Matt Parker, Bec Hill

A Problem Squared

A Comedy podcast

About the show

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. Episodes released twokly on Mondays.

Newest episodes

147 = Displaying the Time Pleasingly and Directing a Line North-Easterly

Nov 9, 2026 58 min

⌚ What time on a digital clock is most pleasing to the eye? 🌍 If you start at the equator, and travel north-east, will you ever hit the north pole? 🎆 And we have some Any Other (Novem)Berness We have a bumper catch-up chat about the madness that was Matt’s filming of Getting Triggy With It Live. If you want to see the chaotic-mega-cut then the remaining Custom USB Sticks from the Kickstarter will be available to buy soon. You can bet that we’ll link to them here and on socials once they are available. Some further reading about the UN’s new map projection: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168284 Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: 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.

146 = Five-ish or Four-ish and Have Tank But No Fish

Oct 26, 2026 56 min

🟰 How do you round 0.44999999... to 1 decimal place? 🐟 What creative things can be done with a fish tank that has no fish? 🍂 And we have some Autumnal Other Business Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see some platonic solids for platonic friends, some gorgeous Welsh scenery, some diorama inspo, some toilet wine and a really old maths book. BBC Archive: The Street With Confounding House Numbers from 1961 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr6Gxb97W_c How the Japanese house numbering system works… https://geoawesome.com/how-the-crazy-japanese-addressing-system-works-explained/ Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: 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.

145 = Trousers & Socks and Heaviest Blocks

Oct 12, 2026 1 hr 10 min

🧦 Do you put your trousers or socks on first ?👖 🎲 How much would a standard pair of dice weigh if they were made up of just protons and neutrons? 🎲 🏉 And we have some Australian Ozzie Ballness that may or may not be in the right order. Thank you to everyone who responded to our questionnaire about number and clothing ordering! All the results are in this episode. What would happen if a tablespoonful of a neutron star was brought to Earth? https://www.astronomy.com/science/what-would-happen-if-tablespoonful-neutron-star-was-brought-to-earth/ Take a trip back in time to see Matt putting both his socks on simultaneously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7fg27Iiq8 Do you have a problem for Bec and Matt to solve? Tell us about it: 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.

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All episodes

147 = Displaying the Time Pleasingly and Directing a Line North-Easterly

Nov 9, 2026 58 min

146 = Five-ish or Four-ish and Have Tank But No Fish

Oct 26, 2026 56 min

145 = Trousers & Socks and Heaviest Blocks

Oct 12, 2026 1 hr 10 min

144 = Numbering Tomfoolery and Number-Based Jewellery

Sep 28, 2026 58 min

#️⃣ How wrong can a sequence of numbers be? 👂 What maths-related diagrams that would look good as a pair of earrings? ☕ And we have some Any Other Baristaness Here is our dual-purpose Google Form - please answer our questions about number and clothing ordering! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tTb398TTacxoqlqJHGonkldwDsqnnMN6V4fRagfPOEI/ Behold the weird balls! Here is Thomas Fernique’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernik_art/p/DcVerFCDiwr/ And head to our Instagram to see Matt looking really happy with a weird football and Bec looking really sad with a weird football. Some visuals to inspire designs for duallery - Brown University: Dual Shapes: https://www.math.brown.edu/tbanchof/Beyond3d/chapter5/section03.html Some pre-made mathematical earrings from Maths Gear: https://mathsgear.co.uk/collections/jewellery-etc Vanessa Schattman on the maths of cat’s cradle: https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2026/bridges2026-669.html#gsc.tab=0 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.

143 = What Comes After Thrice and Coffee Roulette Advice

Sep 14, 2026 53 min

📖 What comes after thrice? ☕ How can I increase my chances of winning a free coffee? 🎹 And we have some Any Other Beatness Thank you to everyone who sent in audio or visuals of the Thue-Morse pattern! Here is Damien’s Thue-Morse Visualiser which is really fun to play with: https://damienkee.github.io/thue-morese_visualiser/ And here is the keyboard visualisation of Thue-Morse sonified by Seta Lyas: https://www.reddit.com/r/AProblemSquared/comments/1vl0m8s/140_thuemorse_sonified Head to our BlueSky/Twitter/Instagram to see the full run down of Bec’s post-thrice words. 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.

