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In their lively and entertaining weekly discussion of issues related to higher education, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger explore the topics of higher education, lifelong learning, and exercising the brain. Ed and Jennifer practice what they preach, too, by introducing math puzzlers and brain teasers to keep listeners on their toes.

Best of Higher Ed: Counting on Numbers

This summer, KUT is revisiting episodes of the podcast "Higher Ed." This episode was originally posted on March 29, 2015.

Each week, KUT's Jennifer Stayton talks with Dr. Ed Burger, President of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, about higher education, lifelong learning, and exercising the brain. This week, Ed and Jennifer talk about a subject that we think we understand - numbers. But the concept of a number is really pretty nuanced. And humans aren't the only species that uses the concept of numbers. Listen on to find out more. 

Think about it - what is a number, really? What does the concept of  "four" or a "million" of something actually mean? That's enough to chew on for this week, so there's no math puzzler. Think of this whole episode as one big math puzzler on its own!

For all of the Higher Ed episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on itunes here!

Jennifer Stayton is the local host for NPR's "Morning Edition" on KUT. Got a tip? Email her at jstayton@kut.org. Follow her on X @jenstayton.