The Return of -1/12 - Numberphile

More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓

Note: As explained by Brady at the end of this video, Tony Feng did not know about our previous -1/12 videos when we recorded this - we decided to go ahead so you could compare his take with other ones! :)

NUMBERPHILE

Videos by Brady Haran

[PlanetAstronox]

I'm always blown away by Brady's ability to ask questions. He's really got a talent for it, and I feel like I'm learning more just from him being there to challenge whoever he's talking to.

[dinocz]

"If it was a race, I would never finish" reminds me of a joke

Mathematician and engineer are set on a line one meter away from a million dollars.

Judge says "every minute, you are able to half the distance to money"

Mathematician immedietly gives up, but the engineer takes the first step. Mathematician tells him "why do you bother? You will never be able to reach it, you can't halve to zero"

Engineer answers "yes, but at some point I will be close enough for practical use"

[TeaHauss]

I love that he ran with the name analogy and explained it succintly

[tasosbouzikas]

What helps me a lot in these kind of situations is to keep in mind that “the representation of something is not the something”. In other words, both 1 and 0.9999… represent the same something which is not the symbols 1 or 0.9999…

[MrHugi]

It's crazy that its already 10 years ago. I remember that video like it was yesterday. It was one of the first videos of this channel that I watched, and it was also one of the reasons to get me hooked to mathematics :)

[singingblueberry]

Man. I was here for the original video in 2014 and I'm here for it now. Gave me throwbacks of being a ninth-grader, fascinated with math, binge-watching Numberphile. Good times.

[silverharloe]

17:09 of *course* Euler did it. Half of maths is basically the "Simpsons did it" episode of South Park, with Euler in place of the Simpsons.

[FunWithBits]

Random useless fact: If you look at the clock in the background it went from 10:22 AM to 11:03 AM or 41 minutes. The video is 23 minutes so 18 minutes cut footage. (probably footage we don't need to see like paper changes)

[xMonts]

I have been waiting this moment since… -1/12 year ago ❤

[jamesyoungquist]

Thanks for years of education and entertainment

[adamhansraj]

Brady has an uncanny knack of asking a simple question (say, about an infinite number of steps), which opens a door to complex problems (such as Zeno's paradox). This makes the problem more accessible to many people, who may be put off by more formal approaches. It's such a valuable way to communicate ideas!

[ab-mivf]

brady casually inventing zeno's paradox when asking about the convergence of the number

[bhab]

What a great video. The logic and clarity of Tony Feng's answers to Brady's sharp questions. It's just really fun to watch.

[patmcc]

The spotlessly clean blackboard brings me right back to my undergraduate maths lecturers.

[bsugars]

"I broke rules when I wrote the equal sign." Love it!

[bmenrigh]

Brady’s question about not crossing the finish line was a perfect moment to bring up Zeno’s paradox as a everyday example where we do have an everyday experience with infinity.

[Zwiezwerg]

This made me realize that I've watched this channel for about a third of my life now.

Brady's questions in this video were exceptional by the way.

[Claire-ing]

Best explanation yet! Tops the “golden nugget” video and actually easily explains the basics of what analytic continuation is rather than it being shrouded. First time I’ve watched one of these and not left so confused.

[deliciousrose]

The poetics, analogies, how Brady's asking questions we viewers might have. Love how these things never change ❤

[altejoh]

I feel really validated that he calls this playing with numbers "mathematical doodling" xD