142 = How Long Would YouTube Take to View and How to Display Without Glue or Screws

Aug 31, 2026 59 min

📺 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=0zn1pGRgEoo If 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?

Aug 17, 2026 58 min

👬 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!

Aug 10, 2026 1 hr 10 min

⚽ 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

Aug 3, 2026 1 min

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

Jul 20, 2026 56 min

🎺 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.zip On 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-entropy To 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-gigs 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://stand...

138 = Crossword Panels and Crossing Channels

Jul 6, 2026 59 min

📝 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-gigs 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/300064B84CCCF567 And 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

Jun 22, 2026 1 hr 11 min

👂Why do some people hate the sound of whispering? 💡 How much does an electron cost? 😎 And there’s some Any Other Bozoness On 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=sharing If you’d like to see Bec’s Work In Progress shows, her upcoming gigs can be found here: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigs 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/300064B84CCCF567 And 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"

Jun 8, 2026 1 hr 1 min

#️⃣ 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-ness Head 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/300064B84CCCF567 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.

135 = Pasta Water Solution and QR Code Substitution

May 25, 2026 51 min

🍝 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 Bloomsness Head 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/1457 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.

134 = Tooth and Rock Day 2026

May 11, 2026 1 hr 21 min

🤘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 update Head 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.pdf Thallium in Salt Substitutes: A Possible Health Hazard: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0013935177900433 And here’s Matt’s Moving Mountains sources: https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/eosc350/content/foundations/properties/density.htm 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.

133 = Oeuf-Bran Geometry and Huffman Decoder Tree

Apr 27, 2026 1 hr 1 min

🥣 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 answer Head 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, Naracoorte https://thesheepsbackmuseum.org.au/ Creation: Between Art and Mathematics Exhibition in Paris: https://www.ihp.fr/en/news-science-and-society/creation-between-art-and-mathematics Laura 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%3D 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 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-it 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.

132 = Insistuvree and Bix of Weet

Apr 13, 2026 52 min

🔠 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-business Head to our socials to see Bec’s post-show photos and videos from her Adelaide run including Morgan and Morgan's mum’s tooth, Scott and the 6-7 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

Mar 30, 2026 1 hr 2 min

👋 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 / Instagram 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.

130 = Sly Skittles Claim and Why Sniffles Name?

Mar 16, 2026 53 min

🌈 Is it true that "No Two Packs Of Skittles Are The Same?” 🤧 Why a cold called cold? 🤫 And there’s some ASMROB Head to our socials to see Matt’s Mission Patches, Matt’s Calculator, and the Skittles Combinatorics! The Liberation Laser Software by Seb Lee-Delisle https://liberationlaser.com/ The Skittle Maths by Clare Wallace https://www.clarewallace.co.uk/skittles And some Norfolk Punch, if you’re so inclined https://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

Mar 2, 2026 54 min

🛫 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)Ballness Head 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/9780091947859 They Did The Math, They Did The Monster Math on Reddit https://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.

128 = AMA 2^7 Special

Feb 16, 2026 51 min

❓ Have you sent in a question for our AMA episode? ❔ Have Matt and Bec answered it in this AMA episode? ⁉️ Here are your AMA questions, answered! We’ll be back solving your problems as normal in Episode 129! If you’d like to see Bec at the Adelaide Fringe in March, 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.

127 = Labelling Consumables and Conceivable Numerals

Feb 2, 2026 55 min

🫘 Can we come up with some fun names for common pantry items? 🔢 What's the smallest number that has never been written down in human history? 🧂 And there’s a sprinkling of Any Other Business. Numberphile’s take on a number NOBODY has thought of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdZrxkix9Mk Every Time "67" Has Been Said on Numberphile, if you dare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlJMJfPPnVA Googolplex Written Out: http://www.googolplexwrittenout.com/ If you’d like to see Bec at the Adelaide Fringe in March, 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.

