Adam Savage Builds a Paperclip "Borromean Box" with

[@tested]

Find Matt's new book, Love Triangle, here: amzn.to/3WWMfEZ Watch more of Matt's videos at Stand-Up Maths: kzbin.info Zachary Abel's mathematical sculptures: zacharyabel.com/sculpture/

[@VAXHeadroom]

I want to see Adam, Matt, and Cliff Stoll all in a room doing stuff like this...Might be peak internet nerd entertainment...

[@theadamabrams]

@@VAXHeadroom Cliff must have a glass Borromean ring set somewhere, right? My thought was that Steve Mould and Adam Savage need their own collab to complete the set _this week._

[@michaeljfigueroa]

Guys get a room already ...

[@michaeljfigueroa]

Or do brain candy. Either one is acceptable

[@JaySay]

19:32 _"I'm enjoying the frustration."_ The immediate cut to Matt sitting back a bit from the table with what I can only call *defeated contemplation* is so hilarious to me!😂

[@SeanStClair-cr9jl]

LMAO you are so right

[@maple22moose44]

Never before have I seen an image in which I can so fully relate to both halves of it

[@MikeJenson]

23:21

[@muhammad.mohsen]

YES!! that snap cut floored me 😂😂

[@Paradiso.21]

I'm a simple man. I see "Adam builds [words I don't understand] with Matt Parker" and I click on the video.

[@Imperial_Squid]

Oh boy! "Adam builds ạ̶̧̧̨̢̱̣̳̲̠̞̲͎̫͙̳͖͍̦͖̫̰̰̥͇͚̲̮̱͙̟̤̦̪̮̥̟̦̳̘͙͊́̆͒̾̓̇̓̀̽̋̿͂̍̽̓̅̾̓̔̌̀̚͝͝ ̵̢̢̧̛̤̱̯̮̪͖̮̙͎͈̝͚̜̖̬̖͍̙̻̄̐̆̽̈́́̿̃̋͊̂̚̕͠ͅc̸̯̰̟̪͚͋̍̏̓͐̇̑̈́͂̑̇͊̾͊̐͛͋̈́͝ư̶̢̨̹͖̳̙̞̩̘̰̼̝͔͕̩̠͎̭̹̰̲̬̬̹̙̳̯͔̦͂͋͑̑̐͌̏̄̃̎͊͌̃̓̾̿̄̒̎̈́̔̿̐̃̓͆̀̊̚͠͝͝b̸̢̧̨̧̧̢̼̝̲̻͉̠̮͚̟͍̩͕̤̙̬̗̖̻̬͓͓̱͉̖̱̪̦̞̖̲̳͓̮̙̗̣̙͓̦͙͔͙͈̽̌̎̽͜e̴̢̨̧̧̛̫͚͎̟̫͓̭̻͙̼̟̻͇͈͈̘͕̥̖̋̃̎̈́̉̒͆͒̉̓̋̇̏͑̅̾̀̇͐̓͘͠ͅ with Matt Parker"? Sign me up!!

[@zaror211]

For me just seeing any one of them is enough :)

[@columbus8myhw]

Oh, a "paperclip" is a metal rod bent into a clip shape used for holding paper together. Hope that helps!

[@thehuggz-i9k]

"I feel like I'm going to make a decision now and I'm going to regret it, but I don't know what the right decision is." - said EVERY engineer EVER.

[@darrinrebagliati5365]

Said every engineer, daily!

[@DominusFeles]

Truth!

[@Yezpahr]

As said by Sheldon Cooper - Big Bang theory.

[@kingofgar101]

when you start trying to make something of sufficient complexity you often just have to get all the obvious failure points out of the way as fast as possible so that you find out that they are obvious

[@tristanridley1601]

​@@darrinrebagliati5365 If it's daily, I envy your job!

[@Rubrickety]

Hexastix: “Start building it, and keep building it, and then you’re done.” Borromean Box: "Start building it, and keep... um... keep... dammit, just... keep.... nnghh..."

[@tested]

Pretty much. We started the day by filming the hexastix and we were SO HAPPY WE DID.

[@nanamacapagal8342]

If the hexastix is the beauty of doing math, the borromean box is the frustration of doing math

[@scoobertmcruppert2915]

Where is the Hexastix video?

