My Favorite Theorem — Kevin Knudson

My Favorite Theorem: Featuring Kyne Santos

• Podcast Guests: Hosts Evelyn Lamb and Kevin Knudson interview Kyne Santos, a Canadian drag queen and mathematician.
• Guest Background: Kyne (known as "Online Kyne") holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and creates viral social media content that combines mathematics with drag performance.
• Featured Book: Kyne is the author of Math in Drag, a book that explores the intersection of queer identity and mathematical concepts, arguing that both fields require creativity, abstraction, and metaphor.
• Drag Career: Kyne was a contestant on Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race. They currently perform in the Kitchener, Ontario area, focusing on drag brunches and dinners to reach diverse audiences outside of traditional gay bar scenes.
• Favorite Theorem: Kyne’s favorite theorem is the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
• Mathematical Insight:
  • The theorem is profound because it links two seemingly unrelated problems: the "area problem" (calculating the area under a curve) and the "tangent problem" (finding the slope of a tangent line).
  • It establishes that differentiation and integration are inverse processes.
  • The hosts and guest discuss how this theorem is often taught as a rote tool for solving problems in high school, masking its deeper conceptual beauty and creative significance.