Hidden Math in Alice in Wonderland

Thanks to Toby Peres for help with the script.

This video is sponsored by KiwiCo.

[LudicrousTachyon]

When Alice just falls down the rabbit hole and drinks from the bottle that shrinks her. She wonders if she'll just keep getting smaller or go out entirely. This seems like a reference to limits in calculus.

[Stefan_]

I analyzed Alice in a linguistics seminar at university, and its language games can really teach you a lot about semantics and pragmatics. Learning something about the math behind the story made it even more fascinating to me - thank you!

[theboombody]

The original Winnie-the-Pooh book is like this too. Its author A. A. Milne had a degree in mathematics and snuck in some stuff that certainly appears mathematical to me.

[rentristandelacruz]

Thumbnail meme game is still strong, Toby.

[isadora]

Actually the multiplication she is doing in the hall is even more astonishing! Instead of base 10, use base 18 in answer 1 and add 3 to the base every time she does a new multiplication. Then you'll see that what she's saying is very true indeed.
So:
4 * 5 = 12 correct when you use base 18
4 * 6 = 13 correct if you use base 21
4 * 7 = 14 correct if you use base 24
(...)
4 * 12 = 19 correct if you use base 39
And the funny part comes when she stops there, because in base 42 the right answer to 4 * 13 would be 1a. - "She shall never get to 20 at that rate"
Besides from that, the number 42 is known to be Lewis Carroll's favorite number and can be seen several times in the book.

[cycologist]

"How long is infinity?" asked Alice.
"Sometimes just one second" replied the Queen

maybe from Through the Looking Glass

[the_sage_of_dragons]

Guys, don’t let her great videos distract you from the fact that Mr.Krabs sold spongebob’s Soul for a few cents

[dylanparker]

Just imagine publishing multiple books on mathematics only to be described as "un-noteworthy" in that area! :O

[pascal]

The master was an old Turtle - we used to call him Tortoise -"
"Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?" Alice asked.
"We called him Tortoise because he taught us, " said the Mock Turtle angrily: "really you are very dull!”

[oa]

I would love to see a video on explaining some of the most abstract concepts of pure mathematics, you're great at breaking down complex ideas, explaining them, and then reformulating them in a way that doesn't seem so hard to understand.

[irtap]

This was a delight in so many levels. The scientist, the artist and the child in me are all so happy. And my anxious self feels calmer with your voice.

[AnaGarcia-ldlf]

As a philologist I can say that one of the best interpretations that the book has is related to the search for her own identity: Alice is a little girl who suddenly enters the world of Wonderland, where each character is unique and she has to adapt and grow looking for her own individual identity to survive in this world. The first book deals with this search for individual identity that did not exist in Victorian society and less so for women, while in the second, Alice puts this new identity to the test (grows and matures so to speak). The card games of the the first book and the chess of the second is also related to this idea. In addition, the first book talks about language and its ability to control the reality that surrounds us: language is power as the king shows. And I could go on but it would be very long.
Good video.

[faayzomarakhtar]

I love how she's an asmrist without even trying

[Sam_on_YouTube]

There's a great article you can find online entitled "When Peter Met Alice, " explaining the meeting, as adults, of the namesakes of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. They were never really happy with an author making them famous as children by basing famous fiction works on them. Even worse was Christopher Robin whose father used his real name (and his real childhood stuffed aninals that still get displayed at museums) for the characters in Winnie the Poo and it haunted him for much of his life.

[Blake]

This is one of my favorite books! This is the best math channel on the whole YouTube.

[noelwass]

You mind is brimming with hundreds of ideas, and all presented in a very entertaining and lively fashion. Thank you, Toby, for your wonderful videos.

[tbrown]

I’m pretty sure I could listen to her talk all day and never get tired of it.

[ScantaniouslyCombust]

My discrete maths class used the "i mean what I say" part from Alice in wonderland to describe logic.

[brandontylerburt]

I loved "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" so much when I was a child that, growing impatient having to wait for an adult, I was inspired to take matters into my own hands, and, apparently through sheer force of will, acquired the ability to read. I still enjoy re-reading them every few years. I think a lot of people conceive of "Alice in Wonderland" in terms of the Walt Disney feature, which is probably among the least egregious adaptations that have been made for screen and stage and I have no criticism of the artists and animators who contributed to that project. Still, such adaptations have always fallen short of the mark for me, and now I realize it's not snobbery. The reason they seem to lack something is just that "Alice" owes so much of its delightful absurdist humor to Carroll's system of formal logic, whose implications, while highly visual on the page, are sufficiently abstract there don't seem to be many obvious choices for the screenwriter seeking to represent the story on film or video. There is a book-length adaptation, though, which I highly recommend: The 1999 edition of "The Annotated Alice" includes extensive and exhaustive footnotes by Martin Gardner*, with alternate versions of the Tenniel illustrations, etc. By the way, I've been really enjoying your videos. Thank you for producing thoughtful and engaging content. Cheers! 💙
* Edit: That's what I get for firing off a comment before watching the video. Lol. I see you're aware of Gardner. Love it!

[infinitumneo]

I like your interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. My chemistry professor would reference Alice in Wonderland when referring to quantum mechanical models in organic chemical reactions. This added interest to the topic.