[@MrSupahlovah]

I had built the "impenatraball" from Zachary Abel's site years and years ago, i still have it on my desk in my office! It was quite a bit of work to get it together, I love it though!

[@LeoStaley]

@@scoobertmcruppert2915 the video for it was August 21

[@NicolasMarti-me1xp]

At this point Matt Parker should just be a regular on the channel.

[@tested]

Well, he kind of is, and we’re here for it! It just depends on his travel schedule is all; he has an open invitation with us.

[@VAXHeadroom]

@@tested Bring in Cliff Stoll with Matt next time !

[@gabotron94]

@@VAXHeadroom Cliff Stoll and Adam Savage together would probably be an almost uncontrollable amount of enthusiasm

[@JuanGuzzoSantana]

@@VAXHeadroom Biggest collab of all time! All for Cliff in the channel!

[@ReedCBowman]

@@gabotron94 If there's one person on Earth who could make Adam as exhausted with their overenthusiasm as Jamie was with Adam's...

[@grievesy83]

9:16 "It looks like you're trying to build a sculpture" - absolutely sent me! Long live Clippy in our memories (in scorn, of course).

[@grievesy83]

('Clippy' was an answer to a question on my episode of Hard Quiz - Aussies will understand)

[@berend_dijk]

Yup, great Clippy reference that triggered me as well 😂

[@bloodvue]

The hate this caused in my very soul

[@GeorgeSanger]

Top tier joke, completely missed by Adam

[@zyxwvut4740]

"Clippy Must DIE!": kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKnGnqKCgLuXbJI

[@FrostCraftedMC]

"im having fun! im enjoying the difficulty" *cut to matt sitting back away from the table, staring at the project like it insulted his mother*

[@acsetpoint]

I love that little Clippy joke, "It looks like you are trying to build a sculpture..."

[@josephlunderville3195]

Poor clippy, trapped forever in a tangle

[@snafu2350]

Love Matt & Adam collabs :) Let there be more!

[@tested]

We agree!

[@ApothecaryTerry]

I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect demonstration of the gradual descent into insanity.

[@BandwidthMusic]

I love the "shapes with Matt Parker" series

[@brianjamesward2150]

Not to be confused with the Boromirian box, which is just a normal box that's been shot full of arrows :D

[@Elwaves2925]

That reference has a ring to it.

[@ecksearoh6283]

Now I need someone to make a boromirian box out of paperclip arrows.

[@DefinatelyNotAI]

@@ecksearoh6283 Tiny bows.

[@genericgamer2003]

Too soon haha

[@khendar]

I hear that was always his father's favourite box, as opposed to the Faramirian box which was always a disappointment.

[@JolynBowler]

Thanx for sharing your "play date" with us. Y'all look like you are having entirely too much fun. Oh so good!!! 💙🌻💙

[@lujho]

They should have pre-clipped the inner part out of each paperclip before even starting, so it was just an oval with only a small amount of overlap of the two ends. That would have solved the issue of one end being too small to fit the other clips into and made the whole thing easier. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 because I only thought of this when they were almost done. But that’s what I’d do if I was trying this.

[@wumbojet]

I think they wanted to preserve the shape of the paperclips

[@ikocheratcr]

I was thinking of a special wire bend, but your idea is way better, just cut the inner side, super!

[@Tentakill.]

@@wumbojet I don't think they succeeded haha

[@pentacleman1000]

I started thinking that as soon as they hit that problem and didn't do it. All they wanted were ovals, so just cut out the extra bit.

[@Drakith90]

The original they were trying to recreate still had the whole clips so they were trying to stick to the source material

[@BlackSoap361]

Adam tried to slip “any integer” by Matt, Matt gently corrected him to “any whole number.” I want to see Adam try to construct one with a negative number of links.

[@anteshell]

Well.. It was still wrong. All 0, 1 and 2 are whole numbers but you cannot build this with those amounts of loops. It only works with three or more loops.

[@iambadatcomingupwithcomeba2060]

It would be any natural number then

[@antonliakhovitch8306]

​@@anteshellYeah. I don't think that was a correction; I think that was Matt throwing in simpler language for viewers who might not know what an integer is.

[@tinhoyhu]

I'd imagine that it'd be a complex build.

