TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve the Control Room Riddle?
As your country's top spy, you must infiltrate the headquarters of the evil syndicate, find the secret control panel, and deactivate their death ray. But your reconnaissance team is spotty, and you have only limited information about the...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Origin of Countless Conspiracy Theories
Why can we find geometric shapes in the night sky? How can we know that at least two people in London have exactly the same number of hairs on their head? And why can patterns be found in just about any text - even Vanilla Ice lyrics?...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Psychology Behind Irrational Decisions
Often people make decisions that are not "rational" from a purely economical point of view. Sara Garofalo explains heuristics, problem-solving approaches based on previous experience and intuition rather than analysis. [4:39]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
How are spacetime, dark matter and gravity related? In celebration of the centennial of Einstein's theory of general relativity, this video breaks it down. [3:04]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Should You Trust Unanimous Decisions?
Imagine a police lineup where ten witnesses are asked to identify a bank robber they glimpsed fleeing the scene. If six of them pick the same person, there's a good chance that's the culprit. And if all ten do, you might think the case...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve the Locker Riddle?
Your rich, eccentric uncle just passed away, and you and your 99 nasty relatives have been invited to the reading of his will. He wanted to leave all of his money to you, but he knew that if he did, your relatives would pester you...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve the Frog Riddle?
You're stranded in a rainforest, and you've eaten a poisonous mushroom. To save your life, you need an antidote excreted by a certain species of frog. Unfortunately, only the female frog produces the antidote. The male and female look...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve the Temple Riddle?
Your expedition finally stands at the heart of the ancient temple. But as you study the inscriptions in the darkness, two wisps of green smoke burst forth. The walls begin to shake. The giant sandglass begins flowing with less than an...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve "Einstein's Riddle"?
Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle involving a stolen exotic fish and a long list of suspects. Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How Did Clouds Get Their Names?
Richard Hamblyn tells the history of Luke Howard, the man who classified the clouds and forever changed humanity's understanding of these changeable, mysterious objects. [5:07]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve the Prisoner Hat Riddle?
You and nine other individuals have been captured by super-intelligent alien overlords. The aliens think humans look quite tasty, but their civilization forbids eating highly logical and cooperative beings. Unfortunately, they're not...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Mathematical Secrets of Pascal's Triangle
Wajdi Mohamed Ratemi shows how Pascal's triangle is full of patterns and secrets. [4:50]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Why Are Manhole Covers Round?
Why are most manhole covers round? Sure it makes them easy to roll, and slide into place in any alignment. But there's another, more compelling reason, involving a peculiar geometric property of circles and other shapes. Marc Chamberland...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Last Banana: A Thought Experiment in Probability
Imagine a game played with two players and two dice: if the biggest number rolled is one, two, three, or four, player 1 wins. If the biggest number rolled is five or six, player 2 wins. Who has the best probability of winning the game?...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Mighty Mathematics of the Lever
Andy Peterson and Zack Patterson use the seesaw to illustrate the amazing implications and uses of the lever. [4:45]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Is Math Discovered or Invented?
Would mathematics exist if people didn't? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Mile of Pi
The team from Numberphile printed one million decimal places of Pi onto a piece of paper which stretched for over a mile. They rolled it out on a runway usually used for testing planes and cars. [6:28]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Is Our Climate Headed for a Mathematical Tipping Point?
Scientists have warned that as CO2 levels in the atmosphere rise an increase in Earth's temperature by even two degrees could lead to catastrophic effects across the world. But how can such a tiny, measurable change in one factor lead to...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Can You Solve This?
In this video, Veritasium asks people to try and figure out the rules of a pattern presented. This video teaches us about the scientific method and how our preconceived notions can affect how we discover new information. [4:43]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Should I Stay or Should I Switch Doors?
The Monty Hall Problem is a brain teaser based on the popular game show, Let's Make a Deal. The folks at Numberphile explore the famous problem which posits if a contestant should switch doors in order to find the car amongst the goats....
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Why Do Honeybees Love Hexagons?
Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson delve into the very smart geometry behind the honeybee's home. [3:58]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Case of the Missing Fractals
A bump on the head, a mysterious femme fatale and a strange encounter on a windswept peak all add up to a heck of a night for Manny Brot, Private Eye. Watch as he tries his hand at saving the dame and getting the cash! Shudder at the...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How Many Ways Can You Arrange a Deck of Cards?
Any time you pick up a well shuffled deck, you are almost certainly holding an arrangement of cards that has never before existed and might not exist again. Yannay Khaikin explains how factorials allow us to pinpoint the exact (very...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: An Athlete Uses Physics to Shatter World Records
When Dick Fosbury couldn't compete against the skilled high jumpers at his college, he tried jumping backwards. Fosbury improved his record immediately and continued to amaze the world with his new technique all the way to Olympic gold....