Four Dimensional Maths: Things to See and Hear in the Fourth Dimension - with Matt Parker

Matt Parker, comedian and mathematician, shows how four-dimensional shapes appear in a 3D world in this hands-on talk, featuring what is possibly the world's nerdiest knitted hat!
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Buy Matt's book "Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension" - geni.us/M2MIA
Discover how to make love hearts from Mobius strips, 4D frames from drinking straws and pipe-cleaners, and other maths tricks in this entertaining talk by Matt Parker. Matt explains how to know when someone's throwing a 4D cubes at you and also what happens when your mum knits a three dimensional shadow of a four dimensional donut - to wear on your head, in this fun talk on the challenges of visualising the fourth dimension.
Matt Parker was an Australian school teacher before he moved to London where he works as a stand-up comedian and a maths communicator. He writes books, appears on radio programmes and TV shows, contributes to newspapers, makes school visits and gives live comedy shows.
This event took place at the Royal Institution on Tuesday 27 January 2015.
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[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Do you have a sudden urge to knit your own Klein bottle hat? No worries, friend, we've got you covered - www.dropbox.com/s/42b2gete2rfs8s4/Think%20Maths%20-%20Klein%20Bottle%20Hat.pdf?dl=0

[@user-eg3jf9dw5c]

Thanks, this is really good gift!

[@_Egor_Egorov]

Thanks a lot. Really nice hat for math student. :)

[@wilfredmay5231]

Many thanks, wonderful stuff. Have you read "And he built a crooked house" by Robert Heinlien?

[@missyc13]

there's a video kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH-rlYR-o6iXhJI

[@RWBHere]

Never mind the hat; where can I buy the seven coloured mug?

[@Banzybanz]

Matt, you now hold the record for solving a Rubik's cube while delivering a lecture at the Ri.

[@I_Love_Learning]

Depending on the definition of lecture, no!

[@thepyromancer1319]

Do string theorists hate knot theorists.

[@johng7410]

hehhehe. Probably. String theorists are physicists. Knot theorists are mathematicians. They're always arguing. :-)

[@RFC3514]

Many physicists would argue that string theory is actually closer to maths than it is to physics. In fact, it's probably closer to _religion_ than it is to maths.

[@sundhaug92]

So knot theorists are tied up in arguments?

[@tedvanmatje]

ThePyromancer13 so, it would be logical to say knot theorists are the opposite of string theorists.....no pun intended (of course not) ;)

[@noahwilliams8996]

"STOP MAKING KNOTS IN OUR STRINGS! D:< "

[@BarryBurns42]

"I'm standing over a national treasure. Look at the water! The world's first electric motor was demonstrated here. I made a heart!" Classic.

[@schlumpkin7980]

This guy made watching an hour-long math lesson very entertaining. Love the guys energy, hope he’s doing well

[@themathman2494]

He has a stand alone math channel now, look up stand up maths! He’s even better now.

[@mikeychrisanthus9948]

^ He’s demonstrated a lot of creativity in the past few years

[@SquirrelASMR]

He's balder now, hope that counts as well.

[@schlumpkin7980]

@@SquirrelASMR Totally, thanks for the extra detail lol

[@Aj-ge6ku]

Didn't even know it was a hour long.

[@denmartorlanda]

"youre solving a 4D rubiks cube, on a 3D world, on a 2D screen, blowing your 1D mind."

[@eyeheisenberg2278]

No screen is 2d they are all 3d objects

[@jasonschuchardt7624]

@@eyeheisenberg2278 the machine is 3d of course, but the surface of the screen is 2d. Though that's not always a perfect model.

[@eyeheisenberg2278]

@@jasonschuchardt7624 All the molecules in a '2d' screen are actually 3d molecules. There is no 2d. Even the skin of those molecules is comprised of 3d matter

[@stanavagiannis2381]

What about a square box containing a round circle cut into triangles called a pizza ?

[@jsn1252]

​@@eyeheisenberg2278 What exactly are you trying to achieve by deliberately misunderstanding what was said? Or are you just dumb and pretending to be smart? The machine that produces the image surface may be 3d, but the surface itself is not. A drawing isn't a 3d either just because it was constructed from 3d materials.

[@GogiRegion]

My mom is pretty cool because when I said, “Hey, that recycling symbol is a 3 turn mobius loop,” she actually said that that was cool instead of just not caring like my friends.