126 = Temperature Levels and Special Vessels

Jan 19, 2026 59 min

🧊 Why doesn’t the coldest day fall on the shortest day? 🥂 If you don’t drink, what can you use fancy drinking glasses for? 🏊 And we take the plunge into some Any Other Brrrrrrrness. If you’d like to read about defibrillator testing using a turkey, here’s the paper sent in by Hans: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12879378/ If you’d like to see Matt and Bec - alongside Steve Mould and Helen Arney and more - at An Evening Of Unnecessary Detail in London on Monday 26th January, you can get tickets here: https://www.universe.com/events/an-evening-of-unnecessary-detail-tickets-TFK426?ref=ticketmaster If you’d like to see Bec at the Adelaide Fringe in March, 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 If you’d like to ask Matt and Bec anything for our special 2^7 episode in February go to the Problem Posing Page at aproblemsquared.com - select ‘Problem’ and start your message with AMA! Please get your AMA questions in by Friday 23rd January 2026! 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.

125 = Toots from Bums and Attitude Sums

Jan 5, 2026 1 hr 0 min

💨 How many people are needed to guarantee that there is always someone farting somewhere? 🔠 If you match each letter with the corresponding number in the alphabet and add them together, which words add up to 100. 🏁 And there is some unfinished business. Head to our socials for pictures of Matt’s Homemade Sea Salt and Bec’s Brilliant Branding, an assortment of Massive Hourglasses, the beautiful sketch of Bec, and a smiley jerk on the beach in the sunshine 🌅 Here is the full list of words that add up to 100 (and do be warned that it contains some words that may not be suitable for young eyes) https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r0u9hnx0c63ma3ovky3gp/100_letter_sum_shuffled.txt?rlkey=n62ik3j22tnwujod53wqrf4cc&e=1&dl=0 If you have a suggestion of dates for us to do a Rock Special and a Tooth Special,, go to the Problem Posing Page at aproblemsquared.com and select ‘Solution’ and do mention ‘International Teeth Day’ See Matt on tour in 2026! http://standupmaths.com/shows Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 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.

124 = Dangerous Angling and Harmonious Wrangling

Dec 22, 2025 55 min

👼 What is the Angle of Death? 🎼 What is the best filing system for sheet music? 🎄And there’ll be some A-ho-ho-ho-B If you have any maths-studio-based-names for the Newdio, go to the Problem Posing Page at aproblemsquared.com and select ‘Solution’ and be as funny and punny as possible! If you’d like to ask Matt and Bec anything for our special 2^7 episode in February go to the Problem Posing Page at aproblemsquared.com - select ‘Problem’ and start your message with AMA! See Matt on tour in 2026! http://standupmaths.com/shows Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard - and a special APS Christmas Card! 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.

123 = The Science of Fries and Mounting Sea Level Rise

Dec 8, 2025 56 min

🍟 Why does the nutritional value of frozen chips change depending on whether they are cooked in an air fryer or in an oven? ⛰️ How large a mountain could we make from 2.2 meters of dredged sea bed (combatting sea level rise in the process)? 🃏And there’ll be some AOB, as easy as 123. Head to our socials for pics of LIVE MATHS, chip nutritional values, post-Totoro Bec, ESA Souvenirs. If you’d like to ask Matt and Bec anything for our special 2^7 episode in February go to the Problem Posing Page at aproblemsquared.com - select ‘Problem’ and start your message with AMA! See Matt on tour in 2026! http://standupmaths.com/shows Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 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.

