problem_solving, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227714410_The_effects_of_case_libraries_on_problem_solving - Julián's mail: [email protected]

André Hernández-Espiet formalizes Euclid's Elements in the proof assistant Lean. He will offer some thoughts on: - what principles are essential when coding up geometry in a rigorous way - why is graduate school a scam - which skills and approaches are useful both in academia and the industry - how can early access to education influence your life   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (0:00) introduction (3:49) Lean and getting into it (7:20) axiomatic systems and different geometries (19:33) practical aspects and benefits of using Lean (34:56) Lean communities and communication across fields (47:23) decoupling of math from its applications (55:38) thoughts on grad school and transitioning to the industry (1:05:51) networking and nepotism (1:17:46) impact of math on personal life (1:29:18) growing up in Puerto Rico   Links: - André's formalization of the first book of Euclid's Elements: https://github.com/ah1112/synthetic_euclid_4 - Lean blog post series: https://www.vladasedlacek.cz/en/posts/lean-01-intro - Spherical triangles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_trigonometry - The Erdős Institute: https://www.erdosinstitute.org/ - Blog of Alice Silverberg: https://numberlandadventures.blogspot.com/ - 3Blue1Brown: https://www.3blue1brown.com/ - Numberphile: https://www.numberphile.com/ - Project Euler: https://projecteuler.net/ - Cryptohack: https://cryptohack.org/ - Better explained: https://betterexplained.com/ - Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/ - Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

With mathematical physicist Ian Jauslin, we explore both scientific and personal topics, including: - whether our universe could be nonlocal - why not to put people and concepts into boxes - what can math look like when approached organically - how to constantly keep learning   Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/   Timestamps: (00:00) introduction (02:46) bosons and superfluidity (05:46) crystallization (17:30) math/physics interplay (20:48) Bell's inequality (34:12) consequences of nonlocality (39:04) quantum cryptography (45:12) putting people and concepts in boxes (52:52) Bourbaki vs. organic education (1:01:28) applicability and approach to research (1:06:53) outreach (1:16:30) curiosity (1:21:25) efficiency, vim, and keyboard layouts (1:30:07) failures in research, time management (1:37:24) easy life and definition of success (1:41:40) problem-solving strategies (1:45:52) a final plea   Links: - Ian's webpage: http://ian.jauslin.org/ - YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5OD3zd3Ds0Syf6s6cYemIw - Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paper: https://iep.utm.edu/wp-content/media/epr-pdf.pdf - Nicolas Bourbaki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bourbaki - Bell's inequality: http://scholarpedia.org/article/Bell%27s_theorem - vim: https://www.vim.org/ - Committee of Concerned Scientists: https://concernedscientists.org/