[@antonliakhovitch8306]

@@tinhoyhu We're talking about a negative, but still real number of links. A complex number is a whole nother level.

[@JaySay]

Always love seeing Matt Parker on the channel! As a Stand-Up Mathematician, he's such a "stand-up" guy and always enjoys even the simplest bit of fun in all things science. I'm a big lover of all things geometry and the ins-and-outs of shapes, too, so the more of these videos to watch the better!❤

[@Feralfoundry]

❤ one of the best examples ever shown of nuero divergent co-play and interaction ever.

[@IcerCheck]

I get what you mean but 😭😭😭

[@MadMcGlory]

"If everything is sentient, then these are livid" - This for what every reason has me laughing out loud to myself. Ty

[@dralbora]

Absolutely the most fun two makers can share! Perfect! Percussive refinement at the end punctuates the process.

[@linamishima]

Turns out the phenomenon of parker square does in fact extend to three dimensional problems :D Huge love for the colour choices too, appropriate for Matt's excellent taste in t-shirts!

[@1bytesnack369]

Seems fitting that the Parker cube is as perfect as the Parker square.

[@Gabu_]

It's also Parker-linked - not quite but just a bit

[@haph2087]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[@fbdd5]

Can't wait to see how janky the Parker hyoercube ends up being

[@michel8218]

More with Matt please. This is golden to watch

[@wilhelmineh]

I like Matt's color choice. Blåhaj is just amazing.

[@wazz_up_dog]

i saw that and was immediately like: "matt knew what he was doing".

[@bl4cksp1d3r]

@@wazz_up_dog gosh i hope so!

[@alexandrarabinovici3826]

Trans flag and rasta flag :)

[@JustKelsey]

was gonna comment the same when i saw the colors 😂🦈

[@steckelton717]

It's just so nice & comforting to see :)

[@davedujour1]

It looks like they're wiring up some old school computer memory.

[@AvNerdVR]

Went down the rabbit hole of Zachary Abel’s “quality side projects to assign an active mind to in a boring office. I don’t understand the math on any of them, but enjoy puzzles. Gonna give the poker face one a go this week. Y’all are awesome. Been a huge fan of you since I was a kid, Adam. And it is incredibly awesome to me 1. That you’re still having fun doing this stuff, and 2. That you’re sharing your fun with the world.

[@DanielCrist]

Every single line spoken by these two men could be put in a book of engineering words of wisdom.

[@drumsNstuff79]

I saw the thumbnail for his and thought "Oh they are going to do some little trick and bend these paperclips nicely into a perfect cube and it will be symmetrical and neat..", and then here they are with these bent muscled in, broken, compromises of a cube.. An 'A' for effort you two! You did your best.

[@o0superflu0o]

Two of my favourite people on youtube just making things together. I love these collaborations! (Also, I love Matt's shirt and the colours he chose)

[@uDidWatt]

I can imagine each time you pick them up, you spend more time pressing, twisting, and banging them into shape. We've all been there.. it never gets better

[@BoroczBarnabass]

Nitinol paper clips return to their original shape when put in hot water after bending. Maybe you could try that.

[@LostLargeCats]

Oh I like that idea!

[@BlackCatBritt]

the slow descent into chaos & madness here is hilariously wholesome to watch. I love it

[@MisterPhish]

one way that may be more in the spirit of the Borromean box and less in the spirit of "out of paperclips" could be to snip out the center turn of the paperclip at a height that lines up with the other "tail" of the paperclip wire, so it essentially forms a broken chainlink where both ends line up and can either be taped together or just left aligned. I feel like it could eliminate a lot of the difficulty as well.

[@pauljohnson2023]

I was fascinated by the way Adam straightened the paperclips and then proceeded to recreate the inner bend that was giving them the most trouble ...

[@paulj3781]

"My metric for success has gradually been relaxing" 🤣

[@PassionPopsicle]

"From my friend, Matt Parker" I don't have enough words for how much I love this

[@ikocheratcr]

Fantastic video, the build is very nice, but the two of you interacting about how to build it, that is priceless.

[@webbot15]

They look like hand knitted memory for a 1930's time machine

[@cannibalbananas]

I like the clothespin vs electrical tape methods. Also it was both mentally stimulating, and relaxing to watch you two play w/ giant paperclips

[@DasGanon]

9:16 Clippy!

