I love math. I can’t draw. That much you could probably guess.
Beyond that: My name is Ben Orlin, and I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I have taught everyone from 11-year-olds to undergraduates — mostly math, but with occasional forays into Psychology, Biology, English, Theory of Knowledge, and even Earth Science (the latter to no one’s benefit, least of all the Earth’s).
One of my great pleasures has been getting to write four books about the power of mathematical ideas:
Here are the crucial details:
Math with Bad Drawings (2018):
- Subtitle: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality
- Color: Blue
- Topic: The myriad uses of mathematics, such as (1) buying lottery tickets, (2) explaining why some siblings look almost like twins and others look almost like strangers, and (3) building spherical space stations that shall crush the rebellion once and for all
- Mood: Zany/Whimsical
- Claim to Fame: Peaked at #4 on the Kindle nonfiction charts
- Mission: Rekindle your mathematical curiosity
Change is the Only Constant (2019):
- Subtitle: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World
- Color: Red
- Topic: Calculus, as explained through literature, philosophy, and the kind of meandering stories your teacher tells that are vastly more memorable than the actual lesson
- Mood: Lyrical/irreverent
- Claim to Fame: Inspired the timeless Are You a Newton or a Leibniz? personality quiz
- Mission: To change the way you think about change
Math Games with Bad Drawings (2022):
- Subtitle: 75 1/4 Simple, Challenging, Go-Anywhere Games–And Why They Matter
- Color: Yellow
- Topic: Pencil-and-paper games that slot into the vast expanse of “more interesting than tic-tac-toe, yet easier to learn than chess”
- Mood: Whopping
- Claim to Fame: Award-winning game designer Dan Finkel called it “so good, I’m not even jealous.” Puzzle guru Alex Bellos said it was “destined to be a classic.”
- Mission: To get you–and the people around you–playing with math.
BONUS: Math Games with Bad Drawings: The Ultimate Game Collection (2022)
- Subtitle: None; it’s a condensed “game box” version of the yellow book
- Color: Orange
- Topic: Simple games, but now with all the stuff you need to play them
- Mood: Hands-on
- Claim to Fame: Bestseller at the leading STEM bookstore in my part of the country
- Mission: To get you playing that math RIGHT NOW
Math for English Majors (2024):
- Subtitle: A Human Take on the Universal Language
- Color: Purple
- Topic: A decade of once-bewildering math education, now made lucid and lovely with the help of stick figure cartoons
- Mood: The bumbling warmth of a kindly professor
- Claim to Fame: Featured on NPR’s Life Kit
- Mission: To help people stop steering around math, as if it were a pothole in the road, and to help them explore streets that they’d otherwise have dismissed as pothole-festooned
I can be found (with slowly mounting ambivalence) on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Or you can email me; I’m just the name of the blog at gmail. I don’t do sponsored posts or links (and won’t reply to such requests), but I love to hear from readers, whether you stumbled here accidentally or are my college roommate Michael Wayne. (Hey there, Michael Wayne!)
I visit everyday a few blogs and blogs to read articles or reviews, but this blog provides quality based writing.
A friendly and resourceful blog, go on!
I like your blog very much! I like the style you write and the cute drawings! Go on!
Fabulous blog
sometimes its the unknown that gets you to your destination
I just stumbled across your blog by accident, as I had an idea of annotating bite size science with bad drawings (as I can’t draw!). And I googled “bad drawings” to see what kind of bad drawings are out there and how I will fair! I love your drawings and your humour! This is an excellent blog.
Wish your blog was around when I was in High school! But found it just in time to share with my son! Thank you!!
I’m so glad I stumbled here…this is why I love Mathematics. Now I have good come backs for my friends.
Ben Orlin, you are a wonderful, wonderful teacher, and a brilliant science communicator. I’m a theoretical physics grad student, so I’m fairly comfortable and familiar with the math you discuss, but your perspective and grace on these topics is nevertheless invaluable.
I hope to be standing in front of a classroom myself in a few years, and any time I’m stuck on how to do something, I’m gonna go, “What would Ben Orlin do?”
This sounds like fanboy gushing, and it is, but I just really love this blog.
You’re too kind, Souradeep – blushing like a Christmas Island crab over here.
Should it be Math or Maths? For years I’ve thought of it in the plural not the singular. If I’d thought there was just one I might have done better at it.
I found your blog through Pocket
http://getpocket.com/@tsharon/share/1033488
“stumbled here accidentally “, glad I did.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” (Author??)
I believe this. Your humor, excellent writing, and unique perspective continue to open my mind, challenge me to draw connections between ideas, and inspire me to be a more gracious teacher. THANKS!
Thanks so much, Audrey!
Interesting and unusual blog. I like its simplicity. Glad I stumbled upon it.