[@karenramnath9993]

Yup, you got a cool one 😎👍🏻

[@mrjrolmeda2nd107]

I think your statement is cool too.

[@jerelull9629]

Your Mom's a keeper.

[@yesno7889]

That’s so sad 😞

[@Sparrow420]

No one in my family expect my little sister cares about stuff like that, lucky you. ;)

[@samy7B9]

I absolutely love this guy (well this professor). I cant even believe I've sat and looking at his work just over 1 hour. Brilliant work. Thank you and good luck.

[@safetyinspector250]

look up stand up maths for more. hes got a whole youtube channel!

[@jerelull9629]

That's the mark of a true *educator* , which is why I'm addicted to him, too..

[@mgrizzlybair]

My friend and I have a running joke about having a Dungeons and Dragons wizard make a Klein Bottle Bag of Holding. Since the inside IS the outside, putting something into the bag would randomly displace the object to some point inside the physical universe. Also, since if you put a portable hole or a bag of holding inside one another, they explode like a tactical nuclear device, it is possible that the act of creating the Klein Bag of Holding would instantly detonate every portable hole and every bag of holding in existence. BTW, the detonation is due to putting an extradimensional storage container inside another extradimensional storage container. This interaction has been an accepted part of D&D for decades now.

[@evelyncarsten6660]

I love every part of this.

[@kamanha746]

you kinda made me wanna learn D&D now

[@mgrizzlybair]

@@kamanha746 whatever you do, don't go with 4th edition. ;)

[@gradypharr1300]

This is amazing

[@TheMeanAdmin]

I still maintain that putting a portable hole in a bag of holding has 1% chance of creating a Klein bag of holding. Which can create black hole, white hole, make a bag with infinite capacity that nothing can be taken out of or make a bag that you can put nothing in (including any appendages), but can cough up random content of random bags of holding at random intervals.

[@Amethyst_Friend]

This is a wonderful lecture. I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult; as a child I would have been spellbound.

[@Mendelmandela]

the passion in the guy is palpable..lovely

[@BinuJasim]

irritating. He is praising himself constantly.

[@Peter_1986]

Praising himself? He is having fun and joking around, which is a trait that is way too rare among mathematicians. A lot of maths teachers have this overly formal and super-serious attitude and completely lack all sense of humour, and those kinds of teachers get annoying very quickly. Matt Parker actually shows passion and enthusiasm for maths, and doesn't care about that "let's be serious, formal and ultra-professional to the extreme at all times" nonsense.

[@alansmithee419]

Seriously... It's giving me palpitations.

[@-danR]

@@Peter_1986 That doesn't actually translate into getting all the way through school and college. It does translate into critically examinable 'performance art', and if you _enjoy_ it, that's great, and if you don't, well that's fine too.

[@christianwilliams5002]

I'm 26 and learning to tie my shoes. What have I done with my life.

[@Jamesdavey358]

@John Monday oh be quiet

[@TheNeonLynx]

I think this is my new favorite comment on youtube

[@varshitjain5808]

Im 26 and im exactly at that part of the video

[@RodinGaming]

Well from now on you'll have more time to do other stuff with all the time you've saved with efficient shoelace tying

[@poefpoef]

You are lucky. I’m over 50 and learning to tie my shoes.

[@vitellonealvapore877]

"i regret starting this conversation" me, every conversation.

[@Itsunclegabby]

Meshuggah 🤘

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Thanks to our incredible army of volunteer transcribers, we now have English captions for Matt! Thank you so much for everyone who contributed and helped make this video more accessible.

[@tesseracta4728]

Someone needs to create a genetic algorithm that unties knots. Maybe this algorithm could then be translated to DNA knots in bacteria.

[@Anvilshock]

Now we need an incredible army of volunteer sound engineers to make Matt's recorded shouty voice not sound like a chainsaw. (We actually don't, just a little bit of knob-twiddling by the knobhead behind the mixing console would have helped.)

[@SantiagoAbud]

You are welcome for doing the American Spanish though. e.e

[@nerdblender69]

This man taught me how to tie my shoes. Fantastic presentation!

[@hughdanielson]

Isn't he already speaking English? If not I think I may have misunderstood the whole lecture.

[@MarkGamed]

"Someone is throwing 4D cubes at you." "Pointy end first" "I'd recommend running." "Maybe wear a hat."

[@herculesgidel8622]

And it happens that i just got the perfect one for you to wear. You'll see it later.

