Bending and Stretching Classroom Lessons to Make Math Inspire

January 20, 2011

In November 2010, a series of videos titled "Doodling in Math Class" were posted on YouTube. The videos quickly went viral and were viewed more than a million times. The author of the videos, Vi Hart, was recently the subject of a profile in The New York Times.

Hart describes herself as a full-time recreational mathemusician, which The Times reports has been a meager niche pursuit since her graduation from Stony Brook University in 2009. That is, until last November. "The ensuing attention has come with job offers and an income. In one week in December, she earned $300 off the advertising revenue that YouTube shares with video creators," wrote Kenneth Chang for The Times.  

Undecided on what exactly to do next, Hart would ultimately like to be a Martin Gardner for the Web 2.0 era.

“I want to be the ambassador of mathematics,” she said.

Read the full profile

Source: The New York Times (January 17, 2011)