122 = Shocking Theories with Quickfire Queries

Nov 24, 2025 51 min

🔥 How many quickfire problems is it possible to solve in a single episode of A Problem Squared? 🧑‍💼 Why is Matt dressed like a maths teacher? 🃏And we will deal out some Any Other Business If you’d like to ask Matt and Bec anything for our special 2^7 episode go to the Problem Posing Page at aproblemsquared.com - select ‘Problem’ and start your message with AMA! A chicken slapping machine - click to view at your own risk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68L6JA_CnmU Here’s where you’ll find the video of Matt in 374 different outfits (and the 375th outfit is on our socials) https://www.youtube.com/@standupmaths/videos From AOB here’s Chris’ working… https://chrisboettner.github.io/blog/posts/2025-10-28-card_game_blog.html …and here’s Dede’s working… https://github.com/dedebenui/cardgame See Matt on tour! http://standupmaths.com/shows Specifically, see Matt in London on Monday 1st December! https://lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/matt-parker/ Or if you would like to see Bec in Brighton on Monday 1st December, tickets are here: https://www.komedia.co.uk/shows/john-luke-roberts-geoffrey-chaucers-mediaeval-christmas-festivitye/ Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 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.

121 = Bi-annuals and Diagonals

Nov 10, 2025 51 min

🗓️ Does bi-weekly mean every two weeks or twice a week? 🧊 What is the name of the line between two opposing corners of a cube? 🕑 And daylight will be saved with some Any Other Brightness. For more on Rupert and Nopert Shapes: Euler Brick: https://mathworld.wolfram.com/EulerBrick.html Tom7 - Rupert's Snub Cube and other Math Holes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH4MviUE0_s Tom7’s Print files for Platonic, Archimedean and Catalan Solids: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1617011-platonic-archimedean-and-catalan-solids#profileId-1706419 Follow Dr Ben Whittle, The Excellent Etymologist, on Instagram! @schnebwhittle Joey Parrish and his Sega Slides https://github.com/joeyparrish/sega-slides See Matt on tour! http://standupmaths.com/shows Specifically, see Matt in London on Monday 1st December! https://lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/matt-parker/ Or if you would like to see Bec in Brighton on Monday 1st December, tickets are here: https://www.komedia.co.uk/shows/john-luke-roberts-geoffrey-chaucers-mediaeval-christmas-festivitye/ Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 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.

120 = Dealing Probability and Healing Gullibility

Oct 27, 2025 1 hr 8 min

🃏 What are the odds of actually winning Morgan’s very specific, very fun card game? 🤯 Are people more gullible now? And what are the best ways to persuade someone they are wrong? 👻 And, appropriate to the season, there will be some Any Other Boooooooooooooosness If you have some ingenious suggestions of what Matt can do in lunar gravity, head to www.aproblemsquared.com and submit your idea as a ‘Solution’ Head to our socials to see Matt’s graph plot and stats on the odds of winning the card game, as well as Bec’s beautifully laid out existence proof of the 52 Card Game! Some further reading on The Gullibility Problem: Why are people so gullible? https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20160323-why-are-people-so-incredibly-gullible Research paper on political extremism: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797612464058 Nobel Disease: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease And some tetrahedron-shaped packaging - or TetraPaks, if you will: TetraPak: https://www.tetrapak.com/solutions/packaging/packages SunnyBoys: https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/2016-goodbye-sunnyboy/ See Matt on tour! http://standupmaths.com/shows And if you want to see Matt in London on Monday 1st December, tickets are here: https://lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/matt-parker/ Or if you want to see Bec in Brighton on Monday 1st December, tickets are here: https://www.komedia.co.uk/shows/john-luke-roberts-geoffrey-chaucers-mediaeval-christmas-festivitye/ Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 If you’re 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...

119 = Proportions by Bananas and Polygons from Lava

Oct 13, 2025 54 min

🍌 Is there a more consistent system of measuring things (and is it ‘Banana For Scale’)? 🌋 Why and how do hexagons occur in nature? 🔔 And there will be a whole Bec of Any Other Becness Head to our socials to see Matt and Bec playing The Metre Game, lots of bananas for scale, and Matt sporting some very fetching headwear. Some further reading on the origins of ‘Banana For Scale’: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/banana-for-scale Some further reading on hexagons in basalt: European Geoscience Union article: https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/ts/2023/05/26/features-from-the-field-columnar-basalts-and-why-hexagons-are-natures-favourite-shape/ Physical Review Letters: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.154301 See Matt on tour! http://standupmaths.com/shows Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 If you’re 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.

