How to Use Math to Win the Games We Love — and Learn More About Ourselves

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

University of Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy loves games. He’s spent much of his career popularizing math — and for him, games are a way to “play mathematics.” But playing math might not be the first reason your nephew gives when you ask him why he loves video games, or your friend when she describes her undying love for “Risk”. There are elements of social psychology, from competition to collaboration, that also draw us toward getting the “Scrabble” board out of the closet and onto the dining room table. For many of us, games not only inform our identities — they build our sense of selves and community. “Tell me the game you play and I will tell you who you are,” writes du Sautoy in his new book, “Around the World in 80 Games”— and we want to hear from you: What’s your game? Du Sautoy joins us to hear your answers, as well as share the history and power our favorite games hold over us. Guests: Marcus du Sautoy, Simonyi professor for the public understanding of science and professor of mathematics, the University of Oxford Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:53.5	Coming up on forum, Marcus to Sotoi, a mathematician at the University, From KQBD in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
0:54.8	Coming up on forum, Marcus DeSotoi, a mathematician at the University of Oxford, loves games.
1:00.4	Backgammon, Mahjong, ticket to ride.
1:03.0	For him, there are a way to play mathematics.
1:05.9	But the psychological elements of competition and collaboration also make games endlessly fascinating.
1:11.6	And from his travels across the globe collecting games and learning their origins,
1:15.6	to So Toyi believes they're the height of human ingenuity, with the power to create connection,
1:21.6	strengthen bonds, and shape who we are.
1:23.6	What games did you play with family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday? Tell us after this news.
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