(Music plays)

An animated clip shows a big orange X on a blue background. It explodes and letters and numbers come out of it in all directions and float around.

Mathemagician Eric appears on screen. He’s in his mid-twenties. He has short dark brown hair and a beard. He wears a red T-shirt with the show’s logo, blue jeans and red Tennis shoes.

The screen turns red and the logo of the show appears next. It reads "MathXplosion." Meanwhile, cones, cubes and dices float around it.

Kids voices sing a song with lyrics that go
WHAT A HIT
IT'S NOT A TRICK
IT'S MATHXPLOSION
JUST FOR YOU
COOL AND NEW
MATHXPLOSION!

The episode starts with Eric standing in a workroom, next to a blackboard with graphics that look like paintings. All have in common the use of perspective to generate depth.

Eric says YOU KNOW WHY SOME
THINGS LOOK FURTHER AWAY
THAN OTHERS EVEN WHEN YOU'RE
LOOKING AT A FLAT SURFACE?
MAGICIANS AREN'T THE
ONLY ONES HAVING FUN
WITH ILLUSIONS.

Eric does a simple trick and continues
ARTISTS USE THEM, TOO.
LOOKING AT THESE PICTURES
IS LIKE LOOKING THROUGH
A WINDOW.
MAKES YOU WONDER
IF THEY KEEP GOING.
I'LL SHOW YOU THE
SECRET TO ADDING DEPTH
TO YOUR PICTURES.
ALL YOU NEED IS A VANISHING
POINT AND A SERIES OF
SIMILAR SHAPES.

(music plays)

Now Eric gets ready for a new project. The graphic in the middle is the drawing of a track that gets lost in the distance.

He says SEE HOW THE TRACKS LOOK
SMALLER AS THEY GET CLOSER
TO THAT POINT?

A red point blinks in the center of the drawing.

He continues
WELL, THAT'S CALLED
THE VANISHING POINT.
WE SEE THE SOLUTION
IN REAL LIFE WHEN WE
LOOK AT SOMETHING
THAT'S FAR AWAY.

Next, he moves to the next drawing. A man in the front is multiplied backwards until the figure gets lost. The red point blinks again.

He says FAR AWAY OBJECTS LOOK
SMALLER THAN CLOSE ONES.
BUT OUR BRAINS KNOW THEY
AREN'T REALLY SMALLER.
KNOWING THIS HELPS US
FIGURE OUT REAL DISTANCES
BETWEEN REAL OBJECTS.
WHEN YOU LOOK AT ART,
YOUR BRAIN THINKS
IT'S SEEING THE
SAME ILLUSION.
BUT THAT'S AN ILLUSION
OF THIS ILLUSION.

Now he moves to the third graphic. In this case, posts on the side of the road continue all the way until getting lost.

He says
BUT THE VANISHING POINT
IS JUST A BEGINNING.
NEXT YOU HAVE TO
DRAW SIMILAR SHAPES
MOVING TOWARDS THAT
VANISHING POINT.
BEHOLD, I'LL MAKE A
VANISHING POINT APPEAR
ON THE HORIZON.
SO, HERE'S THE HORIZON,
AND THE VANISHING POINT.

He snaps and the graphics are erased from the blackboard. He draws a line in the center and divides the blackboard in two. Next, he marks the vanishing point in the middle and uses a ruler to trace lines in different directions departing from the vanishing point.

He continues
NOW I'LL DRAW TWO LINES
THROUGH THIS VANISHING POINT
AND ADD A SERIES
OF SIMILAR SHAPES.
THESE STICK FIGURES
ARE ALL THE SAME
EXCEPT FOR SIZE.
FOR THIS TO WORK,
YOU ABSOLUTELY
POSITIVELY HAVE TO...
DID I MENTION THAT IT'S
IMPORTANT?... KEEP THE
PROPORTIONS THE SAME
WHEN YOU CHANGE THE
SIZE OF EACH FIGURE.
SEE, WHEN THE PROPORTIONS
ARE DIFFERENT, IT SPOILS
THE ILLUSION.

He draws men from bigger to smaller using the lines as the limits to keep the proportion.

He says
IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE
MARCHING INTO THE DISTANCE.
THIS IS CALLED
PERSPECTIVE DRAWING.
TA-DA!
IT'S NO MASTERPIECE,
BUT MY PICTURE HAS DEPTH.
HO, HO, HO.
THAT'S DEEP.

(music plays)

Eric draws a circle and colours it inside. He taps on it and a new clip plays. A series of images appear on screen. All of them show the proportion in the capture. The last picture shows a girl pretending to hold the Tower of Pisa.

Eric says THIS IS COOL.
YOU CAN AMAZE PEOPLE WITH
OTHER OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
LIKE THIS ONE.
FORCED PERSPECTIVE MAKES
OBJECTS LOOK SMALLER
LARGER, CLOSER, OR FURTHER
AWAY THAN THEY ARE.
LOOK AT THIS PERSON HOLDING
UP THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA.

Eric appears back in the workroom.

He says WELL, THERE YOU HAVE IT.
BY ADDING A VANISHING
POINT AND SIMILAR SHAPES,
YOUR MASTERPIECE
CAN LOOK 3-D.
PERSPECTIVE DRAWING,
IT'S NOT MAGIC...
IT'S MATH.

A big explosion brings the show’s logo back on the screen.

(music plays)

The end credits roll.

Produced by GAPC Entertainment in association with TVOKids.

Copyright GAPC Entertainment (MathPlosion) Incorporated, 2016.