118 = Rolling Eyes and Juggling Highs

Sep 29, 2025 56 min

🎲 What are the odds of rolling snake eyes? (And does it make for good TV?) 🤹How long does it take to learn to juggle with seven balls? 🛌 And there’s some Any Other Bed’n’Boardness Head to our socials to see Matt and Bec in action, rolling dice and juggling balls! To find out more about our juggling expert Darryl J Carrington, head to his insta: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPTqhTwDEeb/?igsh=MXdyMDJvNGhma2ZtNg== And here’s Colin Wright’s video about Sideswap: “Juggling by Numbers - Numberphile” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dwgusHjA0Y Here are Jasper’s links (in Dutch and in English) about the Belgian family and their children’s themed names https://vrtnws.be/p.NvjDVZw5w (Dutch) https://www.reddit.com/r/tragedeigh/comments/17h7ka6/gwenny_32_is_pregnant_of_a_twelfth_child_a/ (English) And here are the visualised shuffles of the card question in Episode 113 Tom - https://tehtommeh.github.io/riffle-me-this/ Bernhard - https://www.bernhard-werner.de/assets/cindy/applets/card_weave.html Shaun - https://svermaak.github.io/VisualiseCardShuffle/ See Matt on tour! http://standupmaths.com/shows Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 If you’re 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 Squared - Emergency Episode!

Sep 15, 2025 19 min

Unfortunately, Matt has been ill and lost his voice so we were unable to record the episode that should be coming out this week. To make up for it, we are releasing an episode of the usually-Patreon-only I Am A Wizard for you to listen to. It's the one from April this year and features a magical offer from our listener who is, apparently, a wizard - USBinPRL. But we begin with a message from Bec, who can still speak. If you want more wizarding silliness then join our Patreon at patreon.com/aproblemsquared - you'll get access to all the past episodes of I Am A Wizard, a new wizard episode every month, and early access to all episodes of A Problem Squared! Normal Service will be resumed in Two Weeks!

117 = Visualising Hacks and Unusual Icy Snacks

Sep 1, 2025 53 min

👁️ How do you remember things if you can’t visualisethem in your mind’s eye? 🍭 What’s the best shape for a freeze pop? 🪣 And there’s some Any Other Beachness Head to our socials to see freeze pop pics, Matt(not that one)’s tooth and the AOB gifts! Here’s a link to the University of Exeter’s The Eye’s Mind project: https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/eyesmind/ And here’s a selection of freeze pops and anti-prisms… https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/del-monte-quality-pineapple-freeze-pop-8-x-62ml https://www.vimto.co.uk/vimto-range/product/vimto-pyramids/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_antiprism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disphenoid See Matt on tour! http://standupmaths.com/shows/ Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 If you’re 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.

116 = Guess The Right Price and Why Teeth Might Splice

Aug 18, 2025 51 min

￡ What’s the optimum strategy to win The Price Is Right? 🦷 Why have Tim’s baby teeth fallen apart? 🛠️ And there’s some Any Other Billy Bookcase Business Head to our socials to play along with The Price Is Right and to see a video of Ikea Wars! Here are the GIANT LETTERS sent in by Phillip: https://maps.app.goo.gl/yZaofcfNPaF5HyX17 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_letters If you’re in Edinburgh for the Fringe, get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ And get tickets see to Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 If you’re 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.

115 = Jolly Good Euphemising and Hollywood Sign Sizing

Aug 4, 2025 55 min

🍆 What’s the “female equivalent” of phallic? What’s the font size of the Hollywood sign? 🦈 And we’re always open for AOBusiness Thanks to our excellent experts appearing in voicenote form - Dr Ben Whittle, Chella Quint OBE, and Linus Boman. Daan’s paper in the American Journal of Archaeology which cites this very podcast: doi.org/10.1086/735650 The world’s largest enlarged letter: https://www.pleasedonotbend.co.uk/categories/world-record If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ And you can get tickets see to Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths And here’s how to volunteer for Calculate Pi By Hand with Matt: https://forms.gle/w44THpNJ3jWUPqHy6 If you’re 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.

