Mathematics is the purest of art forms. What does that mean? And why do most of us understand it as the least imaginative and most soul-destroying of all school subjects?

Pure mathematician Dr. Matt Mazowita and I discuss this, and we explore how people today could possibly reconnect with a source of inspiration and wonder that has been known since ancient times: number and shape. We also wrestle with the classic math problem of how to transform a cow into a donut.

Relating to Paul Lockhart's 2002 paper A Mathematician's Lament guides us into the philosophy of education. That paper can be found here.