[@MattHaugh]

I chuckled at that too!

[@3gsFreak]

Came to the comments to say that too! 📎 Clippy 💜

[@TheBobbytables]

A murder of Crows A Parliament of Owls ... A Mockery of Stationery.

[@jjm014]

I remember Adam saying at one point in the past about his work at ILM that "every prop has a hero side", and the statement has never rung truer than right now.

[@frankbraker]

"We are very triumphant having done the first step." Great line! It all looks like some sort of strange inductive device.

[@mr.cooper2031]

A fine pair of Parker Cubes in the end

[@ace.of.space.]

"Sorta" is really the name of the game with Matt Parker

[@ChoppedMutton]

Waited the whole video for the eureka moment when they'd snip the superfluous inner loops of the clips.

[@RawrLess]

It’s because the increased the number of paperclips

[@Drakith90]

The originals on Zachary Abel's site all have the entire paper clip so they were trying to emulate that

[@ChoppedMutton]

@@Drakith90 When they came to the realization they weren't going to be able to emulate it without mangling the paper clips is when I expected the eureka moment.

[@vernhoke7730]

Oh man, when he said there's a beer in the US that has a logo like that, Ballantine. My great uncle owned a bar back when I was a kid. My father and my grandfather tended bar there in the sixties. The other day, going through a small box of coins, mostly wheat pennies, and a couple of steel ones, I found a small Ballantine 3 ring aluminum trinket that I must-have picked up as a kid.

[@leeunterreiner]

In my college days in the 60's Ballantine was 5 dollars a case (24 bottles). It was our go-to beverage.

[@mahmga1]

Man, how cool to be able to call up Adam Savage for a hang-out. I mean that's just beyond awesome, for both no doubt.

[@SirJoshuaTree]

@17:43 "There's at least two ways!" Such a mathematician's way of looking at the world. "We've proven two, but there could always be more!"

[@visualdragon]

9:15 "It looks like you're trying to build a sculpture..." Clippy reference FTW!

[@laskey2175]

I'm loving Matt's KZbinr collaboration lately. 👍

[@PiedPiperProjects]

There's a chainmaille technique called "Japanese 4-in-1" that can be used to accomplish to same effect with jump rings.

[@jacoerasmus591]

Really enjoying these videos with Matt!

[@TheShanir]

Beautiful Parker Cube

[@R.B.]

At one of my jobs in college, I used to build paperclip structures like this. I never made a cube, but there are some interesting properties when you link them in the right way.

[@MetallicCopperToad]

I love when they collab.

[@CarJul666]

Thanks for sharing your frustration with us. It's very entertaining to watch.

[@jsharpvideos1861]

Being an Artist is a Mindset too

[@NoVIcE_Source]

its lovely to see adam and matt together

[@jsharpvideos1861]

I appreciate the colors that were chosen!!

[@hellomyfriend7932]

The Clippy joke at 9:16 was gold!

[@lloydhunt8343]

I'm watching two grown men, trying to stack paper clips... And I love it, wtf?!

[@danielgebert4556]

Adam’s looks like something an electrician would carry around when doing some kind of industrial wiring.

[@nickiebanchou]

since all you wanted was "rings" basically, i'd have simply snipped the inner loop of those clips 🙃

[@RyohMadDog]

But that's not all they wanted, they've done a couple videos of shapes with office supplies. They wanted to do it with paperclips and for them to still seem like paper clips

[@emolgana]

ok but matt's trans box has some incredible vibes going for it

[@ryanlutes9833]

This is the kind of thing I could see a school kid getting _really_ good at instead of studying during class.

[@antimattered3921]

adam parker and matt savage. lovely

[@garychaiken808]

Great job guys. Thank you 😊

[@baileescott401]

The way how everything is interlocked but not knotted reminds me a lot of crochet! Or knitting for that matter. The last step is securing the piece with an actual knot, because the fabric it'self is a matrix of slip knots that form the fabric. It appears to be all held into place. but if you don't finish your work by securing it, everything can come undone!. But with yarnwork in it's simplest form it is a single continuous line that loops in and over back over and through itself continuously. I find a lot of beauty in that. And the skill has become easier than riding a bike to me, so it's quite satisfying as well

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

I am an artist. A fiber artist… who pursued a math degree… and this is SO inspiring. You’ve got my analytical & artistic brains going and now I want to play instead of work on the birthday gift I’ve been working on.