114 = Delectable Dips and Dealable Decks

Jul 21, 2025 55 min

🃏 What’s the deal with cards? 🫕 What is the perfect ratio of chips to dips? 🍔 And there’s some Any Other B-B-Q-B-ness Head to our socials to see the card shuffle and patterns, Bec’s starstruck selfie, and our chips ‘n’ dips experiment! For all your homemade snacking needs: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tortillas https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/homemade-tortilla-chips-guacamole-charred-tomato-salsa It’s 5 o’chop Somewhere! (Really excellent work from Eve) https://www.instagram.com/p/DKZSlCGIdCZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== And some info about Aphantasia as mentioned by Keith… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia And synaesthesia… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ And you can get tickets see to Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths If you’re 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.

113 = Marg Ana Names and Mid Career Change

Jul 7, 2025 55 min

🚂 If you want a career change, how do you decide what to retrain as? 👶 What would be a good set of names for twins or triplets? 🦷 And there’s some Any Other Busi Here’s some baby naming code from Colin Beveridge: https://github.com/icecolbeveridge/zoe_names If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ And you can get tickets see to Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths If you are in Edinburgh and fancy seeing Matt and Bec battle it out in Ikea Wars on Sunday 10th August, tickets are here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/ikea-wars Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths If you are 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.

112 = Staring Safely At The Sun and Celebrations Off By One

Jun 23, 2025 46 min

🌞 How far away from the Sun do we have to travel before we can look at it without damaging our eyes? 📆 Is there an off by one error with anniversaries? 🍝 And AOB has been slow cooked and packed up in tupperware for safe storage The starting point for Matt’s theory: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-maximum-light-intensity-that-a-human-eye-can-withstand-without-being-damaged Astroid Mattparker: https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=mattparker Distance to Voyager 1: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/where-are-voyager-1-and-voyager-2-now/ Here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/standupmaths If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ And you can get tickets to see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths If you’re 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.

111 = Mnemonic Serenading and Mechanism Naming

Jun 10, 2025 57 min

🎶 Why are songs easier to remember than sentences? ⚙️ Can we come up with new names (that meet strict criteria) for leader/follower motors? 🌟 And it’s a glitzy, toothy, clackety AOB As discussed in the intro, here’s how to get involved with Matt’s Moon Pi Kickstarter: https://youtu.be/nGtVej1Qx5Y And here's the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/standupmaths/moon-pi-were-going-to-calculate-on-the-moon And head to our socials to see the Corris Railway Traverser! For tickets to Bec Hill’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at the Museum of Comedy, London on 19/06/2025, go here: https://museumofcomedy.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873654374 For some glittery further reading, here’s that NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/style/glitter-factory.html If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ And you can get tickets to see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths If you’re 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.

110 = Inventive Dice and Paperwork Advice

May 26, 2025 54 min

🎲What’s the best design for non-traditional dice? 📄 What should you call paperwork that doesn’t involve paper? 🙋And it’s more a comment than a question in AOB Head to our socials to see Matt’s excellent Angry Man In Local Newspaper photos. If you’d like to peruse and purchase more dice variations, head here: https://mathsgear.co.uk/collections/dice If you have any paperlesspaperwork suggestions, join in here! https://www.reddit.com/r/AProblemSquared/ If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths And you can get tickets see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ If you’re 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.

109 = Fourth Dimensions and Love Conventions

May 12, 2025 1 hr 1 min

4️⃣ What would it look like to be trapped in a 4D world? 🥰 What is the meaning of marriage? ✨Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get AOBusy Head to our socials to see some fantastic representations of 2D meets 3D meets 4D in fiction, some magical magic, and an alphabetically perfect travel route (for 40 days in 1990). If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can get tickets to see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths And you can get tickets see Bec here: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:5884/ If you’re 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.

