Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.

My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.

It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,

but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.

And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths.

We have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives,

we've got drama and even comedy experts.

We really can do those stories justice.

So if you like this podcast head to BBC

signs where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.

Thank you for downloading the more or less podcast. We are your weekly guide to the numbers in the news and in life and I'm Tim Harford.

This week I am joined by Matt Parker.

And Matt is a friend of the program, he is the star of the YouTube channel Stand Up Maths,

and he is the author of the new book Love Triangle, which is a great title. Sadly, the subtitle is The Life Changing Magic of Trigonometry.

Mat Trigonometry is clearly the most boring, irrelevant and ancient part of all maths.

It's the thing that everybody is forced to learn at school.

I can't remember liking trigonometry.

Why an earth have you decided to write a book about it?

You sound just like my publishers. And so tell me more.

Come on. I was like, no, that's the point. I think it would be very funny to write a book

about Trigonometry, the famously boring and annoying subject,

but my theory is, like things like Pythagoras and your trig ratios,

...