Podcast · Tech & Science

Relatively Prime: Stories from the Mathematical Domain

by ACMEScience · English · Tech & Science

A mathematics podcast from ACMEScience featuring the best math stories from the world of maths

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 27 min
Latest: 25 Mar 2025
Language: English

Latest episode

25 Mar 2025 · 1 hr 7 min

Relatively Prime Seminar: Funding

We are back with a new series in Relatively Prime that we are going to be calling Seminars! The seminars are going to be going out into the Relatively Prime feed off and on and they will be tackling the big questions about mathematics. In other words the seminars will be more of a meta conversation about what goes on in mathematics and our first conversation is going to be about funding in mathematics. If you have a question that you want to hear a seminar about please just email [email protected] Joining our host Sam Hansen to discuss funding in mathematics we have Carrie Diaz Eaton (…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S3 · E45 · 30 Oct 2024 · 58 min
Carry the Two: Mathematics & Voting
Sorry for the unannounced hiatus that has now lasted for four years, but our host and producer Sam Hansen has had a lot of life events and changes that led them to not be able to devote the time they needed to making the show. We are planning on coming back very soon, but until then please enjoy this episode about the Mathematics of Voting from the podcast Carry the Two made by the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation where Sam is the new Director of Communications and Engagement. Download Episode ACMEScience · RelPrimeCt2 Mix ——————– IMSI is very proud to announce that…
S3 · E44 · 9 Nov 2020 · 35 min
#BlackInMathWeek
On this episode of Relatively Prime, Michole Enjoli and Noelle Sawyer take over for Black in Math Week. They talk to Brea Ratliff and José Vilson, two Black math educators, and discuss what it’s like to be Black in math, what they would say to people making common false statements about Black students in math, and better hopes and dreams for Black students. Black in Math week is November 8th – 13th, 2020! It’s a week on Twitter to celebrate community among and uplift Black mathematicians. Check us out @BlackInMath for updates! Brea is currently pursuing a PhD at Auburn University in Math…
S3 · E43 · 1 Nov 2020 · 37 min
Black Girl Mathgic
On this episode of Relatively Prime Samuel is joined by Brittany Rhodes the creator of the amazing monthly mathematics subscription box Black Girl Mathgic. They discuss where the idea of the box came from, what comes in the boxes each month, and why everyone benefits when young Black women are centered in mathematics. If you want to help Brittany and Black Girl Mathgic reach more people you can help out by donating a box. Music: Broke For Free (Night Owl) (Only Instrumental)
S3 · E42 · 31 Mar 2020 · 27 min
The Somervilles
On this episode of Relatively Prime Samuel is joined by Brigitte Stenhouse of the Open University to talk about the life and times of Mary, and William, Somerville. Music: Lowercase n
S3 · E41 · 29 Feb 2020 · 10 min
3 Scenes from the Life of Benjamin Banneker
On this month's Relatively Prime Samuel shares three scenes from the life of Benjamin Banneker. One about a clock, one about a solar eclipse projectsion, and one about a puzzle. You can learn more about the life of Benjamin Banneker by checking out the book The Life of Benjamin Banneker by Silvio Bendini which was essential in the production of this episode and it is available to borrow for free on the Internet Archive or if you prefer a physical copy your library may have it on hand and if they do not the amazing system that is Interlibrary Loan should be able to provide for you.
S3 · E40 · 15 Feb 2020 · 44 min
Truthiness
In this live episode recorded at the 2020 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Denver Samuel Hansen talks about the truth behind the stories we all tell in mathematics. In order to do this they will investigate the actual facts of the Galois narrative, have a conversation about where and when the decimal point appeared with Glen R Van Brummelen of Quest University, and play a game of 2 lies and a truth with some people in the audience.
S3 · E39 · 31 Dec 2019 · 33 min
2019 Year End Review
To wrap up the year 2019 Samuel Hansen is joined by Katie Steckles and Christian Lawson-Perfect of Aperiodical.com to discuss some of the big stories from the world of mathematics this year. The stories they discuss include Hannah Fry's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, Karen Uhlenbeck's Abel Prize, year two of the Big Internet Math Off, a new multiplication algorithm, a new pi digits record, 33 and 42 as the sum of three cubes, and advances toward solutions for Collatz and Riemann. Music: lowercase n
