The following is a conversation with Gilbert Strang.

He's a professor of mathematics in MIT

and perhaps one of the most famous and impactful teachers

of math in the world.

His MIT Open Coursework lectures on linear algebra

have been viewed millions of times.

As an undergraduate student, I was one of those millions

of students.

There's something inspiring about the way he teaches.

There's at once calm, simple, and yet full of passion

for the elegance inherent to mathematics.

I remember doing the exercise in his book,

Introduction to Linear Algebra, and slowly realizing

that the world of matrices, of vector spaces,

of determinants and eigenvalues, of geometric transformations,

and matrix decompositions, reveal a set of powerful tools

in the toolbox of artificial intelligence.

From signals to images, from numerical optimization

to robotics, computer vision, deep learning, computer

graphics, and everywhere outside AI, including, of course,

a quantum mechanical study of our universe.

This is the Artificial Intelligence Podcast.

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