Because Adam Spencer (web | @adambspencer) is a math geek, that’s why.
You don’t have to just take my word for it though. Check out the TED talk he gave in February of 2013.
http://www.ted.com/talks/adam_spencer_why_i_fell_in_love_with_monster_prime_numbers
Math is something that is near and dear to my heart also (MS, Mathematics, Washington State University). Watching Adam give this talk reminded me just how much I enjoy math, numbers, and data in general.
Adam’s talk also brought out additional points I felt were worth mentioning:
Soft skills have more value than hard skills
Adam talks directly about how he doesn’t have the same level of hard skills as other mathematicians, but that is OK because his value is in telling the story of the mathematics. In other words, in a room full of PhDs, only a handful of them are able to communicate effectively. People who have a combination of hard and soft skills are in greater demand than those with just hard skills. I see this a lot in the technology field as well. Hard skills have a ceiling. Soft skills have a higher ceiling. If you combine hard and soft skills, there is no ceiling. I’d put Adam’s TED talk up against anything from Neil or Carl.
Less is more
Adam’s slides aren’t full of bulleted text. They have few words, if any. They are there to serve as a guide for him as he transitions through his story. He even mentions a session (by Frank Nelson Cole) that lasted an hour and had no words (and I will assume no Powerpoint slides, either). Also, the humor that Adam uses throughout is a result of his allowing the humor to flow from the content, as opposed to trying to inject or force humor into the content. Adam also knows when enough is enough, he doesn’t try to overdo the amount of humor. He knows this isn’t a comedy club.
Keep things simple
His “Don’t Freak Out” slide is brilliant. He knows that folks might be intimidated by math, or simply not interested. So he makes certain that everyone has the same fundamental knowledge of what a prime number is, what 2 to the 5th power means, and that you won’t need anything more complex than that for the rest of the talk. He makes certain everyone is comfortable with the level of the content, and he also finds ways to make the content relatable. Telling the audience that the largest prime number is 22Mb of storage doesn’t work as well as using the Harry Potter novels.
Lastly, I share in Adam’s conclusion, that the power of the mind to think of, and solve, what appear to be simple questions is amazing. Is this number prime? Simple question, but it requires a lot of grunt work to find out. Why do we have mass? Same thing…simple question, but a lot of grunt work to find out. The power of our minds to think of the questions, then build the tools to answer the questions, is truly amazing.
