logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2024
58m 44s

134. Why Do We Still Teach People to Cal...

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
About this episode
Conrad Wolfram wants to transform the way we teach math — by taking advantage of computers. The creator of Computer-Based Maths convinced the Estonian government to give his radical curriculum a try — so why is the rest of the world so resistant? 
Up next
Jan 31
5. Susan Wojcicki: “Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!”
She was the sixteenth employee at Google — a company once based in her garage — and now she's the C.E.O. of its best-known subsidiary, YouTube. But despite being one of the most powerful people in the tech industry, few outside of Silicon Valley know the name Susan Wojcicki. Levi ... Show More
30m 43s
Jan 24
4. Ken Jennings: “Don’t Neglect the Thing That Makes You Weird”
It was only in his late twenties that America’s favorite brainiac began to seriously embrace his love of trivia. Now he holds the “Greatest of All Time” title on Jeopardy! Steve Levitt digs into how he trained for the show, what it means to have a "geographic memory," and why we ... Show More
42m 18s
Jan 17
3. Kerwin Charles: “One Does Not Know Where an Insight Will Come From”
The dean of Yale’s School of Management grew up in a small village in Guyana. During his unlikely journey, he has researched video-gaming habits, communicable disease, and why so many African-Americans haven’t had the kind of success he’s had. Steve Levitt talks to Charles about ... Show More
39m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2024
60. For the love of maths
As a child, Kate Ertmann starred in commercials, in soap operas and on Broadway. But acting wasn’t her first love - mathematics was. She considered it to be “a balm" for her brain. And yet societal and teenage pressures made her turn away from maths.Growing up in Sweden, Sebastia ... Show More
29m 5s
Dec 2023
Ep402 - Eugenia Cheng | Is Math Real?
tail spinning
57m 42s
Feb 2017
1: Forbidden Formulas (Elitism in Math)
From Pythagoras to Einstein, from the banks of the Nile to the streamlined curves of the Large Hadron Collider, math has shown itself again and again to be fundamental to the way that humans interact with the world. Then why is math such a pain for so many people? Our answer is s ... Show More
59m 26s
Sep 2024
209. Why Do We Settle?
tail spinning
35m 2s
May 2024
Why am I bad at maths?
When CrowdScience listener Israel from Papua New Guinea received a bad grade on a maths test in third grade, he looked around the class and realised that almost all the other students had received a better result. Since then, he has always wondered: why are some people better at ... Show More
30m 34s
Oct 2023
A Mathematician Asks ‘Is Math Real?’
<p>When math is based on abstract concepts, how do we know it’s correct? Dr. Eugenia Cheng takes on that question in a new book.</p><p> </p><p>The concept of math has been around for a long time, developing independently in many different cultures. In 1650 BC, the Egyptians were ... Show More
33m 8s
Jan 2025
619. How to Poison the A.I. Machine
<p>When the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. models, he invented a tool to thwart the machines. He also knows how to foil an eavesdropping Alexa and how to guard your online footprint. The big news, he says, is that the A.I. b ... Show More
52m 5s
Jun 2023
ChatGPT
What the hell is ChatGPT, and why are these pasty nerds telling us it's going to save the world? Hannah and Maia bring you a special, pre-season episode with a discussion of this new AI technology and what it means for the future of our world. The democratization of this smooth-t ... Show More
46m 40s
Aug 2024
208. Can A.I. Companions Replace Human Connection?
tail spinning
35m 31s
Sep 2024
The Hidden Secrets of Math: Invented or Discovered? (Part 2)
Where does math come from? Mathematicians are still debating whether math is an inherent part of nature or an invention of the human mind. Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne will guide you through the question of what math really is in this three-part Friday miniseries. ... Show More
13m 28s