Skip to content

Go Play!

2020-09-04 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:51 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Responding to a TikTok in which a young woman asks whether math is real and how Pythagoras came up with it, Hank argues that such questions lead to a joyous understanding of math: Pythagoras built a perfect universe in his mind through play, and math is a game, yet teaching has turned it into equations to remember for tests.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A TikTok asks whether math is real and how Pythagoras figured it out; Hank's frustration with how math is taught

  • ★★★ Hank says a young woman's TikTok asking whether math is real and how Pythagoras came up with it asks all the right questions, which lead to a joyous understanding of math. — 00:00:00 · TikTok
  • ★★★ Hank is frustrated that math is often taught today in a way that ignores these questions. — 00:00:30 · education

00:00:49 — Pythagoras's perfect mental triangle, how he may have found his theorem, and why it is interesting

  • ★★ Hank says Pythagoras's theorem is a truth truer than reality: every real point is blunt and every line wiggles, but Pythagoras imagined a perfect triangle with straight lines and pointy points. — 00:00:49
  • ★★ Hank says no one is sure how Pythagoras found his theorem; the most discussed account is that he split square tiles diagonally into triangles and saw the leg squares make up the hypotenuse square. (hedged) — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank says Pythagoras needed no special knowledge or technology to figure this out, only to play a game in his mind. — 00:01:47
  • ★ Hank jokes that while some say Pythagoras was visiting a palace, he puts a 90% chance on him pooping. (joke, speculative) — 00:01:58
  • ★★ Hank says the Pythagorean theorem is useful to people, though not to him, but that is not why it is interesting: it is interesting because it is interesting. — 00:02:03

00:02:16 — Mathematicians build perfect universes in their minds; does math exist; the mocking of the TikToker; math as a game versus math for tests

  • ★★★ Hank finds it wild that we teach the Pythagorean theorem without teaching that mathematicians build universes in their minds that are, in some ways, more perfect than ours. — 00:02:16 · education
  • ★★ Hank says Pythagoras built a cult promising secret knowledge about this and actually delivered it, a fact sometimes but not always taught. — 00:02:30
  • ★★★ Asked whether math exists, Hank says he doesn't know: did Pythagoras discover or invent his theorem, is math an artifact of our minds or of reality? (unsure) — 00:02:46
  • ★★ Hank says no one knows the answer to whether math exists, but people should be allowed to ask it. — 00:03:00
  • ★★ Hank finds it most discouraging that people mocked the young woman, as if she were stupid, when she was asking the big questions. — 00:03:06

  • ★★★ Hank says math is a game we play in our minds, yet teaching has gone from inviting play to demanding remembered equations used to judge who gets to go to college. — 00:03:15 · education

    “Math is a game. It's a game we play in our minds.”

  • ★ Hank blesses the young woman for her questions and Kyne the drag queen for explaining mathematics on TikTok. — 00:03:25 · TikTok

  • ★★ Hank says he interviewed Bill Gates about misinformation and internet platforms on Hank's channel, suggests checking it out, and says he liked it. — 00:03:43 · hankschannel

00:03:44 — Plug for Hank's interview with Bill Gates on misinformation on Hank's channel

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description notes that Crash Course has done math in a way: an algebra course made in partnership with Arizona State University. — video description · Crash Course
  • ★★ The description says Crash Course lacks math courses because teaching math for tests is very different from teaching its beauty and joy; they want both and have found that very hard, though not impossible. — video description · Crash Course, education

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: mathematics · Pythagoras · Pythagorean theorem

Also: Bill Gates · education · hankschannel · Kyne Santos · misinformation · philosophy of mathematics · TikTok

Only in the description or credits: Arizona State University · Crash Course · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Also centred on mathematics: The Education Continuum WARNER CHILCOTTED · This 'Math Test' Changed How I See Humanity

← Previous: get the show on · Next → That's the way.