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.
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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=0zn1pGRgEooIf 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.
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.
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.
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!
139 = Music Down Where It’s Wetter and Throwing Darts Better
🎺 What would standard instruments sound like if they were played under water?🎯 What would be the average score of one randomly thrown dart?📂 And there’s some Any Other Business.AOB.zipOn THIS episode of A Problem Squared we’re joined by a special guest! The musical (and regularly quite wet) musical maestro Steve Pretty tells us all about playing music underwater - illustrated with some very bubbly examples. You can hear more from Steve on his podcast Origin Of The Pieces: https://www.originofthepieces.com/ and hear more from Steve playing shells here: https://www.shellectronica.com/ This is the episode of Steve Pretty’s Origin of the Pieces with Richard Sabin, whale expert and lead curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum, who shares sonic insights from the deep. https://www.originofthepieces.com/episodes/episode-31-earwax-echoes-and-entropyTo find out more about Aquasonic, the ethereal underwater quintet, head here: https://www.betweenmusic.dk/aquasonic Here is the full Hermeto Pascoal video in all its glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZbfNtDCHdM And here’s the video of a hydraulophone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgU0OZkGhGI World Darts Federation Playing and Tournament Rules for all the specifications used in Matt’s working out: https://dartswdf.com/storage/uploads/fb05b306-c92c-4f08-b512-affb092a1b3d/2018-02-28_WDF_Playing_and_Tournament_Rules_rev20.pdf The fabulously detailed Data Genetics blog post on where to aim on a dart board to maximise point-scoring - A Geek Plays Darts: http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/january12012/index.html Here’s more about the (excellent) book that Bec shouted out: Gemma Correll - Anxietyland https://www.gemmacorrell.com/ If you’d like to see Bec’s Work In Progress shows, her upcoming gigs can be found here: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigsMatt 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.
138 = Crossword Panels and Crossing Channels
📝 What is the perfect arrangement of black squares in a crossword?🚣 Does weight on an aqueduct increase as a boat goes over it?🛟 And there’s some Any Other Boardness (not ‘boredness’)Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see some crossword arrangements and some cross-bridge arrangements.Michael Keith’s Crossword research paper: http://www.gathering4gardner.org/g4g16gift/KeithMichael-GiftExchange-CrosswordGrids-G4G16.pdf Michael Keith’s Pilish book, Not A Wake: https://www.cadaeic.net/notawake.htm If you’d like to see Bec’s Work In Progress shows, her upcoming gigs can be found here: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigsMatt is bringing An Evening of Unnecessary Detail to New York! The Bell House, Brooklyn on Sunday 12th July. Tickets can be found here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/300064B84CCCF567And 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.
137 = Sound Advice and Electron Price
👂Why do some people hate the sound of whispering?💡 How much does an electron cost?😎 And there’s some Any Other BozonessOn THIS episode of A Problem Squared - which comes with our special No Whisper Guarantee - we’re joined by a special guest! The clinical psychologist Dr Jane Gregory tells us all about Misophonia. You can find out about her fantastic (and very helpful) book Sounds Like Misophonia, and you can sign up to her research mailing list here: https://soundslikemisophonia.com/ And here is Ava’s EPIC Spreadsheet - A Problem Squared Episode Catalogue: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nXmEH9BrCr6hEBBhHkfuciPEKimDgZjrwhi2oeyErog/edit?usp=sharingIf you’d like to see Bec’s Work In Progress shows, her upcoming gigs can be found here: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigsMatt is bringing An Evening of Unnecessary Detail to New York! The Bell House, Brooklyn on Sunday 12th July. Tickets can be found here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/300064B84CCCF567And 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.
136 = How to Discuss The Number e and When to Disclose the "Real Me"
#️⃣ What’s the best way to explain the number e to an 8-year-old?💗 How early in a relationship should you reveal that you’re a bit weird?🤧 And there’s some any other blow-your-nose-nessHead to our socials to see The Beautiful Old Calculator and The World’s Tallest Comedian.Matt is bringing An Evening of Unnecessary Detail to New York! The Bell House, Brooklyn on Sunday 12th July. Tickets can be found here: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/300064B84CCCF567Matt 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.
135 = Pasta Water Solution and QR Code Substitution
🍝 Why do we put salt in pasta water?👾 Can you put bespoke characters in to a QR Code?🌼And Spring Has Sprung (in the UK) so there’s some Any Other BloomsnessHead to our socials to see some frankly-very-silly-but-fully-operational QR Codes.Boiling and Freezing Points of Pure and Salty Water https://van.physics.illinois.edu/ask/listing/1457Matt has extended his tour - and 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.