S3 · E38 · 1 Nov 2019 · 27 min
Authors
On this episode of Relatively Prime we explore the thoughts of authors of general audience mathematics books. Specifically they share why they started writing, how they choose their topics, and how they think about their audiences. It features clips from interviews Samuel Hansen conducted with Colin Adams, Ivars Peterson, John Allen Paulos, Jordan Ellenberg, Dave Richeson, Matt Parker, Steve Strogatz, and Alex Bellos.
S3 · E37 · 1 Oct 2019 · 19 min
Citation Aging
For this episode of Relatively Prime Samuel decided that instead of speaking to a guest they would instead talk about the research they are conducting now that they are the Mathematics & Statistics Librarian at the University of Michigan. This research looks into how the citations of mathematical publications age over time, and its discussion includes a first for Relatively Prime - Data Sonification! These sonifications were created using Jonathon Middleton's website Musical Algorithms (you hear more about Jonathan and this site on the Relatively Prime Season 1 episode The Score)
S3 · E36 · 31 Aug 2019 · 28 min
A Beauty Cold and Austere
On this month's episode of Relatively Prime Samuel Hansen speaks with Professor Mike Spivey from University of Puget Sound about his interactive fiction game A Beauty Cold and Austere. They discuss how interactive fiction and mathematics work together, some of the mathematical puzzles in the game, and just what easter eggs might be hiding within the game. Music: Sepgil Broke for Free A Beauty Cold and Austere Voiceover: Bree Prehn KT Howard
S3 · E35 · 31 Jul 2019 · 1 hr 1 min
Robert Schneider
This episode is a bit of a blast from the past. Samuel has recently been going back through some of the old episodes from season 1 and while there were listening to The Score they realized that while the story about Robert Schneider and the non-Pythagorean scale was great it barely scratched the surface of amazing things Robert talked about in the interview. Upon registering to the original conversation, 7 years after it was recorded, Samuel realized not only did the story barely scratch the surface, the rest of the interview was absolutely fascinating. Robert’s mind works in amazing ways…
S3 · E34 · 29 Jun 2019 · 47 min
Mathematical Objects
On this episode of Relatively Prime Samuel Hansen is joined by fellow podcasters and friends Katie Steckles and Peter Rowlett of the Aperiodical to talk about their new mathematical podcast Mathematical Objects. They discuss about where the idea for the podcast came from, how talking about objects can lead to conversations which range from research mathematics to history and back again, and it even features two episodes of their show, one about a shirt and other about a piece of citrus.
S3 · E33 · 1 May 2019 · 17 min
EDGE
On this episode of Relatively Prime Samuel speaks with the founders, Sylvia Bozeman of Spellman College and Rhonda Hughes of Bryn Mawr, a current director, Ami Randunskaya of Pomona College, and a former director, Ulrica Wilson of Morehouse College, of the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) program. They discuss why EDGE was started, how it transformed from a program to help young women entering graduate school into a multi-academic generation mentoring community, and its impact on mathematics. If you want to support the amazing work EDGE does you can donate at edgeforwome.org
S3 · E32 · 31 Mar 2019 · 31 min
Mathematically Gifted & Black
If a person is going to become a mathematician it is important for them to be able to see examples of people like themselves who have already made that journey. All too often this type of representation is few and far between for many mathematically inclined black and brown young people. On this episode of Relative Prime Samuel Hansen is joined by the four co-creators of Mathematically Gifted & Black: Candice Price, Erica Graham, Raegan Higgins, and Shelby Wilson. Together they talk about why they wanted to tell the stories of a wide breadth of black mathematicians lives, the importance of…
S3 · E31 · 28 Feb 2019 · 49 min
3 2 1…Action
Here on Relatively Prime we have discussed mathematical novels and poetry and music and even featured mathematics sketches, but we have yet to talk movies. That oversight is going to rectified on this episode by featuring two interviews Samuel had done with people who have made movies where mathematics is the star. First up is Samuel's conversation with the creators of the Flatland and Flatland² Sphereland animated movies writer and director Dano Johnson and the producer Seth Caplan Then you will here Samuel's interview of Christopher Boone, the creator of the Kickstarter funded mathematics…
