Colin Wright: Juggling Mathematics

Plutopia News Network

In this episode of the Plutopia News Network Podcast, hosts Jon Lebkowsky, Scoop Sweeney, and Wendy Grossman talk with mathematician and juggler Colin Wright, who holds a PhD in pure mathematics from Cambridge and is known for his engaging talks on how math appears everywhere in life. Wright explains that math is not about numbers or formulas but about patterns, structures, and relationships, and he shares stories from his journey from academic research to applying mathematical thinking in radar systems and engineering. The conversation explores his development of Siteswap notation for describing juggling patterns, the intersection of art and science in juggling and ballroom dance, and his belief in teaching through curiosity and discovery rather than rote memorization. The group also discusses randomness, AI, human tendencies to attribute intelligence to machines, and Wright’s Maths Jam gatherings — global events where people come together to share puzzles, ideas, and enthusiasm for math. Throughout, Wright emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and the joy of seeing patterns in both the physical and abstract worlds.

Colin Wright:

Math is not about numbers, it’s not about formulas, it’s about patterns and knowing that the that patterns work forever, rather than just being spurious or ephemeral. So it’s being able to abstract from whatever you’re doing, throwing away irrelevant detail and working with the abstract setting. And it’s all about patterns and structures and relationships. And at its heart, that’s what math is really about. And it just turns up absolutely everywhere. I meet a lot of kids who have no apparent predisposition towards mathematics, who then — education is not about filling the bucket, it’s about lighting the fire. You give them something that engages them and gets them starting to think about a thing, and they can come to life and suddenly… they might be slow. They might not have the knowledge that other people have got. They might not have the practice and the practiced skills that some of the others have. But sometimes they just blossom and there’s no apparent reason why they they should have been pre-wired for that and yet they can do it.

Links

• MathsJam
• Juggling and Maths on the BBC
• Juggling on Numberphile
• From Doodling to a Million Dollars
• The Mutilated Chessboard
• Circles in triangles