[@chaosinternational3584]

Preferably a 3d shadow of a 4d twisted donut hat

[@vukkulvar9769]

Sounds like Dr Who

[@trickytreyperfected1482]

@@herculesgidel8622 what?

[@750kv8]

When they throw 4D cubes at you, running and wearing a Klein bottle hat is recommended.

[@Corpsegrinderr]

I thought about how hyperactive his speaking style is, but then I realized it's because he is super stoked about science, and that should be applauded. A nice breath of fresh air

[@floreaciprian9742]

yea, its uncontrolled excitement and i love it

[@chaosjoerg9811]

Uhm, no. It's called teaching. Express excitement and make jokes to keep the audience engaged.

[@SudPAD32]

​@@chaosjoerg9811 you can be naturally excited while teaching subjectd too

[@glenm99]

37:30 "Use arguments to solve arguments." Top tier joke; not one person laughs. :(

[@mydogbrian4814]

Ha, ha, ha! No, wait. I dont get it? Any way we all know what a hyper cube shadow looks like in the 3rd dimension. But what does it look like in the 5th?

[@evannibbe9375]

MyDog Brian “Arguments” are what you pass to functions, and also describe the values within a tuple. There are also lots of arguments about how sports ought to be scored.

[@PeterSitterly]

@@user-vo8zx1db6m That's... the point.

[@MySerpentine]

@@mydogbrian4814 It looks like a hypercube, I'd think

[@mydogbrian4814]

@@MySerpentine Your right! Me thinks so too! But mabe also spawning an additional time dimension. Which we would be unable to fathom.

[@sabaca304]

42:50 It is a 2D picture of a 3D shadow of a 4D Cube.

[@YouAreKimBlix]

He probably should have mentioned that at that point in the video, however he does actually explain it by the end when he talks about the 4d and 5d rubik's cubes :)

[@eyeheisenberg2278]

No its not.

[@Stray0]

The Klein Bottle is the 3D shadow of a 4D möbius loop. That's amazing.

[@HilbertXVI]

Stray Pay What about a 4D Klein bottle :O

[@SirRebrl]

The Klein Bottle /is/ the 3D surface twisted through a 4th dimension so that the inside is the outside and it only has one surface, that is, it /is/ the 4D möbius loop. What we /see/ is the 3D shadow, but the shape itself is the 4D object.

[@JimGiant]

@SirRebrl It's a 2d surface twisted through two additional dimensions..

[@Max_Le_Groom]

One of the fanciest things I've heard.

[@eyeheisenberg2278]

Sorry all. No such thing as a 4d object or a 2d object. If i can replicate it through technical drawings it is 3d. Even my drawing is 3d.

[@MrNatkov]

This guy is an actual legend - hilarious. I love both his ability to engage with the audience and his comedy.

[@billmiller3425]

You really think this guy is HILARIOUS?! Wow.

[@dogwithwigwamz.7320]

"4D Glass, very expensive," has to be the best line so far this millennia.

[@gdash6925]

what was the best line of last millenium?

[@asheep7797]

@@gdash6925 easy. "Never gonna give you up!"

[@davidgreen5994]

I don't even like math yet I ended up spending 1 hour to watch this guy and I don't regret it... The proof that anything can become interesting, even the things you hate, as long as long as the presentation is done by someone who has the gift for teaching.

[@sasasimic75]

I was glued to my screen, and I don't even like the maths.

[@floreaciprian9742]

pretty sure this would make Matt Parker very proud :)

[@Itsunclegabby]

I'm going to say that from now on. "I don't even like the maths." 😁

[@williamhutton1752]

i was glued to my screen and I do like math

[@snookaisahtheotengahrepres5681]

@@arifa1156 math with s wich is plural involves geometry.. but i see, you are from the dumber cultures

[@omayrasanchez2877]

@@snookaisahtheotengahrepres5681 Which ones exactly are "the dumber cultures", and why?

[@valliemcc8352]

I was watching this while knitting and seeing that hat made me smile, I love it so much

[@julietardos5044]

I'm watching while crocheting, and I want to email him to ask about a crochet pattern.

[@valliemcc8352]

@@julietardos5044 I've made knitted toys from crochet patterns before. Maybe you could use the pattern as a sort of guideline? Tweak some things as you go, see how it fares

[@julietardos5044]

@@valliemcc8352 Hm, yeah, I probably could! Good idea!

