The World's Best Mathematician (*) - Numberphile

(*) Among current mathematicians, many people regard Professor Terence Tao as the world's finest... Opinions on such things vary, of course.
Professor Tao kindly fielded some of our questions, including many submitted by Numberphile viewers.

We are also supported by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science.

NUMBERPHILE

Videos by Brady Haran

[ismailb]

- What's your weakness?
- I forget +c while integrating.

[nboob]

I already knew this man was on a different level when the first thing he says is “ I remember my first memory at 2 years old” like bruh what

[redcloudyk]

A genius, yet so modest. Not a shred of arrogance in him. What a legend.

[idealrunner]

I have to say I smiled when he said he hung around kids his age and partied at grad school, nice to see he didn’t let himself get TOTALLY absorbed

[eliasm]

I used my calculator in my math test today to find 7+11

[apprentice]

Its so nice when a prophesied genius fulfils their potential.

[JL-ejxu]

Had an honor class with him 6 yrs ago when I was an undergrad at UCLA. That was the first higher division math course I took. Could tell he is a very nice person in real life, but to comprehend him during lecture is very very hard. He had a completely different flow compared to other professors. Whole lecture is like listening to him proofing a Lemma in his brain, it’s spontaneous and happens very fast. Taking notes is very challenging: wiring down too many details is risky since if you got lost from his thought process, the rest of the lecture is fucked; too little, you cannot recall them after class. I would say 90% of the students who took his class would think he is not as informative as other professors. But the 10% left could potentially progress very fast.

[lrd]

I’m eating jam sandwiches for the rest of my life.

[rayyoshida]

One of the most intelligent person in the world but how humble is he. I really like him

[tarikvaljevac]

-So what did you eat for breakfast?
-Jam sandwich.
-You had a sandwich?
-Yeah.
-A jam sandwich?
-Yeah...


Best. Conversation. Ever.

[TacSprint]

The stars really aligned for this guy lol

He had an affinity for math early on, had access to mentors that could help develop his skills, and just went with it.

[SalesforceUSA]

We need more of Terry Tao on Numberphile, I would listen to him for hours.

[vuanhminhle]

His CPU is faster than his amplifier. He is getting bottlenecked.

[shuneughu]

Math is something I’ve never enjoyed doing but always admire people who can do it well

[kcstevens]

Key take-away - how T was raised by parents recognizing and learning how to feed his gift. Thank you for sharing.

[mordecairugag]

8:57 Fun fact: That man on the right is Grigori Perelman a math genius who solved one of the world’s most challenging mathematical problems but turned down a prestigious medal and a $1 million prize that went with it.

I heard a story about him and I could not help but wonder what this man was thinking and how he view things in this world

[LOTUSELISER]

Did anyone else's jaw drop at the fact he had a PHD in Mathematics...AT 20!! From Princeton! And was teaching by 24. What a brilliant man.

[Hoodratliker]

"Whats your weakness?"
"Algebra Topology"


never heard of it.

[lovalalova]

I love how he and Zvezdelina both remember how they met over question 6 at the australian olympiad.

[AuCeVi]

He looks exactly as what you'd imagine the world's greatest mathematician would look like.