Inspired by Matthew Scroggs playing Mario on his Christmas tree, Matt has programmed the LED strips on his own Christmas tree. He's photographed them from multiple angles so he can address them by their 3D positions. A few notes on motivation and telling other people about projects follow. Matt promises to publish a Christmas tree video before the next episode. He invites people to write guest code for his tree.
Bec went up to Manchester and got to do a recording of 8 Out of 10 Cats does Comedy Countdown. Matt is very envious of her. Bec was in Dictionary Corner so she did not have to do any maths; instead she drew pictures. The show will come out around Valentine's Day.
Matt got to the bottom of this by going straight to the top: He had a phone call with the Head of Packaging at Tesco, James Bull.
Matt and Bec were correct that the cheese dimensions alone are not enough to explain the plastic savings. There are two more factors. First: By changing the dimensions, they reduced the maximum diagonal, making the package more resistant and reducing the thickness of the plastic. Second: They got rid of the re-sealable part of the packaging, annoying Matt. However, they only did this because they found out that a lot of people were not using the resealable part. There was also some discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of plastic as a material. Then they talked about shelf sizes.
Matt also asked for the exact percentage of improvement that they gave their legal department. They weighed the old packaging (5.8 g) and the new packaging (3.4 g), rounded to the nearest whole gram, and got a reduction of 41.4%.
"We've blown the resealable lid right off this." — Matt
A "Ding, dingalingaling" from Bec
Matt has collated all of the approx. 200 responses for an end-of-year review.
Favourite problem? The first place was 008-2, while 002-1 and 011-2 were also strong. 009-2 also wasn't too bad. While it was not very high on the list (5%), 003-2 changed many people's life. 005-3 was surprisingly high (7%) even though Matt had totally forgot about it.
What do people do while listening? A lot of people are moving (running, driving), but they're doing a whole range of things.
What country? UK (26.9%), USA (21%), a bunch of countries with only a single person. Matt regrets giving people a text box instead of a drop-down menu.
Do people have a pet hamster? Only 2% do (4 out of 206).
Bec is relieved that people like the podcast and bants, and aren't just there for Matt. People seem to like both Matt's detail and Bec's annoyance at too much detail. The most common request: More than once a month!
Producer John Harvey joins the podcast to give Bec and Matt a bunch of problems. Bec and Matt have at most two minutes to solve the problem, after which Jon Harvey will stop them.
Jon can be followed on Twitter at @jondharvey or @countbinface. Yes, Jon Harvey is Count Binface (once Lord Buckethead).
What exactly defines the difference between a biscuit and a cookie?
Bec says they're the same thing, just a language difference between the states and Australia. Matt notes they might be different in savouriness. Both argue, wasting precious time. John Harvey asks whether the cookie monster would eat a digestive biscuit, Matt suspects yes.
A ding from Jon Harvey
The "fact" that 63 Earths can fit inside Uranus doesn't make clear whether this is a simple volume comparison or whether it's considering sphere packing. Can you shed any light?
Matt previously looked into this, and the answer is: 63 without sphere packing, only 46 with sphere packing. The fact ignores sphere packing. Bec keeps giggling the whole way through.
A "ding" from Jon Harvey
I've never found a four leaf clover. Can you tell me why it is so and how to tip things in my favour?
Bec calls Luke unlucky. Matt points out that the causal direction should be the other way around: Clovers should make you lucky. Matt also recommends searching near Chernobyl.
A "ding" from Jon Harvey
Is the show title "A (Problem)(Problem)" or "(A Problem)(A Problem)"?
"Correct, the title is a problem." - Bec
Matt is fascinated by how people read mathematical equations. He argues that a Mathematician would say "a problem, all squared" for the second case. He parses the title as "A (Problem)(Problem)".
A "(ding)(ding)" from Jon Harvey
If you had a donut shaped planet, I assume that if you went to the center hole, you would experience gravity pulling you to the planet. So, what would happen if you went to the center of the Earth? More gravity being pulled to the surface, or no gravity?
If you were in the middle of a toroidal planet or the Earth, gravity would cancel out. If you're anywhere inside a hollow sphere, no matter where inside the shell you are, everything still cancels out perfectly.
"Well, cause gravity definitely works with my hole." — Bec
A "ding" from Jon Harvey
Bec repeats that if there any undinged problems, you should let them know via one of their social media channels.
From Bec's wide range of puns, Matt settled on the Yule Log Spiral. He shows Bec his final design of a Yule Log with a log spiral on the inside. Bec approves.
Bec has sent Matt a package which he opens live on the podcast: It's the original Yule Log Spiral artwork, the frame of which has been gilded with Ferrero Rocher wrappers from 011-2.
A "That is definitely a problem squared" by Matt