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Infinite Series
Are Prime Numbers Made Up?
Season 1
Episode 2
Is math real or simply something made up by mathematicians? You can’t physically touch a number yet using numbers we’re able to build skyscrapers and launch rockets into space. Mathematician Kelsey Houston-Edwards explains this perplexing dilemma and discusses the different viewpoints that philosophers and mathematicians have regarding the realism of mathematics.
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Season

11:46
Peano arithmetic proves many theories in mathematics but does have its limits.

13:29
How do you defeat a creature that grows two heads for every one head you chop off?

10:22
Mathematician Kelsey Houston-Edwards explains exactly what singularities are.

13:20
In this episode probability mathematics and chess collide.

11:31
You’ve always been told that pi is 3.14. This is true, but this number is based on...

10:35
Mathematician Mark Kac asked the question “Can we hear the shape of a drum?”

8:45
You’re about to throw a party with a thousand bottles of wine but...

8:04
There are different sizes of infinity. It turns out that some are larger than others.

8:35
Do two people on the planet have the exact same number of body hairs?

7:51
How do you stack hundred-dimensional oranges?