Name: Math is forever
Uploaded: 2015-04-07T15:53:05Z
Duration: 9 min 31 s
Description: With humor and charm, mathematician Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón answers a question that's wracked the brains of bored students the world over: What is math for? He shows the beauty of math as the backbone of science — and shows that theorems, not diamonds, are forever. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

In fact, if you would like to cover the distance from the Earth to the sun by folding a 0.1-millimeter piece of paper, 50 folds gets you close to the sun, but not quite, and 51 folds gets you way beyond the sun. But saying you should fold a piece of paper "50 point something times” would have sounded strange!

Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón: Math is forever

Math is forever

With humor and charm, mathematician Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón answers a question that's wracked the brains of bored students the world over: What is math for? He shows the beauty of math as the backbone of science — and shows that theorems, not diamonds, are forever. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Mathematics provides more than practical tools; its truths endure longer than the hardest diamond. A single sheet of paper folded 50 times would reach nearly from Earth to the sun, defying intuition and showing math's power to reveal reality. Theorems, once proved, remain eternally true even as the world changes. Math's rigor forms the backbone of science, quietly supporting breakthroughs from honeycombs to Olympic architecture.