Shortly after B次元官网网址淢ath in DragB次元官网网址� hit the shelves in book stores across North America, author Kyne Santos found herself in a New York City elevator with renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

B次元官网网址淚 was just, like, fangirling so hard,B次元官网网址� she said in a recent video interview about last weekB次元官网网址檚 chance meeting, RubikB次元官网网址檚 cube earrings dangling from her lobes. B次元官网网址淎nd you know whatB次元官网网址檚 crazy? He knew who I was.B次元官网网址�

Of course he did. SheB次元官网网址檚 Kyne.

Santos was a contestant on the first season of the television show CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Drag Race, but sheB次元官网网址檚 perhaps more widely known on TikTok, where she guides 1.5 million followers into a glittering world of mathematics. In her videos, and now with her book, she reveals the wonders of infinities and imaginary numbers, showing that math is a mind-bending universe that pushes the limits of our imagination B次元官网网址� just like drag.

B次元官网网址淢ath is really about creativity,B次元官网网址� she said from her home in Kitchener, Ont. B次元官网网址淪ometimes in math, we question our assumptions, we rewrite our definitions, we rethink our frameworks. And really, it is a lot like drag because theyB次元官网网址檙e both creative, we do them both for fun, and they both operate in metaphors and abstraction, and tearing down stereotypes and frameworks and rebuilding them from the ground up.B次元官网网址�

Santos has always been good at math, but she fell in love with it participating in high school math competitions, she said, where the questions were less about computing an answer than about taking apart ideas and figuring out why something is true. She said competitions showed her that math went beyond memorizing formulas.

B次元官网网址淭he way that weB次元官网网址檙e teaching math to kids is B次元官网网址� a lot like teaching art to kids by having them paint a fence,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e not going to walk away from that thinking, B次元官网网址業 love art.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

During high school was also when she fell in love with drag. She experimented with makeup and launched a YouTube channel giving beauty tutorials, and eventually evolved into Kyne, the drag queen.

B次元官网网址淚 saw RuPaulB次元官网网址檚 Drag Race for the first time and I saw that these queens were just creative, sensitive souls like I was who played with makeup, and extended it into hair pieces and costumes and wigs and song and dance, just everything that I love,B次元官网网址� she said.

She was at the University of Waterloo doing an undergraduate math degree when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and she used her time in lockdown to make her first TikTok video about math, in full drag. Recording a video as Kyne, she said, was a way to invite her audience into a creative, more open state of mind B次元官网网址� the same state she hopes theyB次元官网网址檒l use with mathematics.

It seems to have worked: the videos took off.

Released March 5, B次元官网网址淢ath in DragB次元官网网址� blends KyneB次元官网网址檚 personal history with accessible explorations of higher-level mathematical concepts. In one chapter, she writes about her fatherB次元官网网址檚 death, and uses a story about his fastidiousness with money to explain exponential growth. In another, she writes about the homophobia drag queens face for pushing gender boundaries, linking it to mathematical concepts that break the rules, like a graph that seems to allow dividing by zero, which, according to the average calculator, is strictly forbidden.

The history of mathematics has a lot to teach people who support anti-LGTBQ hate and protest drag shows, she said.

For example, the concept of zero was wildly controversial before it assumed its rightful spot on the number line. The idea forced mathematicians, scientists, philosophers B次元官网网址� even the Catholic Church B次元官网网址� to re-examine their idea of what a number is and could be.

B次元官网网址淲hy canB次元官网网址檛 we do that with drag? Why canB次元官网网址檛 we do that with everything?B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲hen we encounter new things in the wild, instead of saying, B次元官网网址楾hat doesnB次元官网网址檛 fit the definition,B次元官网网址� we should just change the definitions, and we should rewrite the frameworks to include other types of people.B次元官网网址�

Santos was selected to be part of the first season of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Drag Race B次元官网网址� a reality competition for drag queens, based on the American version of RupaulB次元官网网址檚 Drag Race B次元官网网址� which aired in 2020. She was sent home after the second episode, but she said the experience taught her to trust herself and lean into her strengths, like teaching about math.

She admires the British mathematician Eugenia Cheng, whose book B次元官网网址淗ow to Bake PiB次元官网网址� uses dessert recipes to explain an abstract branch of math called category theory. She also admires RuPaul, who is credited with helping to bring drag mainstream.

B次元官网网址淚 think that what RuPaul has done has opened up the doors for queens like me to do different things in drag, like put out a book and be on television,B次元官网网址� Santos said. B次元官网网址淚 really respect her hustle.B次元官网网址�

SheB次元官网网址檚 set to begin a cross-Canada tour for B次元官网网址淢ath in DragB次元官网网址� next month. She also wants to keep teaching, perhaps beyond TikTok, and maybe go to graduate school.

And after that elevator ride last week, she may even be a guest on deGrasse TysonB次元官网网址檚 podcast.

B次元官网网址淚 love doing what I do. I love educating people. I love doing the TikTok videos,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚f I could just do this forever, IB次元官网网址檇 be so happy with that.B次元官网网址