108 = Proofed Mates and Proved Dates

Apr 28, 2025 1 hr 3 min

🍻What’s the best way to politely tell a friend that they’ve had too much to drink? 🗞️ Is there a way to prove that something existed before a certain date? ❌And AOB brings us some friendly corrections… A useful menu of alcoholic choices… https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ A hash of a DING! 1f2b352be3c09872b3e38083ec6f0d2b22615a99c5a446a03abf24430187c484 If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths And Bec’s show will be onsale soon! If you’re 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 - including the pictures mentioned herein! - you can connect with us and other listeners on BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

107 = Megabytes and Satellites

Apr 14, 2025 56 min

🧱How many megabytes are actually in a gigabyte? 🌕There have been some Moon Developments… 😎And AOB will bring a little sunshine into your life Here is NASA’s Press Release about navigation on the moon: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/somd/space-communications-navigation-program/nasa-successfully-acquires-gps-signals-on-moon/ And some further reading from Matt: https://www.gpsworld.com/lugre-receiver-captures-gnss-signals-in-lunar-orbit/ https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/icg/2024/WG-B_Lunar_PNT_Jun24/LunarPNT_Jun24_01_03.pdf The Biggest Bike! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG4Gbrys3NL/?igsh=dTBqeG0wZGVpcXhs Prawn News! https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/cyclone-alfred-live-updates-brisbane-south-east-queensland-braces-for-first-direct-impact-from-storm-in-50-years-northern-nsw-prepares-for-flooding-20250305-p5lh6c.html?post=p58aa2 If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths And Bec’s show will be onsale soon! Make sure you look after your teeth, kids... If you’re 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, show the podcast to 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.

106 = Travel ABC and Art of Karate

Mar 31, 2025 55 min

🗺️ Is there an alphabetically perfect travel route? 🪵 What can be done with karate chopped wood? 🤙 And we ride the crest of the Any Other Business wave You can find the data-basis for the alphabetically perfect travel route here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_number_of_land_borders Here are some of Bec’s aesthetically pleasing solutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JubeLHRYl80 https://www.myveryeducatedmother.com/2015/12/turn-broken-karate-boards-into-coat-rack.html https://www.ellemariehome.com/upcycle-karate-break-boards-into-wood-signs/#google_vignette And you can find Brendan’s magical web app here: https://bren.app/podcasteveryday/ If you’re heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see Matt here: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/getting-triggy-it-matt-parker-does-maths And Bec’s show will be onsale soon! If you’re 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, show the podcast to 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.

105 = Next Prime Dates and Ancient Gag Rates

Mar 17, 2025 1 hr 3 min

📆 When is the next Prime Number Day? 🤣 What is the oldest joke? 🪨 And we get to the rock bottom of Any Other Business You can find Matt’s Divisibility Rules video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pLz8wEQYkA You can read more about the world’s oldest joke here: https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2022/08/05/sumerian-joke-one And you can get your Philogelols right here: https://archive.org/details/philogelos-the-laugh-addict-the-worlds-oldest-joke-book/page/n21/mode/2up If you’re 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, show the podcast to 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.

104 = Paper Spread and Pencil Lead

Mar 3, 2025 49 min

📃 Is a sheet of A-45 paper big enough to wrap the earth? ✏️ Why do we still call pencil graphite lead? 👔 There’s business to attend to. You can find Matt and Hannah’s protractor up the shard video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcdqlo3pYc&ab_channel=Stand-upMaths Here’s Matt’s Truncatable Prime Pencil: https://mathsgear.co.uk/products/truncatable-prime-pencil?srsltid=AfmBOorhZ6qk_IAhKnCjtjoVM3wM-GXMTaFporL13aTjdOokjGG_hkxY And the oldest known pencil in the world: https://www.penciltalk.org/2021/02/worlds-oldest-pencil If you want to know more about that 1889 World Fair and that luxury yellow pencil you can do that here: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-little-known-reason-pencils-yellow Here is the link to David’s MIT Maze turned Sudoku, Go check it out, it’s very cool: https://sudokupad.app/arbp91du01 If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post! If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, show the podcast to 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.