[@robertthompson3447]

The collaboration that I have been waiting for. 🤩

[@xLewleit]

Matt's Clippy reference at 9:15 was *chefs kiss*

[@streetstomper]

man I love these kind of raw videos. so much fun to watch

[@jamespeltzer5380]

This duo is awesome

[@eirikmellesdal]

Another savage video.xP Great work from both Parker and Savage.

[@ares395]

31:10 Me with every project I start. Ever.

[@c016smith52]

I’m so excited, I enjoyed the hexastix video (and did that project myself, so fun) and can’t wait to try this! Thanks

[@robertoats1517]

I love these collabs with Matt Parker.

[@cmygamelife]

I love how you tell me how and why it works then you show me. Best way to learn because by the end i somehow catch on thanks to all the pieces together.

[@agucci-e8x]

really should be a "feat Matt Parker" in this lol

[@amphicorp4725]

My thoughts exactly

[@Antipico]

Your comment rocks!

[@JaySay]

​@@Antipico-It didn't when he commented it... You can edit them without taking down the video.- I guess i'll play along and edit my comment, too.😘

[@Antipico]

@@JaySay 😁

[@JaySay]

@@Antipico Is something wrong? Are we playing a game of "comment tag" now or something?🤨

[@WolfRose1Studios]

This definitely feels like one of those things where the ratio of the wire size to the dimensions of the paperclip needs to be taken into account like how the ratio of the inner diameter to the wire size determines what type of chainmail that you can make from it.

[@philipzielinski]

9:30 Clippy has entered the chat. 😂

[@JXZ2]

I love this, it's something anyone could try to do, and it looks very impressive.

[@TobyWanKenobi-1]

I enjoyed this problem and wondered about 20 minutes in, should they have used their first 3 sets of groupings as the very center and worked outwards which may have made the linking easier

[@goddessSue13]

+10 for Clippy reference "looks like you're trying to build a sculpture " 😂😂

[@thomasleathrum7156]

Speaking from experience, Borromean rings make for fun 3D prints.

[@laurenmp7486]

The beginning with the loops reminded me of Matt's Royal Institution lecture where he talks about the Ballentine's beer logo, and then Matt brings up the logo.

[@hyperverbal]

I liked that way you brought Matt into the Frame❤ 🖼️

[@debbenjo5875]

Fascinating to watch!

[@danielbender4327]

I loved this descent into madness

[@Thorsummoner0]

My favorite educator duo

[@njones420]

Faramean box next week?

[@BrianMoore-gp8ot]

Legolian cube after that

[@PanEtRosa]

Aragornian cube next month

[@schuifelhoofd]

I've found some designs to build borromean links and trefoil knots in Lego. Very fun to build (and they open up, so you can open and close the 3rd direction ;) )

[@CattyAttie]

I love Matt Parker!

[@LostLargeCats]

25:52 Matt with his "One should have." 😂🤣

[@ivanheffner2587]

I’d like to see Adam build a working trebuchet out of office supplies. Pencils and rubber bands would be the minimal set of supplies necessary. To improve the performance, a pen cap or barrel can help reduce friction at the joint(s). Depending on how one classifies office materials you can use some basic string or twine; or if you really want to put some time into it, take the strings off some intra-office mail envelopes to braid into some rope for lashing it all together and making the sling.

[@chriskondak1867]

I love this. I've seen 2 others... Staples: take lengths of staples that are as long as 3, and slide them together into a cube. Also Business Cards: fold in half and assemble into cubes. With a whole box of cards you can interlace the cubes into shapes!

[@justifiable]

I've consumed a lethal dose of matt parker/adam savage content. goodby everyon

[@superjugy]

Ahh the evolution of the Parker square, the Parker cube!

[@TheGreatAtario]

39:29 "I appreciate your willingness to jump in and screw it up." AKA _giving it a go_

[@zakuraayame5091]

I read boomerang box at first; was wondering how that would work! A box that could shoot a paperclip, have it come back, and catch it would be quite the marvel!