[@chekote]

Wow, you can tell this guy was an amazing teacher ❤

[@kyazarshadala8114]

30:38 Parker Square confirmed!

[@mastaw]

The perfect timestamp to send to friends!

[@brcoutme]

Yes he didn't realize that the audience applauded the square much more enthusiastically than the joined hearts, because they heard that he had a problem with making proper squares.

[@dierderikd3986]

Isn't he the guy from numberphile?

[@Niosus]

Yes! The next hour of my life will be very enjoyable!

[@donaldkjenstad1129]

Numberphile is my favorite KZbin channel.

[@Manodragon]

This is the "calculator unboxing" guy. That videos are so good

[@robl4836]

No he is.

[@allenrobinson5750]

Jezus Christus i knew i seen his face some where!!

[@mattsadventureswithart5764]

I love his pride in his nerdiness about the beer can. Long live the nerds!

[@shaileshrana7165]

One of the best lectures I've seen on this channel. Matt Parker is amazing!

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

We're so glad you enjoyed it, Shailesh! We definitely agree about Matt!

[@AKAMustang]

37:29 "You can use arguments to solve arguments" ...

[@Kilkiju]

for someone who's watching for the first time... go immediately to 30:38 and have a good laugh XD *flies away*

[@RecursiveTriforce]

Kilkiju A new interpretation of squaring the circle...

[@h0lx]

Well at least it wasn't a Parker square

[@Howtard]

I am watching this for the first time and I did it. I did have a good laugh. Thanks!

[@masternip]

A square!

[@omhekde9033]

Kilkiju lol

[@bastian_5975]

55:27 I mean Faraday would probably approve... any scientist worth their salt would approve of ruining their desk for science reasons

[@tomp2008]

Matt Parker's great :D If I had a maths teacher like that when I was in school I might have even grown to like DOING maths instead of just appreciating it.

[@Farscryer0]

No reason you can't start now. I'm 29 and I'm doing the same. Its interesting retaking secondary school maths from an adult's perspective, patience, and drive to learn.

[@Peter_1986]

I am 30 and I consider Arithmetic the most important math course of all, simply because it's the foundation for everything else and the only course that everyone regularly uses in everyday life.

[@oz_jones]

Him and James Grime. I would have killed for teachers like them in High School.

[@snafu2350]

While I agree with the idea, I found (as I actually /had/ a teacher similar to Matt) that I spent more time listening to his stories & chatter/banter than actually doing the work: in short, I failed the exam despite the teacher being very good & personable :(

[@rockhunther0209]

when my mom walks into my room while I'm watching his videos, I immediately switch to pornography...it's easier to explain

[@inkpasta]

you mad lad

[@darrenkamalu9047]

Although funny, I don't know what else to say.

[@ropikman7873]

uh

[@Yesica1993]

An old video, but I just found it. I have watched many videos that try to explain the 4D concept. They always leave my brain feeling like it's been snapped in two. I just cannot grasp even the concept. This is the first time I've felt... just a tiny bit closer to understanding it. It's only like a millimeter that my understanding has moved, but that's more than it ever has before!

[@rtendotapiwa306]

I am with you on this one.

[@thomasmadden4294]

The best delivery of any RI talk I've ever seen. So engaging, interesting and funny.

[@mattyjmar10]

8:05 That joke went over as well as a Parker Square.

[@judesmith6310]

48:58 right hand bottom corner: double face palm of the century

[@NuclearSlayer52]

that seems to be one of the reasons why he started talking about the "who dragged who along" game

[@sarahc00kies]

Even after 5 years i'm loving this guys presentation!!! He's amazingly creative, smart and a great entertainer :O

[@user-im5zd4fj3p]

Ава топ

[@nomadspiritvids]

For me he's shouting too much. He could just talk more softly, the microphone is loud enough.

[@Onlythebesttracks]

For some reason this talk pops up in the back of my head every few months. I swear i have watched this talk maybe 20 times in its entirety.

[@untitlednewuser]

48:58 the kid on the right just couldn't bare it anymore ^-^

[@paulschmitz1275]

4D Möbius Strip, I can imagine the fear of major headaches :D

[@RadioactivFly]

46:07 I love this part. You see, in this "cube-dropping" demonstration, you see that to the 2d plane, the 2d square is the shape and the cube's third dimension is the duration for which it appears. To the 2nd dimension, the 3rd is time. That's why the 4th dimension is time to us.

