Mathologer
Mathologer is Burkard Polster, a Monash mathematics professor who turns puzzles, visual proofs and surprising mathematical connections into YouTube explorations.
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Latest
Burkard’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus his backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
- Tesla’s 3-6-9 and Vortex Math2022 · Video explaining digital roots and modular arithmetic
YouTube - Ramanujan: Making sense of 1+2+3+... = -1/12 and Co.2016 · Video on infinite sums
YouTube - How to build and solve a 4D Rubik’s cube in physical 3D2025 · Video guide to physical 4D puzzles
YouTube - AMSPutting Two and Two Together2022 · Coauthor with Marty Ross
- Hopkins PressMath Goes to the Movies2012 · Coauthor with Marty Ross
Overview
- Name
- Burkard Polster
- Based
- Melbourne, Australia
- Work
- Mathematics professor, video creator and author
- Channel began
- 2015
- Education
- Doctorate, University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, 1993
- Early milestone
- 500,000 YouTube subscribers by December 2019
Mini bio
Before the videos.
Burkard Polster earned his doctorate in 1993 and joined Monash University in 2000. Long before Mathologer, he and Marty Ross were sharing playful mathematics through books, public lectures and their Maths Masters newspaper column, which ran in The Age from 2007 to 2014.
Finding an audience.
He started Mathologer in 2015. By December 2019, the channel had reached 500,000 subscribers. In his Patreon introduction, he described the work as a personal labour of love and asked for support to bring in help with editing and subtitles.
What fans come for.
His videos turn mathematical questions into things you can see and try: infinite sums in Ramanujan’s work, the arithmetic behind vortex diagrams, or a four-dimensional cube you can hold. They pair detailed explanations with animations, physical puzzles and links for exploring further.
A shared curiosity.
The channel biography credits Marty Ross with helping refine the mathematics and scripts, and Tristan Tillij and Eddie Price with proofreading, critiques and original ideas. Burkard and Marty’s books include Math Goes to the Movies and Putting Two and Two Together, bringing the same curiosity to cinema and everyday puzzles.
Creditschronological, newest first
Videos and talks
- 2026Parity of permutations, impossible puzzles and the magical determinantMathologer presenter and creator
- 2025International Mathematical Olympiad guest lectureGuest lecturer
- 2016Ramanujan: Making sense of 1+2+3+... = -1/12 and Co.Mathologer presenter and creator
Books and columns
- 2022Putting Two and Two Together: Selections from the Mathologer FilesCoauthor with Marty Ross
- 2017A Dingo Ate My Math Book: Mathematics from Down UnderCoauthor with Marty Ross
- 2012Math Goes to the MoviesCoauthor with Marty Ross
- 2007–2014Maths Masters, The AgeColumnist with Marty Ross
Awards
Quotes
Since I started the channel four years ago, it has pretty much been a one-man labour of love.Burkard Polster, Mathologer on Patreon
In his introduction dated 20 December 2019, after the channel reached 500,000 subscribers.
Trivia
- He recalls spending three weeks learning to solve a Rubik’s cube while at high school in 1980.
- Math Goes to the Movies grew from his and Marty Ross’s collection of more than 700 mathematical movies.
- His mathematical interests extend to juggling, ambigrams and the best ways to lace shoes, all subjects covered in his books.
Find Burkard
Follow his videos and explore more puzzles with Maths Masters.
Are you Mathologer?
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