Hi, it's Anne.

And in this episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Human Brain is naturally mathematical.

But there is one particular kind of math people have surprisingly strong feelings about, geometry.

For some reason, we seem to love it or hate it,

but geometry lets us view the world in 14 dizzying dimensions.

It's how we'll get computer programs that can write romance novels

and maybe even safeguard democracy.

In this hour, the hidden geometry of life, the universe, and everything else.

From WPR.

It's to the best of our knowledge. I'm Anne Strangeamps.

In the spring of 2011, in a locked room, a group. In the spring of 2011, in a locked room at a law firm in Madison, Wisconsin, a group of Republican

aides and consultants met to remap the state's voting districts.

There are more Republicans that are affected by pairings than there are Democrats.

Under a strict cone of silence, they devised a set of maps with a single overriding objective,

keep the Republican Party in power for a decade.

We have once again fulfilled one of the promises that we made, and I'm not going to

apologize for that.

But meanwhile, another group of professionals was growing concerned about gerrymandering,

not just in Wisconsin, but across the country.

Mathematicians.

We always thought it was a geometric story.

We split the state up into districts here in Wisconsin. There's

...