A Problem Squared

Score! It's episode 020 of A Problem Squared, Filling Up and Falling Down!     In this episode...   Can we solve global warming by diluting the atmosphere? What's the funniest way to fall down without hurting yourself?  Plus: The answer to last month's A Pudding Squared, and a final word on Arctic Krill.    As always, if you've got a problem or a solution, hit us up on our website www.aproblemsquared.com, or on social media. You can find Matt's favourite mascot fail here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Zph323Dos For full (en)closure, the solution to the most recent A Pudding Squared, is right here: https://twitter.com/Hellcat_Mama/status/1400053063012995073?s=08  

How did a hamster end up in a listener's apartment on the other side of the world? How many leaves would humans need to photosynthesise all our energy? Plus, an update on Dish Splatters: Why don't plastic things dry in the dishwasher? If you've got a problem or a solution, hit us up on our website www.aproblemsquared.com, or on social media. It's Pudding, on the 'gram For Bec's hamster habitat, look no further. And, welcome to the world of Hamster-tube. Here are some of Bec's favourite hamster moms, Malica and Victoria.   In the Catch Up segment Matt talks about solving a mathematical quandary: whether all nets of the 4D Hypercube can tile 3D space. The answer is yes! Here is the link to that video  

This month, Matt and Bec explore voting systems in elections. Bec wonders what effect it might have to vote for a novelty candidate. And we speak to a special guest who might just know a thing or two about this. Plus a whole heap of quick-fire problem solving! Here's the video Matt mentioned that simulates alternate voting systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhO6jfHPFQU&ab_channel=Primer  

How many Bec Hills could fit in Bexhill? What species would make the longest queue if you put every individual in a single line? Plus an update on Bec's coat conundrum! If you've got a problem or a solution, hit us up on our website www.aproblemsquared.com, or on social media. Thanks to www.higherdose.com for providing the sauna blanket for the fluffy jacket problem. To find out more about Mileva Marić and the campaign to have her contributions recognised, visit www.inspiring-girls.com/ig-blog/marijamilevablog    

In this month's episode, Matt investigates what is the optimal way to share biscuits amongst a group, and Bec explores how you can elongate your holiday time using all manner of creative methods. Plus updates on short shorts and how much Coronavirus is there in the world. Send your problems at www.aproblemsquared.com And here's the study Matt referenced about perceptions of Time: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001295  

This month Matt and Bec are problem-solving thusly: Can you cast shadow puppets on the Moon? Why do champion cyclists wear such short shorts? Is there such a thing as a lucky person? Here's a useful graphic of how the Moon orbits Earth https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/from-a-million-miles-away-nasa-camera-shows-moon-crossing-face-of-earth And this is the article referenced by Bec in the show about body hair: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/the-casualties-of-womens-war-on-body-hair/514983/ Send your problems to our new improved website! www.aproblemsquared.com  

It's the end of year special! We have an update on the Cheese Cover Up, the results of the listener survey, and a selection of quick-fire new problems to round off 2020. Plus, what on Earth has Matt been doing to his Christmas tree? Head to @aproblemsquared on Twitter and Instagram to see images of listeners' cheese packaging recommendations, Matt's pie charts, and Bec's framed Christmas card.  

What's the most cunning way to move furniture on your own? Thoughtful ideas for Christmas presents Answers to the riddle of Pudding's Wheel, including a brilliant piece of maths by a listener. Recipe for microwave fudge: 3 cups of milk or dark chocolate bits (roughly 500g) 1 tin condensed milk 1/4 cup of butter Step 1. Microwave all ingredients for 3-5mins, stopping to stir occasionally. Step 2. Grease or line a deep tray/dish with baking paper and pour in the mix. Step 3. Refrigerate. Step 4. Once firm, cut into squares. (Note from Bec: in Step 2, I like to dust the baking paper with cacao powder and then dust the squares again once cut in Step 4. It helps stop them from immediately melting back into each other. You can also add nuts and dried fruit or spices if you want to get experimental. Make sure you store this in the fridge whenever possible, as it has a low melting point!) Pudding's instagram: instagram.com/hamsterpud

To celebrate 12 episodes we're collecting some data! If you can, fill in the listener survey: http://thatsurvey.ilikeit.aproblemsquared.com Does this cheese look like it has 41% less packaging? https://www.dropbox.com/s/kuj16lmkgrx8w7i/41cheese.jpeg?dl=0 Here's the wikipedia page we used to make sense of shark teeth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_tooth#/media/File:How_to_count_shark_teeth.png The Weaire-Phelan structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaire%E2%80%93Phelan_structure What a truncated octahedron looks like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_octahedron And a spinning one!  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Truncatedoctahedron.gif MATT'S CALCULATIONS A 140mm × 60mm × 46mm block of cheese has a volume of 386.4 cm^3 and a surface area of 352 cm^2. To give a 41% reduction the original needs to have the same volume of cheese but an area of 596.6 cm^2. Matt assumed there are 4,200,000 current infections and each person has 400,000 virus particles per mL across 2L of fluid. If the SARS-CoV-2 particle has a diameter of 150nm and stacks like spheres with 74% efficiency: those 3,360,000,000,000,000 current virus particles would fill only 8mL, aka "about a teaspoon".

How long is a year of A Problem Squared podcasts? What's the qualification for a room being a room? Is the famous Ferrero Rocher advert mathematically possible? You can visit the Crafts Council campaign here: https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/support-us/appeals-and-projects/lets-craft-packs-children Delve into luxury with the original Ferrero Rocher ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P-nZZkQqTc The best-known packings of equal circles in a circle http://hydra.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/packing/cci/d1.html Correction: Bec's episode of Jonathan Ross's Comedy Club aired on 19th September (Series 1 Episode 2)