Very interesting pieces. The LA Times piece hits home as I have a ‘Senior’ getting ready to apply for university. The Memorization vs. Learning piece is an issue that I have long contemplated and at times railed against….since I’m raising two teenagers here in the UK (who have done the entirety of their education in England, though we’re also American)….and one has a great memory and the other does not. Great food for thought. Thank you!
I would love to attend your class!!!!!!! Maths + Humours = Yay!!!!
Is there anyway I can do that?
What. Math, humor, cartoons, and good writing??? I don’t even like math, but YES.
Hello, Ben
We’re contacting you to introduce WordPress app for mac which is called WeBlog. We’ve been making it since 1.3years ago and now it’s almost there. And we are trying to find good bloggers who could give us their voice and feedback. So we could make it better and give it back to bloggers.
If you use mac and interested in the WeBlog then please consider join the Beta Program. Here is the relevant post.
Thank you for reading this.
Happy blogging!
– Jusung
Hi Ben –
Can I use one of your probability images to link to your blog in my online Math course?
Thank you!
Barbie Pilla
North Carolina Virtual Public School
Man.
You is fun.
I like silly and smart.
Cuz you can get it. Someone can get it. Come and get it.
That’s all. Thanks. I like you’re attitood.
Cuz (again) I can feel the kindness in it.
@Ben read some math jokes in Reader’s Digest and thought you might like ’em 🙂
https://ramblerz.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/math-jokes/
Just started reading your blog and have been greatly impressed by the quality of the thought that has gone into the writing.
WRT the memorization problem I find that there is no agreement on what the facts a student should know(e.g. 7×6=?) without having to stop and work them out or look them up every time they go to use them. Sine pi/2 isn’t the problem but 7×6 certainly is.
The link to ‘Challenging Opinions Podcast’ gives a ‘404 Not Found’ error.
nice blog on math with drawing so cool.
I love your blog and (honestly) love your drawings, trust me, bad drawing is the opposite of this, if i tried to make a comic strip or anything my characters would NOT look the same in every frame, just sayin’ 🙂
Hi,
I came across your articles at https://mathwithbaddrawings.com and observed you’ve got useful and interesting information for your readers.
I represent InfluencedApp marketing agency and wonder if you are interested in working with us.
I would be grateful if you could send me your advertising rates for guest/sponsored posts and reviews with dofollow links.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Kind Regards,Diane
As a math blogger I can only dream to reach your level. These “bad” drawings, easy explanations and great ideas are truly a gem!
Hello Ben Orlin,
My Name is Iman and I am a Student of Educational Sciences at the University of Munich, Germany. I am taking part at a mini-research project; we are looking at communication in online communities, and especially at pauses in the online communication.
I would be most pleased if you would agree to answer some questions.
Kind regards,
Iman
Sure! Send me an email – just the name of the blog at gmail.com
Yay! Happy to hear from you
I sent you an e-mail 🙂
Kind regards,
Iman
Hi…..I’ve recently started a web site, the info you provide on this web site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work. “Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.” by Edgar Watson Howe….
Such a thing! Lively intelligence on the internet!
While teaching human resources I try to use humour as well (sparingly, of course, as the topics can be psychologically difficult). Your artistic abilities have been fine-tuned over the years to the point where the illustrations are exactly what is needed. Evolution in action.
Thank you!
Hey Ben Michael Feldman of Whad’ya Know pls email at whadyaknow2@gmail.com to confirm your phoner this Sat.
What age level is Math with Bad drawings…buying for a very precocious 10 year old.
Parts will be quite accessible; others a little less so; but I’ve certainly heard from parents of kids that age who enjoyed it!
Thanks…she way ahead of her age group…parents will enjoy as well.
Hello from Piedmont! I live in Oakland and teach in Piedmont, CA and was wondering where you taught in Oakland.
Hello! I lived in Rockridge and taught at Oakland Charter High School. There was no good bus line to Piedmont, so I only went there on occasion, but loved the neighborhood!
May I have a moment of your time?
I’m graduate student at the University of North Florida, writing a paper about Ralph Waldo Emerson quoting Leonhard Euler as saying “This will be found contrary to all experience, yet is true.”
To be exact, in an essay called “Nature,” Emerson wrote the following sentence:
“The sublime remark of Euler on his law of arches, ‘This will be found contrary to all experience, yet is true’; had already transferred nature into the mind, and left matter like an outcast corpse.”
I’ve read quite a bit about Euler, but so far haven’t found a “law of arches” unless maybe it has another name. And did Euler really say, “This will be found contrary to all experience, yet it is true,” and if so, in what context?
I have searched the internet, multiple databases, journals, etc. and can find nothing about it. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bill Ectric
Sorry for the delay! I don’t know, but I’m going to ask a historian who may. Will report back.