Maths for Kids / Maths is Not Boring: The Kids Maths Podcast

What is an even number?

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Have you ever noticed that numbers have a secret pattern hiding right in plain sight? It is the oldest pattern in mathematics: odd and even numbers! But what does that actually mean? Imagine lining up a giant pile of your favorite jelly beans. If you slide them across the table in pairs and every single sweet gets a buddy, that number is even! But if there is one lonely sweet left over? That makes it an odd number! This simple rule is so amazing that the ancient Greek Pythagoreans were obsessed with it 2,500 years ago! They believed numbers had personalities and that odd and even were the basic forces of the universe. Did you know that if you add two odd numbers together, the lonely sweets pair up, always making an even number? And what about the biggest trickster of all: zero? Believe it or not, zero is totally an even number! This ancient math secret isn't just floating in space; it decides things in your everyday life! It organizes the houses on your street and makes sure rolling a dice is perfectly fair. Let's uncover the amazing secrets of odd and even!

What is an algorithm?

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Did you know the very first computer program was written in 1843, before computers or even lightbulbs were invented?! Join Mira and Finn on an amazing time-travel adventure back to Victorian London to discover the magic of algorithms! An algorithm is just a simple list of exact steps—like a recipe for baking a cake, but for math and logic! In this episode, we meet a brilliant mathematician named Ada Lovelace. When she saw the plans for a massive, steam-powered mechanical calculator called the Analytical Engine made entirely of brass cogs and gears, she saw the future! She wrote a famous set of instructions called Note G, which became the world's very first computer program. Ada even predicted that one day, machines like this could compose beautiful music! Find out how Ada's brilliant steps were meant to be fed into the machine using punched cardboard cards, and learn how her amazing ideas are still used today in every single app, map, and video game on your phone! Get ready to discover the magic hiding in the math!

How did they invent the metre?

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Have you ever wondered why a metre is exactly that long? Imagine trying to build a treehouse with your friends, but everyone's ruler is a completely different size! That is exactly what life was like in France in the 1780s. A foot or a pound changed from town to town, making building and trading a total chaotic mess! To fix this, two brilliant astronomers, Jean-Baptiste Delambre and Pierre Méchain, set out on a wild seven-year adventure in 1792. Their mission? To create a brand new measurement that belonged to everyone. They decided a "metre" would be exactly one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator. But they didn't just do math at a desk—they climbed giant church towers and freezing mountain peaks with heavy brass telescopes! They even had to dodge angry mobs during the French Revolution because people thought they were spies! Join Mira and Finn as we uncover how these scientists dragged their telescopes across countries to create the world's very first metre. You will even discover the mind-bending secret of how we measure the metre today using the speed of light!

What is base sixty?

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Have you ever looked at a ticking clock and wondered: why are there 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour? Why not a nice, tidy 100? Get ready to travel back in time almost 4,000 years to ancient Iraq to uncover a time-telling mystery hiding in plain sight! Join Mira and Finn as they explore the mind-blowing math of the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians. Instead of counting by tens like we usually do, these ancient astronomers counted in Base Sixty! But why did they pick such a giant number? Because sixty is the friendliest number ever! It can be perfectly shared into halves, thirds, quarters, and so much more without anyone getting a weird half-slice. You'll learn how the Babylonians wrote all their numbers on soft clay tablets using just two simple shapes, and discover a secret way to count to sixty using just your finger joints! The next time you watch a microwave timer count down, you'll know you are using an ancient magic called Sexagesimal!

What is the Collatz conjecture?

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Have you ever heard of a math puzzle that acts like a wild weather storm? In 1937, a mathematician named Lothar Collatz invented a simple number machine with just two rules: if a number is even, cut it in half. If it is odd, multiply it by three and add one! Sounds easy, right? But what happens next is pure magic! Instead of acting normally, the numbers bounce wildly up and down like hailstones caught in a massive storm cloud! Some climb up into the thousands, while others drop low, but eventually, every single number gets trapped in the exact same endless loop: 4-2-1! Scientists have used massive supercomputers to check over 295 quintillion numbers, and they all get sucked into this strange mathematical whirlpool. But here is the ultimate mystery: nobody in the world has ever been able to prove why it works or if a giant number exists out there in infinity that can finally escape! Join Mira and Finn as they explore the mind-bending Collatz Conjecture, the ultimate unsolved puzzle hiding right behind simple math!

What is Zeno's paradox?

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Have you ever tried to walk across a room, but realized you have to go halfway first? And then half of that remaining distance? And half of that? Welcome to one of the most mind-bending puzzles in history! Over 2,500 years ago, an ancient Greek thinker named Zeno of Elea came up with a massive brain-teaser called Zeno's paradox. He imagined a race between the world's fastest hero, Achilles, and a slow, creeping tortoise. Because Achilles is so fast, he gives the tortoise a big head start. But every time Achilles reaches the spot where the tortoise just was, the tortoise has moved a tiny bit forward! If this keeps happening forever and ever in smaller and smaller gaps, how does Achilles ever catch up? Join Mira and Finn on Maths is Not Boring as they unravel this ancient mystery! You'll discover how clever mathematicians finally solved this endless puzzle using the magic of limits. Get ready to realize that every time you walk to the kitchen for a snack, you are literally conquering infinity!

What was the first times table?

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

Have you ever wondered who invented times tables? Or why three times four is exactly the same as four times three? It's time to discover the quiet magic of multiplication! Imagine lining up your favorite wrapped sweets on a table in three rows of four. Now, walk around to the side of the table. Suddenly, it looks like four rows of three, but you haven't moved a single sweet! Mathematicians call this amazing swapping trick "commutativity," and it perfectly hides in plain sight in chocolate bars, egg cartons, and even the folding seats in a cinema! But how long have humans known this math secret? Grab your time machine because we are traveling all the way back to ancient China around 305 BCE! You won't find paper books here. Instead, ancient scholars wrote their math on delicate bamboo strips! In the 2010s, historians pieced together 21 muddy, waterlogged bamboo strips found in an ancient tomb to discover the oldest decimal times table in the entire world! Join Mira and Finn as they solve a 2,000-year-old puzzle, explore why this magic trick doesn't work for subtraction, and reveal the hidden math shapes in your kitchen!

Platonic Solids for Kids: Why There Are Only Five Perfect Dice

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0100

The story of the Platonic solids for kids: the five perfect shapes studied by Theaetetus and Plato in ancient Athens, and how Euclid proved around 300 BCE there can never be a sixth.

• What makes a solid perfect: the same faces and the same corners
• Why only five shapes work, worked out with triangles, squares and pentagons at a corner
• Why each one makes a fair die, and where they turn up in salt crystals and viruses
• Quiz questions to answer along the way