What is a tangram?
2026-11-02
Have you ever played with a puzzle that can turn into a crouching cat, a running person, or a tall sailing boat? Welcome to the magical world of tangrams! A tangram is a famous puzzle from China made of exactly seven pieces: five triangles, one square, and a slanted shape called a parallelogram. When an American sea captain brought these puzzles home in 1815, it started a massive craze across America and Europe. People were so obsessed that even the French Emperor Napoleon played with them while stranded on a lonely island! But here is the most amazing secret hiding inside those seven pieces: no matter what crazy shape you build, it will always cover the exact same amount of space on the table. In maths, this mind-bending trick is called "conservation of area"! Join Mira and Finn as they uncover the incredible history and hidden maths behind this shape-shifting puzzle. Grab your puzzle pieces and let's get building!
- No. of episodes
- 52
- Latest episode
- 2026-11-02
Where can you listen?
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Podtail
Google Podcasts
RSS
A groundbreaking podcast for curious kids aged 4-12 that proves maths is anything but dull.
Join our fictional AI hosts Mira, a brilliant 9-year-old, and her younger brother Finn, age 7, as they set off on a journey into one great mathematical idea each episode. From numbers that never end and shapes with only one side to the strange rules of chance and the secret patterns in a snowflake, each episode uncovers an idea that is simple at its heart and extraordinary because it is everywhere - told in a way that actually makes sense to kids.
Nobody does sums here. Whether you're discovering why infinity comes in different sizes, how a shuffled pack of cards is almost certainly in an order no one has ever seen, why honeycombs are made of hexagons, where the number zero came from, or what makes a prime number special - Maths is Not Boring turns big ideas into stories that ignite curiosity and wonder, and gives kids one more clue to how the world works.
Because maths isn't a list of rules to learn. It's the most beautiful way anyone has ever found of seeing the world.A note on why we use AI. For us, AI allows us to deliver learning at a scale and quality that previously would have been too expensive. If we make the odd technical error, or the sound goes a bit funny, bear with us, we’re trying our best. We hope you enjoy the show!