[@purewaterruler]

RadioactivFly There must be something wrong with this statement, as physicists separate spacial and time dimensions, but I can't figure out what :P

[@RadioactivFly]

purewaterruler Well, do you not agree that in the first cube drop, the 3rd dimension of the cube is equivalent to the duration for which it appears in the 2d plane?

[@purewaterruler]

RadioactivFly Well like I said, I can't find anything wrong with your reasoning, except for the fact that physicists differentiate spacial and time dimensions.

[@nefastusamator]

RadioactivFly Not entirely accurate from our perspective, since if the 3d cube passed through much slower or quicker, the dimensional representation would vary by the same amount from both perspectives, we would see it is slower, they would see it as longer, but both would be equal changes. That is why time is separated from space, because it affects all the spatial dimensions equally, it's just perspective that changes from dimension to dimension.

[@RadioactivFly]

Nefastus Amator Well, to us the 4th dimension (time) is relative. I never denied that. What the cube drop shows us is that for any hypothetical 2d observers, the 3rd dimension acts in the same way the 4th does to us. Two cubes of the same length can be dropped at different speeds and show up for different amounts of time. The same is true of tesseracts falling through the 3rd dimension.

[@surrealdynamics4077]

This guy is absolutely brilliant! He's everything that's good about passion for a subject, made into a person. We love you Matt!

[@whyit487]

*I've beaten Matt by nerdiness of my clothing.* *Step 1: Klein Bottle Hat, with the digits of Pi* *Step 2: Mobius Strip Scarf, with the digits of e (Euler's Number)* *Step 3: Pair of pants made into a double-holed Klein Bottle (the pockets come out and connect with the bottom of the pant legs), with the digits of the Golden Ratio* *Step 4: Two-Hole Torus Shirt, with the digits of the square root of 2*

[@charlesgabel9256]

Please post picture of above referenced clothing...

[@750kv8]

Penrose diagram sweater: *exists*

[@BlueCLupei]

i actually just watched this whole thing without realizing it.... I walked into this being like, (looks at title) oh, ok, cool, this sounds fun, (looks at 1 hr timer) oooohh, ok, maybe not, uhm, maybe we'll just skip around, I'll probably get bored at some point and click off anyway. Suddenly -- "and im going to finish there, thank you all very much" and im thinking wait, what? it's over? did I just watch that whole thing? Did I really just sit here FOR AN HOUR, OMFG, HOWWWWTAF.

[@trentondickey9061]

I do it with anything math physics and science related lol

[@nowonmetube]

@@trentondickey9061 time to become a scientist! Lol

[@nowonmetube]

To me it was the opposite. I was like "An hour? Oh great. I'm watching it while brushing my teeth, eating something, drinking tea, cleaning the dishes" etc. With pausing and all, at least one hour past and not quite 10 minutes in 🤣

[@user-ir3tb7xw7x]

Same strory

[@ExarchGaming]

I did too dude.. i hate math, and i just watched the whole thing my mind completely blown. Why could I not have had this guy as a math teacher? I would have loved it so much more.

[@erictaylor5462]

I wonder what old Mike Faraday would think of this. Not only is a tradition he started still going more than 160 years later but they can now be seen by nearly anyone, anywhere in the world. Even America! Has the RI done any reenactments of Faraday's original lectures?

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

+Eric Taylor We like to think ol' Faraday would be pleased with how his tradition continues today. Thanks for watching! Reenactments do happen from time to time, though none filmed on the channel... yet.

[@erictaylor5462]

The Royal Institution Well there is a project for you! I'll be waiting to see it/them. Mike Faraday is one of my heroes. He wasn't black or a woman, but he was not a member of the Nobility, which most people at the time considered the only source of smart people. We only have a very few intellects on par with Newton, Einstein, Plank, or Faraday. I wonder how many we have lost throughout history because they were born with the wrong sort of genitals or their skin was too dark, or they were born into the wrong class. The ones we know about were lucky to have the intellect AND the education and opportunity to shine. How many had the intellect but failed to get the opportunity because they were too proletariat, too racially undesirable, or to "female"?

[@MatthewHenderson1]

+Eric Taylor Indeed. We have squandered a lot of potential with our prejudice. Imagine where we could be today if science and education had been open to all.

[@erictaylor5462]

Matthew Henderson I just wonder how many great minds, like Faraday's, were lost simply because they never had a chance.