134 = Tooth and Rock Day 2026
🤘To mark the May Birthday of Dwayne 'The' 'Tooth Fairy' 'Rock' Johnson, Episode 134 is a Tooth and Rock Special!🪨 Matt answers your rock-based queries and shares a Salt of the Perth update🦷 Bec and Dentist Sophie answer your tooth-based queries and shares an Adult Tooth Fairy updateHead to our socials to look at some incredibly detailed Salt of the Perth imagery.And relatedly…Lead Explained:https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Factsheets-and-Leaflets/Factsheets/100620SWFactSheet72020v5web.pdfThallium in Salt Substitutes: A Possible Health Hazard:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0013935177900433And here’s Matt’s Moving Mountains sources:https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumptionhttps://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/eosc350/content/foundations/properties/density.htmMatt has extended his tour - and 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.
133 = Oeuf-Bran Geometry and Huffman Decoder Tree
🥣 What percentage of a box of Weet-Bix is wheat again?🥚 What shape is an egg? 💬 What’s the most efficient way to write your name on a Pop-it Fidget Toy?👎 And would you like some AOB? We won’t take no for an answerHead to our socials to see all the Weet-Bix Pix, lots of names efficiently spelt out on a Pop-It Fidget Toy, lots of Girl Scout cookies, and a sheep being sheared by a robot…The Sheep’s Back Museum, Naracoortehttps://thesheepsbackmuseum.org.au/Creation: Between Art and Mathematics Exhibition in Paris: https://www.ihp.fr/en/news-science-and-society/creation-between-art-and-mathematicsLaura Taalman’s Granny Life Crochet:https://www.grannylifecrochet.com/ Get your own Egg-Shaped Spinning Top:https://mathsgear.co.uk/products/phitop Eve’s beautiful cross-stitch:https://www.instagram.com/p/DWY-_qzivz6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3DMatt has extended his tour - and filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here:http://standupmaths.com/shows And there is a Kickstarter to fund production of the filmed show, which you can get involved with here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/standupmaths/getting-triggy-with-itJoin 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.
132 = Insistuvree and Bix of Weet
🔠 Are there any English words containing four letters in alphabetical order?🥣 What percentage of a box of weet-bix is wheat?🎪 And there is some any other bah-bah-bahbahbahbah-buh-buh-businessHead to our socials to see Bec’s post-show photos and videos from her Adelaide run including Morgan and his mum’s tooth, Scott and his maths shirt and Karn and his incredible APS Flipchart. You’ll also find Matt’s list of all the 4-letters-alphabetised words and one of the many bridges.Matt has extended his tour - and 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.
131 = Microwave Conventions and Pythagoral Dimensions
👋 When microwaving food, should you place it in the centre, or off to the side?📐 Does the longest diagonal in a 1m sided cube in 4D square equal root 4? 🐨 And there’s some Bonus Other Business.Head to our socials to see Bec’s Photographic Exhibition of Australian Wildlife, Cubie the Moon Rover, Bec’s Poppadom Experiment, Matt’s Pythagorean Whiteboard Action, and the first glimpse of the most confusing game of Connect 4 ever to be played. A surprisingly visual audio podcast… so it’s all happening over on BlueSky / Twitter / InstagramJoin 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.
130 = Sly Skittles Claim and Why Sniffles Name?
🌈 Is it true that "No Two Packs Of Skittles Are The Same?”🤧 Why a cold called cold?🤫 And there’s some ASMROBHead to our socials to see Matt’s Mission Patches, Matt’s Calculator, and the Skittles Combinatorics!The Liberation Laser Software by Seb Lee-Delislehttps://liberationlaser.com/ The Skittle Maths by Clare Wallacehttps://www.clarewallace.co.uk/skittlesAnd some Norfolk Punch, if you’re so inclinedhttps://www.norfolkpunch.com/ If you’d like to see Matt on tour, 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.
129 = People off Ground and Pound for Pound
🛫 How many people are flying in the air at any given moment?⚖️ What weighs a pound and costs a pound?🏈 And there’s some Any Other (Foot)BallnessHead to our socials to see Bec’s glasses 🤓Pat Patriot 🇺🇲and our Pound for Pound items!Here is a link to the book Flying With Confidence (which helped Producer Laura with her fear of flying and also helped her answer the problem correctly!)https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/415543/flying-with-confidence-by-patricia-furness-smith-and-captain-steve-allright/9780091947859They Did The Math, They Did The Monster Math on Reddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/ https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemonstermath/Flight Radar 24: https://www.flightradar24.com/If you’d like to see Bec at the Adelaide Fringe, you can get tickets here: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bec-hill-creates-the-perfect-show-work-in-progress-af2026 And if you’d like to see Matt on tour, 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.