This episode is presented by eBay.

Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time, don't they? Absolutely, mate. And you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. there's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.

Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.

Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most importantly, free. It's free, Rob.

When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay.

It excludes vehicles and business sellers.

Welcome to Scientific Americans Science Talk posted on November 20th, 2015. I'm Steve Merski.

On this episode, I think a lot of the fun stuff has been taken out of the math curriculum,

with all the emphasis these days on testing and accountability. I want people not

just to learn mathematics. I want people to love mathematics. That's Arthur Benjamin. He's the

Smallwood family professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California.

You may know him from his three TED Talks, which have been viewed more than

10 million times. He's been the editor of Math Horizons Magazine, published by the Mathematical

Association of America, and he is the author of the new book, The Magic of Math, Solving for X

and Figuring Out Y Why from Basic Books.

He was recently in New York City on a book tour, and we spoke at the Scientific American offices.

You talk in the book.

You have this one example.

There are many fascinating examples in the book that illustrate your point about the magic of math.

And we should say, you know, this is for Scientific American, and your hero was Martin Gardner.

Absolutely.

Martin Gardner was the original math magician and the best.

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