[@thothheartmaat2833]

+Eric Taylor thats a great point and something you dont really understand till you grow older and realize how sad the world is.. considering we supposedly have control of our world why we allow it to be so sad is probably one of the most amazing things about humanity...

[@annasavchenko7592]

Thank you Matt Parker for keeping me busy during quarantine! 😂 *Making squares and hearts*

[@kriss3907]

Brilliant video, i would like to think im competent at math but i did learn quite a bit. Hats off to Matt Parker and The Royal Institution. Great job all round for presenting an interesting, engaging, informative but more importantly exciting show. Would highly recommend to others.

[@EmilMacko]

This guy has to be the Doctor sometime

[@MalteKo79]

Emil Macko right? I was convinced he is Matt Smith's brother at times during the video!

[@exandil6029]

yes!

[@themeeman]

As long as he writes his own lines

[@jordancooper1844]

He’s literally an English amalgamation of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

[@moisesmuniz25]

Emil Macko yea butt little 🐟 whit that thing on his earr!!!

[@SoftDevPhilosophy]

If you came here to learn something about 4th dimension, I'd recommend to start watching at 39:29

[@condektel3953]

Adam Nakoneczny hHahaha. I know, right.

[@shawnseal1762]

16:00 to learn how to tie shoes..

[@kjugirl]

@@shawnseal1762 its the best part. I was laying in bed watching and got up just to do it...it's amazing

[@thatguywhowouldnotsharehis2062]

00:00 to have a laugh and pass an hour of your time

[@ezequielsonego811]

"I attempt to solve it while socializing" has to be the hardest flex on rubix cubes introvert nerds

[@alexn17]

Just finished reading the book, came for the summary :) Thanks Matt, lovely as always!

[@xmaxwell7987]

I think the "throwing things at lower-dimensional creatures thing" would be easier to visualize with spheres. If you threw a sphere at a 2d creature, they would see a circle expand out of nowhere then vanish into nowhere. If you threw a 4d sphere or a hypersphere at a 3d creature, it would appear as a sphere that expands and then shrinks.

[@schizophrenicenthusiast]

Thank youuu!! That really helped me imagine the 4th dimension better

[@RFC3514]

That wouldn't explain why the same (n)D shape can appear like completely different (n-1)D "shadows", which was exactly what Matt was trying to get across. A sphere would always look the same.

[@xmaxwell7987]

+RFC3514 look at a cube. You think of it as a 3d box, but you really only see two dimensions of it. Think of how the shadow of a cube would look in a 2d, or flat, world. Creatures would only see it from the side. It would look very weird to them.

[@RFC3514]

xmaxwell - I get the feeling that either you didn't watch the video or didn't understand it at all. Representing a n-dimensional shape through its (n-1)-dimensional projections is precisely what the video was about.

[@xmaxwell7987]

+RFC3514 Yes I understand that, but I'm simply talking about the part where he visualizes a hypercube passing through the third dimension, because you really wouldn't learn much at all from seeing it. I'm saying it's easier to visualize it with spheres.

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Hey maths fans! Some brilliant person has started to add English captions to this talk (thankyou!), but there are still a few gaps. Can you fill them in? Click here to help make this video accessible to everyone: kzbin.info_video?v=1wAaI_6b9JE

[@travishowk6245]

+The Royal Institution Added a bit more. Hopefully others continue the work!

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

+Travis Howk Thankyou! We really appreciate it!

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

+The Royal Institution Thanks everyone who is contributing! Together we're getting there - just a few gaps left.

[@letsplaypros1]

+The Royal Institution can you send matts email I would like to ask him some questions

[@NoriMori1992]

+The Royal Institution I did what I could with it before I got exhausted and bored. If the mood strikes me again, I will come back to it!

[@boycali9571]

I know this was 5 years ago, I'm really late, but I love his attitude he is funny and smart not boring and smart, it makes a big difference. It makes it easier for someone with A.D.D. to learn

[@018FLP]

This guy is the most entertaining science man i've ever seen, it must be a delight to be teached by him! Congratulations, Matt! I don't even like math, and you made me amazed for one hour

[@mahound9]

Topologists, all of them, utterly crazy... I mean that in the nicest possible way.

[@CS-ku9mg]

They're knot crazy!

[@unvergebeneid]

+Rene Mahound The question is whether topology drives you crazy or if you have to be crazy before you can understand topology.

[@boomerboxer3574]

*cough* cliff stoll *cough*

[@desia.brimou]

True lmao I love the man though.

