podcasts

The Quanta Podcast

Every Tuesday, editor in chief Samir Patel sits down with writers and editors to discuss our most thought-provoking stories in science and math. Audio editions of Quanta’s stories with Susan Valot will appear biweekly on Thursdays.

All Episodes about combinatorics

A wall with a hole in it, where a pigeon perches

How a Problem About Pigeons Powers Complexity Theory

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An illustration of a mathematician on a ladder stringing red and blue beads against a tiled red backdrop dotted with blue circles.

Mathematician Hurls Structure and Disorder Into Century-Old Problem

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Illustration of 826-vertex graph for "Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician"

Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician

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15 pentagon tessellations

Pentagon Tiling Proof Solves Century-Old Math Problem

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Combinatorics and constellations

A Puzzle of Clever Connections Nears a Happy End

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Simple Set Game Proof Stuns Mathematicians

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Sphere Packing Solved in Higher Dimensions

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