The Math Dude Quick and Dirty Tips to Make Math Easier

What’s the point of learning math? Why is it so important that kids are exposed to mathematical thinking? And what do parents and teachers need to know about learning real math? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2mINl8z

Learn how to use absolute values to find distances between numbers and places. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2lPuJQ7

What does it really mean for a satellite to orbit the Earth? What’s the math behind it? And what’s the math behind the rockets that get those satellites into orbit? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2l9sIAz

How many degrees are in the interior angles of a pentagon? Or a hexagon? An octagon? Or any polygon? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to learn how to solve this polygon puzzle! Visit the website: http://bit.ly/1IF5Uu1

How large was the crowd at the recent U.S. presidential inauguration? Or the inauguration 8 years ago? Or at last Saturday’s Women’s March in Washington D.C.? Keep on listening to find out how crowd sizes are estimated. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2kAq43R

Would you rather get a 33% bigger coffee for no extra charge or pay 33% less for the regular size? Do you know how to avoid being tricked into buying more than you need? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to learn about the numbers behind savvy shopping. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1FiHHNz

How can you measure time without using a stopwatch? You could use the movement of the Sun across the sky, you could watch a pendulum swing, or you could burn some very special string. Keep on listening to find out how it works! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1E8ZcuF

How do you quickly calculate 25% of a number? Or 33% of a number? Or 50%? And how can you quickly calculate percentage increases? Keep on listening to learn the answers to these frequently asked questions about percentages. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2i46GPA

Do "word problems" make you cower in fear? Do you ever find yourself stuck on math problems before you even get started? If so, keep on listening because Math Dude's simple 5-step method for solving math problems can help! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2hZORNn

How many gifts should one's true love be given on each of the 12 Days of Christmas? If you stick to the recommendations from the classic song, the answer can be calculated using a bit of clever math. Keep on listening to find out how. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2hDDkm7

How long does Santa have to hang out when he's dropping presents off at your house? And how fast do his reindeer fly? Keep on listening to find out about the incredible math behind Santa's magical night! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2iEKwAa

Are we alone in the universe? If so, why? If not, where is everybody? Thankfully, math can help us with these astronomically profound questions. Keep on listening to learn all about the probability of extraterrestrial life. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2isqx83

Learn a quick and dirty tip to help you calculate pesky percentages in your head. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2h6A1rU SPONSOR: Try GotoMeeting with HDFaces Today Free for 30 Days!

How many turkeys are consumed each year in the U.S. on Thanksgiving? And how many extraterrestrial civilizations might exist in the universe? Umm…wait…what?! Although these seem like unrelated questions, they’re not. As we'll soon find out, they’re united by math. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2fUBPnD

Learn what mixed fractions are and find out how they're related to regular fractions.

The 2016 U.S. presidential election is over. And if you'd been following the polls, the results might have been surprising. What went wrong with those polls? It has to do with statistical and systematic uncertainties. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2gnNRpX

The solar system is big, the distances between stars bigger, and the distance to the center of the galaxy in which we live is even bigger than that. But all of that is tiny compared to the distance to the edge of the known universe! Just how big is that? The Math Dude breaks it all down. Visit the website to read the full transcript: http://bit.ly/UBERxy

Do you have a good feel for the size of the Earth? If you’re like most people, you know that it’s big but you don’t have a sense for exactly how big. Today we’re going to change that! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2eVwubz

How much is a gram? An ounce? Or a ton? If you don't have an intuitive feel for exactly how much mass these quantities represent, keep on listening! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2dWyR0G

What causes the Moon to change phases throughout the month? Why is it sometimes visible only during the day and other times only at night? What’s the relationship between these times and the Moon’s phases? The answer in all cases is geometry. Keep on listening to find out how it works! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2ebEjeY

What do a triangle, a rectangle, and a pentagon all have in common? They’re all polygons. What makes a polygon a polygon? And why do they matter? Keep on listening to find out! Visit the website: http://bit.ly/1ANCZEg

Richard Wiseman, author of 101 Bets You Will Always Win, joins Math Dude, to talk about how to use probability and mathematics to win bets. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2dkwBio

How good are your eyes at seeing really tiny things that are really far away? How much better is the Hubble Space Telescope at doing the same thing? What do these two questions have to do with the mathematical concept of angular size? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2d9FpGH

Can you think of a way to measure the size of the Earth? Or the distance to the Sun? Or the nearest star? Want to know how ancient Greek mathematicians did exactly this over 2,000 years ago? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2duvgGw

What do uniform numbers tell you about NFL players? How can you estimate how fast a wide-receiver is running? Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1Vc3ZZs

