Professor, Mathematician and Writer John A. Paulos joins the show to discuss math education, the power of puzzles, cognitive biases, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

  • John’s Website
  • John’s Twitter

Show Notes:

  • Why Do People Hate Math?
  • The Power of Posing Problems with Counterintuitive or Shocking Results
  • Using Everyday Examples to Understand Math Concepts
  • Systems Designed to Take Advantage of Innumeracy
  • People’s Ignorance of Randomness and Random Samples
  • The Strange Power of Anchoring Bias
  • Tradeoffs between Probability and Plausibility
  • The Prisoner’s Dilemma & Math Anxiety
  • Improving the Monty Hall Problem
  • Designing an Ideal Intro Math Course
  • The Big Brother Aspect of Nudging
  • John as Emperor of the World
  • MORE!

Books Mentioned:

  • Innumeracy - Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences; by J.A. Paulos
  • A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market; by J.A. Paulos
  • A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper; by J.A. Paulos
  • Statistics; by D.A. Freedman, R. Pisani, and R.A. Purves
  • Thinking Fast and Slow; by Daniel Kahneman