Square One (album)

Square One is Japanese dance and hip-hop group M-Flo's sixth original studio album, released on March 12, 2012. It was the group's first studio album in five years, after 2007's Cosmicolor.

Background

In the time between the release of Cosmicolor and Square One, M-Flo released two greatest hits albums, Award Supernova: Loves Best (2008) and MF10: 10th Anniversary Best (2009) and two outside collaborations compilation albums, M-Flo Inside: Works Best III (2009) and M-Flo Inside: Works Best IV (2010). DJ Taku Takahashi in 2010 launched his second record label, TCY Recording, featuring a collection of unsigned dance musicians. He also produced the soundtrack for the Gainax animated series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt in 2010, featuring the dance musicians of his newly formed label. The Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt soundtrack was very successful, becoming the third most sold anime soundtrack in 2011 with 30,000 copies sold.

Rapper Verbal directed his first music video in 2010, with MINMI's "Patto Hana Saku." He launched his solo career in 2010 and 2011, with the album Visionair, featuring collaborations with Namie Amuro, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj. Takahashi also debuted with a solo project, under the name The Suitboys, releasing a non-stop DJ mix CD After 5 Vol. 1 in March 2012.

Square One

Square One can refer to:

Shopping

Square One Shopping Centre, a shopping mall in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Square One Mall, a shopping mall in Saugus, Massachusetts, USA

Square One Organic Vodka, an artisanal organic spirit

Film, TV and entertainment

Square One Television, a children's television series about math

Square One (puzzle), a variant of the Rubik's Cube

Square One (game show), a British game show

Gallifrey: Square One, episode 1.2 of the Gallifrey audio adventure spin-off series.

Music

Square One (rap group), a 1998 rap group from Germany

Square One (band), a 1990s Barbados-based soca band

Albums

Square One (album), a 2012 album by Japanese artist M-Flo

Square 1, a 2003 album by Irish singer-songwriter, David Kitt

Songs

"Square One" (Tom Petty song)

"Square One", a song by Coldplay from their 2005 album, X&Y

"Square One Here I Come", a song by The Hives from their 2007 album, The Black and White Album

Square One (puzzle)

The Square One, also known as Back to Square One and Cube 21, is a puzzle similar to the Rubik's Cube. Its distinguishing feature among the numerous Rubik's Cube variants is that it can change shape as it is twisted, due to the way it is cut, thus adding an extra level of challenge and difficulty. The Super Square One and Square Two puzzles have been recently introduced. The Super Square One has two additional layers that can be scrambled and solved independently of the rest of the puzzle, and the Square Two has extra cuts made to the top and bottom layer, making the edge and corner wedges the same size.

History

The Square One, with the full name "Back to Square One", and alternative name "Cube 21", was invented by Karel Hršel and Vojtěch Kopský around 1990. Application for Czechoslovak patent was filed on 8 November 1990, the patent was approved on 26 October 1992 with patent number CS 277266 B6. On March 16, 1993, it was patented in the USA with patent number US5,193,809. Its design was also patented on October 5, 1993, with patent number D340,093.

Square One Television

Square One Television (sometimes referred to as Square One or Square One TV) is an American children's television program produced by the Children's Television Workshop to teach mathematics and abstract mathematical concepts to young viewers.

Created and broadcast by PBS in the United States from January 26, 1987 to November 6, 1992, the show was intended to address the math crisis among American schoolchildren. After the last episode aired, the show went into reruns until October 7, 1994. The show was revived for the 1995–1996 PBS season as a teacher instruction program, Square One TV Math Talk.

Square One was also shown on the U.S. cable television channel Noggin in syndication beginning in 1999, but was removed from its lineup along with other Sesame Workshop shows on May 26, 2003.

Format

Sketches

Square One comprised short sketches that introduced and applied concepts in mathematics such as counting, combinatorics, vulgar fractions, estimation, probability, and geometry. The sketches featured regular characters and were mainly parodies of pop culture icons, popular television commercials or popular television shows. Sketches were presented in various formats, including music videos featuring a particular subject in mathematics and taught the subject through song (e.g., Roman numerals, obtuse and acute angles, percentages, negative numbers, etc.) or comedic sketches (e.g., General Mathpital, a parody of General Hospital; Nobody's Inn, a parody of Fawlty Towers; Late Afternoon with David Numberman, a parody of Late Night with David Letterman; etc.). "Patterns", a polka about patterns that can be detected in daily life, was performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic. (Since Yankovic did not write this song, it is unavailable on any of his records, though bootleg versions have circulated.)