Cicada 17 - Numberphile

Why do cicadas emerge every 17 years - featuring Steve Mould.
More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓

The golden ratio video will be coming soon. Keep an eye on Numberphile.

NUMBERPHILE

Videos by Brady Haran

[Jouzou]

Cicada getting stung by a wasp: "Same goddamn thing every 52 years."

[lawrencesmallman]

Also, the benefit of 13 and 17 is that both types will rarely emerge at the same time - and so they won't be competing for food amongst themselves. They'll only have a bit of a problem every 221 years.

[johnchessant]

I'm here from the oak tree / squirrels video.

[cbear]

They come out for the three F's Feeding fighting and mating.

[jaydencapper]

People in 2020 checking that it hasn’t been 17 years since this video 😂😂😂😂

[samfitzpatrick]

"They come out for the 3 F's. Feeding, Fighting and Mating." This guy is brilliant!

[hollth]

The F's feeding fighting and mating. Wait a second.. Mating doesn't start with an F. No wonder he does maths. The silly professor can't spell. 

[TerraPupaAbyssus]

I hate it when people talk about cicadas. They always make it sound like you only have to deal with them once every 17 years, but that's not the case! There are cicadas every single year in the south, one species only comes up every 17 years, but there are species with annual cycles and with 3 year cycles and whatnot. There are always cicadas.

[friezefrite]

I did an essay on the cicada's life cycle before. My theory took this into account, but I emphasized the diversity among different broods of cicadas, as 13 year broods will never emerge with other 13 year broods, 17 never with other 17 (given that they're on different starting years), and the two only cross every 13/17 generations. This is ideal for sustaining each brood's own genetic makeup.

[marionade]

Here in the upper central U.S. we have 3, 7, and 13 year cicadas. Thanks to Numberphile, I understand why these cycles are all prime values. Nature certainly does use math.

[coryman]

Breaking news: inspired by cicadas, scientists use natural selection to find new prime numbers. They have since discovered a cicada which emerges every (2^77, 232, 917) − 1 years.


(this is a joke, if it wasn't obvious)

[woodfur]

Wow, not a single argument about the correct pronunciation of 'cicada.' I'm impressed.

[PinkChucky]

In the town where I was born in Mexico we have tons of cicadas so I grew up with their sound and boy, are they annoying lol. But the cicadas there come out every single year and it is around this time (May-ish). I was there visiting about two weeks ago and there were already a bunch of them :-)

[ffggddss]

'I say ci-cay-dah, and you say ci-cah-dah,
Let's call the whole thing off!'

[EuphoriaKickStart]

"ummm, I'm no expert but I assume you're heading towards prime numbers?" I thought Brady WAS an expert :D

[DarkVortex]

HOLY CRAP! I had a weird feeling that I knew this guy from somewhere but I couldn't put my finger on it. I just realized he did a maths show about a year ago(?) that I went to where he did the number distribution thing with 1s more common and the shapes of constant width. I can't believe I've met him and hadn't even realized it.

[irekjakobik]

The 17-year periodical cicadas will emerge in spring this year (2021) in 15 states: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

[hedgehogchaser]

My favorite thing about this video is that YouTube waited seven years to recommend I watch it.

[tdj]

2013: video uploaded
2020: people thinking it's 17 y/o but it is 7
2024: I am watching it
2026: 13 y/o, GTA VI, WW3 probably 💀
2030: 17 completed ✅

[typicallucas]

Hi Brady, the end of this video teases a video about the Golden Ratio, it doesn't appear on your channel. I'd like to see it. Thanks for all the good math videos.