103 = Heaps Splad and Paul’s Pad

Feb 17, 2025 49 min

🤫 Which synonyms are Caesar ciphers of each other? 🎨 Bec and Matt attempt to help a listener decorate their home. 💼 The tax business briefcase is wide open. ⚔️ And battleships heats up. It’s time to go see ‘Bec Hill: Guess Who's Bec, Bec Again?’ at The Adelaide Fringe! https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bec-hill-guess-who-s-bec-bec-again-bec-hill-s-bec-tell-a-friend-af2025 You can see Matt Live! https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/ Here are just some of the sources that inspired Bec’s answer to Paul’s problem: https://www.geekwire.com/2018/tiny-seattle-apartment-bed-ceiling-thats-part-makes-smart-home/https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/saving-space-4-5e43ab2209c96-jpeg__700.jpghttps://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1552627931/laptop-desk-designed-for-lying-down?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_au_en_au_a-electronics_and_accessories&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiA2JG9BhAuEiwAH_zf3h029YOcWlhpb2hPKJIRRlzC875u1Xd05jQ5wcB1pKVfiPHBIgyWSBoCSsAQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_22104612603_176942312567_728668009637_pla-315906365651_c__1552627931enau_102845289&utm_custom2=22104612603&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA2JG9BhAuEiwAH_zf3h029YOcWlhpb2hPKJIRRlzC875u1Xd05jQ5wcB1pKVfiPHBIgyWSBoCSsAQAvD_BwEhttps://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/N4OkvQNSSYkvAIQvyEpZjg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTI0MDA7aD0xNjAw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/architectural_digest_422/b0e714e92e546a10087be8044b839f94 And The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things: http://www.worldslargestthings.com/mobilemuseum.htm If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post! If you want (we’re not forcing anyone) to leave us a review, show the podcast to 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,...

102 = Copyright Traps and Saturday Night Gaps

Feb 3, 2025 52 min

✅ What’s the best way to leave your mark? 🗓️ Can Saturday Night Live be on Every Day? 📍 And there are some big locations in AOB Top Marks: https://neatnik.net/steganographr/#results SNL Spreadsheet: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i9leqlafx0orjfp6l8a6t/weekend_whatdate.xlsx?rlkey=vetpi2qg9etbb35jq0zculjt1&e=1&st=q5vl7052&dl=0 Big Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8kf2XcYPXWnqGqn88 See Matt Live! https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/ See Bec Live! https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bec-hill-guess-who-s-bec-bec-again-bec-hill-s-bec-tell-a-friend-af2025 If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post! And if you want (we’re not forcing anyone) to leave us a review, show the podcast to 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.

101 = Squear Data and The Big Banana (in an Aussie accent)

Jan 20, 2025 57 min

🔺 What are the most “interesting” years? 🍌 Bec goes big on Big Things 🎉 When Party Tricks Go Wrong 🔢 And there's some numerical AOB Here’s Max-matics’ video that Matt mentioned - Turning a 2024 Ball Pyramid in to a 2025 Ball Square for NYE 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXUlKCIgV8U Some further reading on the 2025 maths https://aperiodical.com/2025/01/numerical-coincidences-for-2025/ It’s a banger - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJS3xnD7Mus Some further reading on BIG THINGS - https://www.spottobooks.com.au/shop/p/bigthings https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/figure/10.1080/14443058.2022.2144928 If you’re on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on the ‘Sup ‘Zards’ pinned post! And if you want (we’re not forcing anyone) to leave us a review, show the podcast to 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.

Welcome to A Problem....Suspended!

Jan 6, 2025 2 min

Hello you wonderful listener, Welcome to a new year. 2025 - has a nice ring to it doesn't it? This is a short announcement to say that there will be a very short feed break - just an episode or two, don't worry - to allow us all rest for the first two weeks of January. Matt will tell you everything you need to know in his very organised PSA. Have a listen. Thank you for your continuted support and understanding. We love you very much. Bec and Matt.

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147 = Displaying the Time Pleasingly and Directing a Line North-Easterly

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Podcast details

Created by: Matt Parker, Bec Hill
Status: Active
Latest episode: Nov 9, 2026
Episodes: 151
Release period: Every two weeks
Avg. episode length: 50 min
Explicit: No
Language: English

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