A great discovery that no one appreciates is not really a great discovery because science is a social enterprise.

It's not just enough to do the work, you have to communicate it and help other people understand why it matters.

Hello and welcome. I'm Shane Parrish and you're listening to The Knowledge Project, a podcast dedicated to mastering the best of what other people have

already figured out. I'm going to help you better understand yourself and the world around you by exploring the ideas, methods and mental models from some of the most outstanding people in the world.

Together, we'll extract the Thomas lessons from their biggest successes as well as the hard times.

The Knowledge Project is part of Furnham Street, a website dedicated to helping you think better and live better.

Furnham Street puts together a free weekly newsletter that I think you'll love. It's called Brain Feud and it comes out every Sunday.

Our team scours the internet for the most mine expanding books, articles and resources so that you can spend less time searching and more time learning.

Discover what you're missing at F.S. Doble.

Today I'm talking with Steve and Strogatz, professor of applied mathematics at Cornell University.

I wanted to talk with Steve after reading his most recent book Infinite Powers, which explores how calculus unlocks the secrets of the universe.

Together, we'll explore how math helps us better understand the world and make better decisions and as you'll see, Steve makes learning things fun and practical.

Let's get started. It's time to listen and learn.

The Knowledge Project is sponsored by Metal Lab. For a decade, Metal Lab has helped some of the world's top companies and entrepreneurs build products that millions of people use every day.

You probably didn't realize it at the time, but odds are you've used an app that they've helped design or build.

Apps like Slack, Coinbase, Facebook Messenger, Oculus, Lonely Planet and many more.

Metal Lab wants to bring their unique design philosophy to your project. Let them take your brainstorm and turn it into the next billion dollar app from idea sketched on the back of a napkin to a final ship product.

Check them out at metalab.co. That's metalab.co. And when you get in touch, tell them Shane sent you.

How did you get interested in math? Was it a story that pulled you in? Were you innately interested in it? Was it something like a teacher? Like how did this happen?

Well, I was interested in all of school and I still am. I like all the different subjects. But so math didn't stand out for me.

I'd say pretty much for most of my childhood. It was just one among many. But then I do remember one or two moments where it started to take special significance.

One was I had two friends when I was about, well, let's see, we would use a call a junior high school. So it was seventh and eighth grade. I must have been about 12 years old.

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