How Popular are You? | Head Squeeze

Hannah Fry looks at why your friends are more popular than you, from a mathematical point of view.

Number Hub - Ep 28
Stand up mathematicians reveal the mind boggling stats and figures that make up the modern world. Find out your chances of winning the EuroMillions, how many molecules of your urine is in any given pint of water in the world and how many road accidents speed cameras prevent.

Welcome to BBC Earth Science! Here we answer all your curious questions about science in the world around you (and further afield too). If there’s a question you have that we haven’t yet answered let us know in the comments on any of our videos and it could be answered by one of our Earth Science experts.

[vidation]

I will listen to anything Hannah says, about anything.

[sfhie]

judging from the comments, i'd say your pretty popular hannah.

[Filip_Wessman]

I want a video that analyses the ratio between "Hanna is so hot" and "this is so cool" comments, on all Hanna Fry videos.

[OlOleander]

I think I've just found a new favorite channel! Always a pleasure to see inventive and creative uses for mathematics.

[izaacwallis]

easiest way to find james may: go to the pub or the nearest garden shed

[greenanubis]

im an introvert too, and i too tend to not care much about popularity. but advantages to being popular are obvious. popular individual gets more job choices(corruption and nepotism included), peer support, mating opportunities... also, more power. if every person you are connected to have a tiny bit of influence on your thinking and doing(which it does in human societies), cumulative power of people like lady gaga, angelina jolie, or oprah is enormous!

[loveforsberg]

It bothers me that basically all top comments are about Hannah being a beatiful woman with a beautiful voice. Far more important is the fact that the subject is interesting, that the delivery can be understood and that the sketches are lovely. I am active in mathematics and it is clear how the ratio of women to men declines quickly from undergrad student to grad student all the way up to professor. One of the contributing factors is constantly getting hit on.

[zoomzoom]

Uh- is no one gonna talk about corona virus as she’s explaining this like😳

[Rowow]

the picture of the mouse and the scientist "you didnt respond to my friend request" is too funny, lol

[BBCEarthScience]

You're not as popular as you think you are! Hannah Fry explains: 

[broshmosh]

I am from Britain but I do not have a British accent because I do not have an accent that can be associated with any accent from Britain. There is no such thing as a British accent. I agree her accent is a West Country accent (which you'll see I mentioned once already) but that is what you call an English accent for it is from England. A Glaswegian accent has never, and probably never will be, called a British accent even though Glasgow is in Britain.

[domvito]

Thank you for the clarification. I misinterpreted that part and assumed that James would keep his.

[SirCrest]

Going off the about page it's a group called "360 Productions" but that simply says who the videos are produced by.

[BariumCobaltNitrogn]

It validates your self-worth. It feeds the needs of others who assign value to themselves through association, but inhibits personal growth, introspection and self-actualization. Popularity is the drug of choice for the insecure extrovert.

[ahayesm]

I'm a fan of you Hannah, I just refuse to use twitter.

[broshmosh]

No such thing as a British accent, since there are four countries in Great Britain - Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. I don't know about you but I've never heard one accent that combines all four. Hannah has an English accent. As far as I can tell she's a well-spoken West Country (Somerset) accent.

[markauckland]

"And most of D-Ream" .... brilliant

[wyw]

The concept is this, to increase the probability of finding the most popular person or the "central hub", send a package that flows through everyone's network and you'll find most of the packages will eventually pass by a few people the most times, given enough iterations.

[averyhage]

Did anyone almost get ASMR from this, if you know what that is? Because I did. She has a very calming voice:

[CineSoar]

Unfortunately, it seems the key graphic "Creating networks that look like this..." got left out. I think many of the "I didn't understand that" comments might have been avoided, if the key to the whole video didn't get left on the editing room floor.