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Math-Life Balance: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Mura Yakerson
The official podcast version of Mura Yakerson's YouTube channel Math-Life Balance. What Mura has to say about the content: "In this [podcast] I post my non-professional interviews with professional mathematicians. I ask my colleagues about their personal experience in math, their struggles and lifehacks. I hope that this shared experience would be helpful for other people in the math community, especially for young mathematicians!"
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Feb 23, 20261h 1m
Let's talk about "Women in math"! with Olga Paris-Romaskevich
This episode is about women in math, from the perspective of sociology! Many thanks to Olga Paris-Romaskevich for the conversation. Olga's webpage: https://olga.pa-ro.net/The book "Matheuses": https://www.insmi.cnrs.fr/fr/matheusesHere is a link for Olga's talk on gender and mathematics: https://amubox.univ-amu.fr/s/SBRqbTLHSG5PFMFHere is a list of references Olga used when spoke about social psychology:1) Definition of social stereotype : (Leyens, Yzerbut, Schadron, 1994), slide 72) Stereotype threat result : Spencer, Steele, & Quinn (1999). Stereotype Threat and Women’s Math Performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35Social psychology : stereotype threat, slides 9 and 10 3) Aronson, J., Lustina, M. J., Good, C., Keough, K., Steele, C. M., & Brown, J. (1999). When White men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35(1), 29–46.4) pp.12-13 : John VS Jennifer study Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman (2012). PNAS, 109, 16474-164795) Begeny, C. T., Ryan, M. K., Moss-Racusin, C. A., & Ravetz, G. (2020). In some professions, women have become well represented, yet gender bias persists- Perpetuated by those who think it is not happening. Science advances, 6(26), eaba7810:00 teaser1:03 Olya's book about "math girls"5:38 why there are so few women in math9:01 brilliance as social construct14:11 russian tease of women in math18:05 math in the sociology book22:35 why to make women only math events 30:33 and why we definitely need them34:19 how to make a good outreach event38:33 cool gender equity initiatives41:12 Mura's experience in math as a girl46:55 female role models in math51:18 homage to Sophia Kovalevskaya53:34 fun facts everyone should know!58:56 moral support for women in math
- Feb 16, 202645 min
Interview with Richard Schwartz
Richard is a math professor at Brown University as well as an author of very funny books about math for kids! Enjoy learning about Richard and his adventures in the world of math and art :)Richard's webpage: https://www.math.brown.edu/reschwar/Chapters:0:00 teaser0:33 why math books for kids5:22 crazy cool visualizations vs obsessions8:50 most of math is failure13:23 accessibility vs precision in papers17:55 what about abstract more math23:25 being Thurston's student29:32 advice for those who feel not good enough at math32:42 how Richard almost quit math34:41 story from Mura about Berkeley woods35:45 Richard's famous April 1st prank43:16 and other pranks44:43 and the mask! oh my god the mask
- Feb 9, 20261h 14m
Interview with Jordan Ellenberg
Jordan is a mathematician as well as an author of popular books about mathematics, with great sense of humour. And this interview goes as wild as the picture of the interviewee on his webpage! Jordan's webpage: https://people.math.wisc.edu/~ellenberg/Chapters:0:00 intro0:28 a year of writing fiction4:12 what's hard about writing11:31 finding math everywhere15:19 cool thoughts on writing 22:58 teaching writing to math folks24:55 pain & joy of bad writing 29:15 Jordan's workshop where we met34:30 how to know when the article is ready38:34 how to make interviews?45:51 Mura complaining about interviewees :)51:26 how people really feel about math54:55 how to survive the lack of feedback1:03:32 bringing standup tricks into writing1:09:08 sentimental approach to finishing books1:12:00 Jordan's book recommendation for us
- Feb 2, 20261h 10m
Interview with Steven Strogatz
Steven Strogatz, who works at Cornell University, is a well-known math popularizer and the first applied mathematician on Mura's channel. Enjoy their chat about unexpected applications of math, befogged communication amongst mathematicians and what not :)Steven's homepage: https://www.stevenstrogatz.com/Chapters:0:00 teaser0:37 when catholic priests become useful6:35 math, philosophy & couples therapy13:23 Steven's studies on sleep21:27 Steven's insecurities in math24:21 what's wrong with math talks34:13 no carrot, no stick...38:24 opinion on strong opinions41:34 advice about giving up49:24 different approaches to graduate advising52:27 chat about Mura's advisor57:11 Steven Strogatz Prize for Math Communication1:01:40 how to write friendly math outreach
