The mathematician who cracked Wall Street | Jim Simons

Jim Simons was a mathematician and cryptographer who realized: the complex math he used to break codes could help explain patterns in the world of finance. Billions later, he’s working to support the next generation of math teachers and scholars. TED’s Chris Anderson sits down with Simons to talk about his extraordinary life in numbers.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

[poleag]

This guy is a great communicator. He knows how to avoid jargon and knows how to explain things to people who aren't experts.

[marceck]

Several times, the interviewer cuts him off as he is about to expand on his thoughts. Very frustrating.

[johnrknox]

Jim is a truly remarkable individual. My son got a PhD in Math from Stony Brook where Jim became chair of the department and made signifcant advances then left to form his fund and then returned later in life to to make more important mathematical contributions. He liked privacy and is probably not as well known as he would be otherwise. This interview gives only a glimpse into how interesting he really was. I as others would like more and longer interviews just letting Jim speak.

[TheArtKingdomYT]

I hate how the interviewer kept cutting in on the conversation, LET THE MAN TALK!

[dmidoqq]

At 37 I decided to pivot to Tech and learn Software development. Thanks to my habit of reading, I read a book on Jim Simons and got to read a lil more on Quant development. I am now learning both Math (going back to it after almost 20 yrs) and software. I know it's gonna take time but I'm super pumped. This man is one of my role models.

[BLTspace]

I could listen to this guy talk all day.

[ianpan]

The thing I appreciate most of this man is that despite his incredibly high level in his field, he is able to explain theories and facts or his findings in such a simple way that normal educated people could understand and even find interesting.

[laojace]

"Can you explain what that work was" "No" HAHAHHA such a badass

[altoticket]

This should be a 2hr long interview.. the rush from the interviewer on the first part ended up being justified by the amazing last half were Jim could talk more freely about how he views the world. Such a fine gentlemen.

[wealthymind]

I just finished reading "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution" by Gregory Zuckerman about the Jim Simon, Renaissance Technologies and how it all started. Highly recommended!

[amancalledfroggy]

if he could ever publish half of what he and his colleagues at renaissance found, that work would probably be nobel prize in economics worthy.

[Hello-plqe]

Im always in awe of brilliant people like this that form the world around us, behind the scenes, and probably deserve to be household names. Everything but average.

[listentorpo]

He definitely needed more time. The interviewer was rushing him. This guy knows too much to squeeze into a 20-30 minute interview

[kashif]

It's a shame that this video has only so few views. What a fascinating personality.

[_robbo]

Common problem with a lot of interviewers. Love their own voice.

[ChiIeboy]

Most of this was over my head, but the one thing I was able to take away is that the interviewer loves the sound of his own voice.

[Fetherko]

I thought this would be more technical, but I loved it. Peacenik, philanthropist, philosopher!

[erthx]

I remember the first time I encountered the Chern-Simons theory, I was struggling to learn quantum field theory. from what I recall, for string theory, if the Euler characteristic is described by wrapping polygons around the sphere, this describes the modes of vibration for an open string, i.e., V-E+F = 2, so 2 is the number of poles (singularities) connecting the ends of the string. For the torus, 0 poles, so this describes a the modes of vibration of a closed string. I think C-S theory comes in when you're looking for discrete combinations (combinatorial stuff, like Jim mentions) of modes. So instead of looking at all the modes, i.e. a continuum, you get a quantization of the string modes. Speaking strictly form memory and the greatest humility. He is a very inspiring type of guy, it folks like him that encourage the rest of us to learn things are far outside of average.

[lizgichora]

Excellent! Thank you for Supporting Math, Science and R & D Jim Simons. You're highly appreciated and motivating role model.

[theman]

More talks like this and less talks please!