Do you know what a light year really measures? Do you know why so many people find it confusing? And why they shouldn’t? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2cRCALY

What are the odds of successfully flying through an astroid field like the one in the movie The Empire Strikes Back? Are they really 3,720 to 1 as suggested by C-3PO? Or are they much worse…or perhaps better? Keep on listening to find out. And May the 4th be with you! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2c4TRBc

Did you notice all the ties in the swimming events of this year's Olympics? Did you wonder why they didn't (or maybe couldn't) simply use more precise timing to break the ties? Not surprisingly, the answer is math. Keep on listening to find out why! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2bpLSA4

Have you heard of FOIL? Not the aluminum kind, but the one that can help your multiply faster? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to learn more! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1K6g33D

How fast do Olympic swimmers swim and Olympic sprinters sprint? How do these speeds compare to the speed at which you could race walk to the games? Or fly there in an airplane? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2aVf5MZ

How big are the planets of the Solar System compared to the enormous Sun at its center? How far would you have to travel to reach each of them? And how can you build your own scale model of the Solar System to see all of these relative sizes for yourself? Keep on listening to find out!

What are polynomials? How are they built? What can you do with them? And why are they important? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/2alOY5e

You know your phone’s keypad is arranged into three rows and three columns of numbers, but did you know there’s a pretty cool math puzzle hidden in there, too? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out how to solve it! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1LqGcjm

Did you hear the exciting news that NASA just successfully put the Juno spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter? Want to learn 4 super-cool numerical fun facts about this mission? Then keep on listening! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/29EqQdy

What's the cube root of 29? The sine of 55 degrees? Or the value of π/4? Do you need to search for your trusty calculator or pull out your phone to find out? No—you can just ask Google. Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out how. Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/29L8kiU

Summer is brain-teaser season in my house. And since summer has now officially arrived, it’s officially brain-teaser season for The Math Dude. What’s the puzzle for today? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/29spCmZ

Have you ever heard of a nautical mile? Have you ever wondered what in all the world’s oceans that could be? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to learn about the math behind the nautical mile - and its close seafaring relative, the knot. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1Cb0CTp

What does the Pythagorean Theorem tell us about triangles? Is it always true? And how can you prove this famous theorem arts-and-crafts style? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/28OoVnq

Did you know that math can help you survive? I’m not talking about the jobs, money, and feeding yourself kind of surviving—I’m talking about the lost in the wilderness, life depends on it kind. How? Keep on listening to The Math Dude to find out. Read the transcript here: http://bit.ly/1GcVCUV

What does it mean to divide an integer by a fraction? Or a positive number by a negative number? Or even a negative number by another negative number? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1UjRl4y

How many degrees do the three angles of a triangle contain? They've got 180 of 'em, right? Why 180 and not some other number? And do all triangles really contain 180 degrees? Keep on listening to find out! Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/11fbwwv

What does it really mean to divide two numbers? Or two variables? How can you visualize these processes? And how are they related to the process of multiplication? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1Xqsr88

What's the most important holiday in May? Obviously it's Mother's Day. Did you know there's an equation that can help you celebrate? Keep on reading to find out what it is! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1Og53su

What does it mean to multiply a positive number by a negative number? What does it mean to multiply two negative numbers? How about two variables? Or lots and lots of variables? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1rqtjO9

Learn how to simplify the fractions in your life. SPONSOR: Try lynda.com free for 7 days by visiting lynda.com/math! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1VGjSXN

What happens when you multiply one number by another? Is there a right answer to this question? What does it tell us about how you should think about multiplication? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/21oazeO

Learn what one-time pad encryption is, how it has been used throughout history, and how to use math to send your own encrypted messages. Questions go to mathdude@quickanddirtytips.com. Like what you hear? Help us out by writing a review at iTunes! Read the full transcript: http://bit.ly/UZqPpb

How can you quickly figure out how many games are needed to determine the winner of a tournament? What are the odds of predicting the winner of each and every game? And how does this explain why your NCAA tournament bracket was so wrong? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1N9qjPU

What are the odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery jackpot and striking it rich? How long would you need to play before having a 50-50 chance of winning? Keep on listening to find out! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/21M7fZl

Do you really know what subtraction is? By which I mean do you really feel it in your gut? Here's part two of the series that will help you do so! Read the full transcript here: http://bit.ly/1q7Pus0

Happy Pi Day 2014! What is pi? Why does it have its own holiday? And what are some fun (and useful) facts to know about this famous number? Keep on listening to find out! Read the transcript here: http://bit.ly/1MmsaKU