How Math Helps Us Map The World

How Math Helps Us Map The World

In "Mapmatics," a mathematician tells the stories of how math helps us track epidemics, map the seafloor, and plot a complex delivery route.

It’s easy to take maps for granted, but to make a map useful, you have to decide what to keep in and what to leave out—and, most importantly, which mathematical equations to use.

Math and maps come together for a wide variety of things, like working out the most efficient route to deliver packages, calculating the depth of the ocean floor, and more.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Paulina Rowińska, mathematician and author of Mapmatics: A Mathematician’s Guide to Navigating the World, to go on a journey through the math at the heart of all kinds of maps.

Read an excerpt of Mapmatics: A Mathematician’s Guide to Navigating the World.

Author summary: Math helps us map the world efficiently.

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Science Friday Science Friday — 2025-10-16

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