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We commonly define the Pythagorean theorem using the formula a2 + b2 = c2. But Pythagoras himself would have been confused by that. Explore how this famous theorem can be explained using common geometric shapes (no fancy algebra required), and how it’s a critical foundation for the rest of geometry.

For millennia, humans have been obsessed with the number Pi. We needed it for architecture, geometry and astronomy, and so it was sought by the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans and the ancient Chinese. But no one has ever found it and no one ever will because Pi is infinite and irrational. Its decimals contain the birthdates of all the children who have ever lived, every piece of music, the complete works of Shakespeare. Pi never ends and can t be learned,...

Study the discovery that destroyed the dream of an axiomatic system that could prove all mathematical truths - Kurt Gödel's demonstration that mathematical consistency is a mirage and that the price for avoiding paradoxes is incompleteness. Outline Gödel's proof, seeing how it relates to the liar's paradox from Lecture 1.

Quadratic functions often arise in real-world settings. Explore a number of problems, including calculating the maximum height of a rocket and determining how long an object dropped from a tree takes to reach the ground. Learn that in finding a solution, graphing can often help.

If you double the side-lengths of a shape, what happens to its area? If the shape is three-dimensional, what happens to its volume? In this lecture, you explore the concept of scale. You use this idea to re-derive one of our fundamental assumptions of geometry, the Pythagorean theorem, using the areas of any shape drawn on the edges of the right triangle—not just squares.

Professor Benjamin begins his discussion of mathematical proofs with intuitive cases like "even plus even is even" and "odd times odd is odd." He builds to more complexproofs by existenceandinduction, and ends with a checkerboard challenge.

If you’re playing squash and hit the ball against the wall, at what angle will it bounce back? If you’re playing pool and want to play a trick shot against the side edge, how do you need to hit the ball? Play with these questions and more through an exploration of the reflection principle.

In this lesson, work through simple one- and two-step linear equations, learning how to isolate the variable by different operations. Professor Sellers also presents a word problem involving a two-step equation and gives tips for how to solve it.

Prove that some sets can't be measured - a result that is crucial to understanding the Banach-Tarski paradox, the strangest theorem in all of mathematics, which is presented in Lecture 23. Start by asking why mathematicians want to measure sets. Then learn how to construct a non-measurable set.

Learn how a rabbit-breeding question in the 13th century led to the celebrated Fibonacci numbers. Investigate the properties of this sequence by focusing on the single picture that explains it all. Then hear the world premiere of Professor Tanton's amazing Fibonacci theorem!