- Jan 26, 202649 min
Interview with Dennis Gaitsgory
Enjoy the interview with Dennis Gaitsgory, who thinks about questions deeply yet answers lightly! Jokes included :)Dennis webpage: https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/0:00 teaser0:30 attending a class by Witten5:15 math vs physics: difference?9:20 doing math: happiness and frustration13:10 what changes with age17:10 non-math problems: oh no! ;)23:23 advice for getting back into math26:45 how to prove Langlands correspondence...31:49 when math doesn't work33:25 raising kids: thoughts36:00 book recommendation from Dennis37:38 stories about India40:36 beautiful non-math hobby42:40 hot take on grant system45:06 guess Dennis' favourite animal!47:12 advice to young mathematicians
- Jan 23, 202649 min
Dennis Gaitsgory and Mura interview David Kazhdan
David Kazhdan:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kazhdanhttp://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~kazhdan/Dennis Gaitsgory:https://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/gaitsgde/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_GaitsgoryQuanta article: https://www.quantamagazine.org/monumental-proof-settles-geometric-langlands-conjecture-20240719/Israel Gelfand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_GelfandGeorge Luszting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_LusztigVladimir Voevodsky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Voevodsky0:00 intro0:25 why math5:35 student of Gelfand11:04 Langlands program & motives & physics14:35 math heroes16:37 main interest in math21:01 how about math puzzles24:34 approaches to hard problems27:30 negative emotions? introspection?31:41 collaboration with Lusztig36:20 thoughts on Voevodsky41:02 impressions from conferences45:23 Harvard in the good old days48:25 family connections
- Oct 27, 202547 min
Interview with Simon Singh
Simon Singh is, according to himself, "an author, journalist and TV producer, specialising in science and mathematics, the only two subjects I have the faintest clue about". In this interview we chat about various projects of Simon, from theatre festivals to math education in schools, and argue about math outreach. Have fun listening!Simon's webpage: simonsingh.netParallel project: parallel.org.ukMath-Life Balance on YouTube: youtube.com/@math-life-balanceChapters:0:00 teaser0:41 math & magic at Fringe9:15 cool math for teenagers16:16 why kids really need it18:52 confidence for various projects20:41 Shakespeare in math class?28:51 what could go wrong30:48 outreach and effectivity34:56 Simon gets annoyed :)37:03 too much outreach?39:50 math in Simpsons and writing44:38 sweet book selling story46:45 how I learned about Simon
- Oct 10, 20251h 4m
Interview with @3blue1brown
Grant Sanderson is the creator of the coolest math youtube channel, "3blue1brown". In this interview, Grant and Mura chat about a bunch of different topics, such as feelings towards abstract math, and even hear Grant read a piece from his poem. Enjoy Grant's beautiful thoughts and exquisite English!Grant's channel: youtube.com/ 3blue1brownGrant's homepage: 3blue1brown.com/aboutGrant's poetry: 3blue1brown.com/blog/poemsThe Math-life balance YouTube channel: youtube.com/@math-life-balanceChapters:0:00 teaser0:45 introducing Grant and his job2:52 struggles of having a popular YouTube channel6:03 sociology of math outreach10:36 why people love 3blue1brown13:22 how to popularize abstract math17:40 making algebraic K-theory popular21:17 how to measure success27:16 did god hand you the definition of a topological space?32:27 who writes wiki pages and and why36:13 which feelings cause abstraction44:39 what if you don't understand math46:49 unpacking genius51:48 how Grant deals with the frustration of not understanding math55:16 Grant's poetry1:01:47 Grant's question to mathematicians1:03:38 advice from Grant
About Math-Life Balance
The official podcast version of Mura Yakerson's YouTube channel Math-Life Balance. What Mura has to say about the content: "In this [podcast] I post my non-professional interviews with professional mathematicians. I ask my colleagues about their personal experience in math, their struggles and lifehacks. I hope that this shared experience would be helpful for other people in the math community, especially for young mathematicians!"
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