Inspired by Math!

Jason Rosenhouse and Laura Taalman have written a fun book: Taking Sudoku Seriously. I interview the authors about how Sudoku is a great springboard for mathematical exploration, what Sudoku has to do with mathematical thinking, a practical application of Sudoku, ties to various branches of math, and more.

I interview William Cook, math professor and author of "In Pursuit of the Traveling Salesman Problem: Mathematics at the Limits of Computation" about his new book, and about how he got sucked into tackling a famous unsolved problem. We discuss why the problem is so intriguing, how young people can explore it, interesting applications, connections to other famous problems, the iPhone app that solves large instances, why the military cares about the problem, and more.

I interview Keith Devlin on a number of subjects: mathematics as a way of thinking, the role of video games, the importance of learning math in a historical context, the value of story-telling in teaching math, and more .... Plus, the most important thing that parents can do to help their kids who are struggling with math.