S3 · E30 · 31 Jan 2019 · 18 min
Jem’s Gems
On Relatively Prime we talk a lot about mathematicians and their research, but it has been a long time since we have talked about an absolutely integral part of how people end up becoming mathematicians and doing research...Math Teachers. After all if there were no math teachers then who would first tempt us into the world of mathematics with wondrous things like factoring, which is totally what got Samuel hooked. Hey don’t look at them that way, they just love a good difference of two squares quadratic. On this episode of Relatively Prime Samuel speaks with mathematics teacher Jo Morgan.…
S3 · E29 · 31 Dec 2018 · 17 min
A Year (1811) In Review
In a traditional move for the start of January we attempt a review of the year. In an untraditional move, we choose the year 1811. Samuel and Peter weren't able to speak directly because of the ongoing tension following American independence and the brewing Anglo-American war of 1812, but they cover some mathematical hot topics and the work of several contemporary mathematicians, including Carl Friedrich Gauss, Joseph Fourier, Mary Sommerville, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Siméon Denis Poisson and Marie-Sophie Germain, plus the tale of a mathematician born this year: Évariste…
S3 · E28 · 20 Dec 2018 · 41 min
All the Math Podcasts-Bonus
This bonus episode of Relatively Prime features a live podcast recording from 2018's Annual MathsJam Gathering. This live podcast featured segments from Math/Maths, Wrong But Useful, Talkdust, Strongly Connected Components/Travels in a Mathematical World/All Squared, The Aperiodcast, Relatively Prime, Taking Maths Further, and a surprise bonus show. It was a blast to record and hopefully also a blast to listen to. The Aperiodical did a more complete round-up of the live podcast which you can read here.
S3 · E27 · 30 Nov 2018 · 14 min
Cycle of Mathematics: Around 20 Papers
Welcome to the fourth and final episode of the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we are covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew. In this this episode we arrive at the inspiration step of the cycle. Specifically we hear from Michelle Girvan from the University of Maryland on how the Watt-Strogatz paper on small world networks discussed in the first episode of this mini-series helped motivate a definitely not insignificant amount of Michelle's research. Stayed tuned for to this feed for…
S3 · E26 · 31 Oct 2018 · 26 min
Cycle of Mathematics: Orange Volumes on a Shelf (On the Internet)
Welcome to the third episode of the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we are covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew. In this this episode we bring to you a tour of where mathematics articles go after they are published so that they may be found, Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet. Samuel is shown the path a paper follows through the Mathematical Reviews by Managing Editor Norm Richert, with stops to talk to many department heads along the way. Stayed tuned for next month's final entry in…
S3 · E25 · 1 Oct 2018 · 18 min
Cycle of Mathematics: Verify, Revise, Repeat
Welcome to the second episode of the Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we are covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew. In this this episode we bring to you the story of the hidden labor of mathematical research, that of the editors and the peer review referees. In order to do this Samuel spoke with Rachel Kuske, then of the University of British Columbia and now the Chair of Mathematics at Georgia Tech, and W. Ted Mahavier of Lamar University. They spoke about how an editor manages a…
S3 · E24 · 31 Aug 2018 · 27 min
Cycle of Mathematics: The Six Handshakes
Welcome to the new Cycle of Mathematics mini-series from Relatively Prime. In this mini-series we will be covering mathematics from its start as an idea to its publication to it inspiring the cycle to start anew. In this first episode we bring to you the story of the ground breaking small-world network research of Duncan Watts and Steven Strogatz which spawned the mathematical discipline of network theory. This work was published in Nature in 1998 in a paper title Collective dynamics of 'small-world' networks. In order to tell this tale Samuel spoke with Duncan themself to get the inside…
S3 · E23 · 25 Jul 2018 · 43 min
The Big Internet Math Off (Updated)
