The Little Star (with Zvezdelina Stankova) - Numberphile Podcast 

Zvezdelina is from my city and I was surprised to learn that she didn’t go to the maths high school where I studied. I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a big patriot and yet I can’t help but feel a sense of pride because of her achievements both in the academic sense and with regards to her multiple appearances on one of my all time favourite channels - Numberphile. Thank you for your contributions to the field of Mathematics and for representing Ruse and Bulgaria as a whole! Best wishes, Simeon Stefanov

56:10 - “No, I don’t think my students are as tough as I was” 😂 Zvezda is awesome, a true hero in the math community today!

When Zvezdalina said that her favorite sci-fi novel is The Day of the Triffids I almost spit my coffee out. Just last night I remembered the 2009 movie based on the novel and I was like: "This is pretty obscure nowadays, I wonder if anyone still likes this?". I don't know I just thought it was pretty cool that she likes the novel.

I always enjoy listening to Zvezda, be it about math or, apparently, her biography. She is so pleasant and authentic.

Math circles in Eastern European communist countries were basically after-school math clubs. We used the same name in Romania, a country with a significantly different language to Bulgaria - the name probably originated in the Soviet Union, then was internalized by its satellite communist countries. 'Circle' was probably used due to the highly symmetrical nature of round objects, obvious not just to mathematicians, thereby a perfect metaphor for equality (King Arthur and his knights were happy to share a round table, too!) Math was held in high regard back then in the Eastern Bloc and the math circles would attract real talent, students that would take part in math competitions, and then go on to study mathematics-related subjects at university level. The maths circles were, indeed, attracting young people who wanted to do more, not just something else, as Zvezda explained - they were math clubs with a twist.

Doc. Stankova has such a lovely voice, it's good to hear from her again!

Wow Brady, I loved the moving map of all the locations Zvezda was referring to, wonderfully coordinated!

Love Zvezda! She's amazing!

I like the podcast but would appreciate a less flashy video background too

I didn't even realize there was a Numberphile podcast. Cool!

The interviewer is also equally excited that I liked

Absolutely wonderful interview. Thanks for this.

This story is so vivid for me.. Keeping the proportions, it is very symilar to mine, and probably with dozens of other unidenfied girls and boys of that age: also struggeling with equating linear problems, also having the first mathematical epiphania in the 5-th grade. Also having marvelous, inspiring (women) teachers at my elementary in Bucharest /Romania and attending mathematical circles (usually at 17h, on Saturdays; later, for grown-ups, at 8h on Sundays). I always felt deeply gratefull for this. As a consequence, I always carry with me the need to share the beauty of mathematics, in particular of geometry, which was for me the first meningful contact with mathematics: both axiomatic as well as experimental. Sadly, in order to be able to live from mathematics, I had no option other than living my country- nowadays I live in Brazil. Zvezdelina's work and achievements are remarcable and meaningfull!

I revisit her triangular highway and pebbling the chessboard videos all the time. love how she explains things

That was quite a story. There's a lot wrong with math education in the U.S. I wish her well, we should teach it better. And I did like the map thing. It took me a little bit to get, but when I did, it was fun.

This lady is such a hero!

Thank you for the podcasts these are amazing Brady!

I participated at some maths competition during my school time. Mathe Känguru and over the years I won a "first place" twice which granted me some fancy stuff. Like I won a t shirt for getting a long streak of correct answers and also like a chemistry set which was fun to mix all together. And this summer semester I begun to take my first actual maths class at university which is required for the masters programme I want to do. I would describe myself to be very interested and adapt in the topic, for example i am consuming maths content on RU-vid like these podcasts, main videos and many other channels. However this class in particular isn't even meant for maths students, it's for computer science students - so it's less extreme in some way. But it's still a lot of work and difficult to get started in so I am happy to not study maths academically. I enjoy the results and some of the beauty but I dislike some of the redundant proofs and syntax at time.

These biographies are great. I have so many points where even my life criss-crosses them. In this video I can check off Bulgaria, Australia and the USA.

6:27 this was a bit concerning, then I realized the auto generated subtitles were a tad off. "My father came from a small town where there were no conditions for him to study anything but violence"

Loved the podcast, thanks Brady and Zvezda! Edit: quite a few people are complaining about the background, but personally, I was quite transfixed by it, I liked it

Mooie Zvezdelina!

heyy thats my proffessor!

why no video?

Zvezda is absolutely correct; the largest problem in US schools is a lack of uniformity. Curriculums are totally inconsistent, from grade to grade, teacher to teacher, meaning that the education doesn't build upon itself. Some topics will be completely skipped over while others are needlessly repeated. A common curriculum is absolutely needed, but Americans have low trust in public schools - not without reason. It would be hard to convince enough people to approve a more unified approach.

(e^iπ + 2)st comment!

салют почти землякам :))))

The waveform thing is VERY annoying!!!! Ugh!!

I have never heard my home country being pronounced as "burgaly" before...

Horrible graphic for a podcast.

"Even during the communist era..." That was the best era in Bulgarian, and world, history.