As this is being written there is around 18 hours left in the final match of the Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off between Matt Parker and Dr. Nira Chamberlin. In honor of the final Samuel got on the phone and talked with the creator of the Math Off Christian Lawson-Perfect about where the idea came from and what it has been like to run. Samuel also got a hold of Dr. Nira Chamberlin who was kind enough to take carve out some time from a busy schedule at a new job to take a call from Samuel to discuss what it has been like to take part and make it to the final of the Math Off. UPDATE! After…
S3 · E22 · 24 Jul 2018 · 1 hr 3 min
Math Off 4: Checkers
Sadly Samuel did not make it to the final round of The Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off, but lucky for y'all in a fit of profound arrogance, as well as trying to deal with some potential scheduling issues which could have accompanied victory, they had already made all of their entries. Instead of letting them languish in the dust bin of mathematical communication history Samuel has decided to release them anyway. This would-be semi-final entry is all about checkers, well checkers and AI and hubris and death and rivalry and the devil's work. In fact this is really a re-airing of the Series…
S3 · E21 · 19 Jul 2018 · 10 min
Math Off 3: Gerrymandering
Sadly Samuel did not make it to the semi-final round of The Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off, but lucky for y'all in a fit of profound arrogance, as well as trying to deal with some potential scheduling issues which could have accompanied victory, they had already made all of their entries. Instead of letting them languish in the dust bin of mathematical communication history Samuel has decided to release them anyway. This would-be semi-final entry is all about Gerrymandering. It features interviews taken from two different episodes, Mathematistan from the second season and Re District…
S3 · E20 · 12 Jul 2018 · 12 min
Math Off Round 2: Quaternions
Sadly Samuel did not make it to the second round of The Aperiodical's Big Internet Math Off, but lucky for y'all in a fit of profound arrogance, as well as trying to deal with some potential scheduling issues which could have accompanied victory, they had already made all of their entries. Instead of letting them languish in the dust bin of mathematical communication history Samuel has decided to release them anyway. This would-be second round entry is all about William Rowan Hamilton, quaternions, and the walk in their honor. It includes a beautiful song by Jess Charlton.You can hear the…
S3 · E19 · 2 Jul 2018 · 8 min
Math Off Round 1: Why Your Friends Have More Friends than You Do
It is time for the first round of the 1st ever Aperiodical.com Big Internet Math Off! In the first round Samuel is facing off against Paul Taylor, and they need y'all's help to win. Head over to the match page and vote for Samuel so they can tell y'all about what an Irish bridge, graffiti, and the letters i, j, and k have to do with getting to the moon in the second round. For their first round entry Samuel shares with you the story of why your, well not you wise, beautiful listener but definitely for everyone you know, their friends have more friends than they do and how this paradox can…
S3 · E18 · 31 May 2018 · 23 min
Girls Talk Math
On this month's episode of Relatively Prime we are excited to bring to you the story of Girls Talk Math. Girls Talk Math is a 2 week mathematics camp for high school women, as well as a podcast made by the campers about women from the history of mathematics. Samuel spoke with the founders Francesca Bernardi and Katrina Morgan about where the idea came from, why they decided to include podcasting as part of the camp, and the ways they reached out beyond the typical women you would expect to want to attend a summer mathematics camp. You can see how you can get involved here. Don't forget to…
S3 · E17 · 1 May 2018 · 20 min
The Right Bucket
This month's Relatively Prime is all about classification. Samuel is joined by Fabian Müller of zbMath for a discussion of the Mathematics Subject Classification, the benefit of using a hierarchical scheme to organize mathematics, and the work Fabian is doing to help revise MSC as a part of MSC 2020. This is a really important work which effects your ability to search and find the mathematical work you are need, so please think about taking part.

About Relatively Prime: Stories from the Mathematical Domain

A mathematics podcast from ACMEScience featuring the best math stories from the world of maths

Relatively Prime: Stories from the Mathematical Domain is a English tech & science podcast from ACMEScience. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: ACMEScience
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 27 min
Latest episode: 25 Mar 2025
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id560923828
Rights: Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License

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