[@Yesica1993]

@ Rene Mahound "Topologists, all of them, utterly crazy... I mean that in the nicest possible way." I had no idea that was even a field of study. I mean, who would dream that up? And how?

[@JLConawayII]

A damn enzyme is better at knots than I am. That's not very encouraging. *accidentally ties shoes together* OH GOD!!!

[@Smittel]

JLConawayII your pockets are better in creating knots than you... #RIPearphonecables

[@Tracy_AC]

JLConawayII I once accidentally tied a knot around my finger while untying my shoe.

[@the_phantom_e8722]

JLConawayII LOL very funny (facepalm)

[@falcon8752]

yeah, tying shoes is just too hard. I've always had the best grades, people usually look up to me for most intellectual matters, but I can go through dozens of tutorials, I can't tie my shoes. It just does not work. Not to mention it's physically painful to bend your legs just to make something that doesn't hold.

[@exerciseetc.147]

+JLConawayII I believe the enzyme is called type II topoisomerase!

[@josephdargy936]

35:46 I like how he acknowledged the fact that we were _forced_ to draw charts.

[@macraealford8356]

Wow…I watched a few days ago, and I’ve finally figured out the two rules he used for for his two digit number squared trick. I’m simply blown away on how he could remember the number brackets for figuring out the first digit…just amazing. I’ve memorized the tule to figure out the second digit, but I still have to look at a table I made for the first digit. I’m down to 3 seconds on guessing the original number! My goal is to memorize the table I made, and do it all mentally.

[@theonetojump]

I love this guy. To even try to explain higher dimensions with math to an audience with families and children takes extreme skill to make people pay attention. I enjoyed it

[@jamegumb880]

Best tesseract explanation ever.

[@DaGhost141]

+Jame Gumb A more "theoretical" and mathematic explanation would be really interesting, sadly there aren't any of those videos on youtube.

[@skarmoryfly]

But it gets worse...

[@thisisrtsthree9992]

+DaGhost141 are you going to make a video about what you said? i already subscribed in hope.

[@DaGhost141]

I'm not good enough in math, I have basic skills but that's about it. You can most likely find some decent papers on it if you really want to learn more.

[@Peter_1986]

+alysdexia "lol look at me, I consider myself super-awesome at English so I just have to nitpick on extremely minor misspellings on the Internet, yet I have no idea what a typo is and that's why I assume that every mistake in a comment must be because of lack of English skills".

[@ractheworld]

@48:50 Matt: "My all time favorite shape is the the 4d equivalent to the Mobius loop" Boy in the near corner of the audience face palms.

[@joeyprike7539]

Probobly my favourite lecture on RI , thanks 🙏

[@ozdergekko]

How did I miss this till now? Matt at his very, very, very best!

[@mccracra]

My 2nd grade class loved watching your video! They had many questions when we were learning about 3D shapes... mostly they were curious about the 4th dimension. But now after watching this, they want to know what ALL the dimensions are. And how many dimensions are there? What is the last dimension? We would love if you could answer some of these questions for us!

[@TreyRogers]

Theoretically, dimensions just keep going up. Mathematical descriptions and theory regularly handle objects with more than a thousand spatial dimensions (Look at some of Numberphile's videos on the monster group and symmetry, though that may be a bit beyond the kids), all you have to do to add a dimension is to add more directions to move in. There are fifth, sixth, a millionth, and a billionth dimensions.

[@JCSolo]

If you're the teacher, why can't you teach them about the dimensions?

[@mccracra]

Good question. My students really enjoy learning information straight from the experts in the fields that we are studying. I like to promote inquiry and problem solving in my classroom. As we were learning about 2D and 3D shapes, I asked students to share their curiosities. Some were curious about what is beyond the 3rd dimension. I searched through many youtube videos to explain this abstract and difficult concept in a kid friendly way. This was the best video I found. I appreciated that this video provided visuals and explanations that I would have to spend hours studying and recreating if I wanted to teach it to them directly. We watched about 5 minutes of this video around the 42 minute mark so they could see a 4D cube and get a taste of what they might get to learn about in high school. Afterwards, some students were so excited that they wanted to try to build the 3D shadow of a 4D cube using straws and pipe cleaners. This is the kind of excitement for learning that I like to promote in my classroom. As you can see, they still had many more questions after watching the video so instead of answering them myself, I thought it would be so exciting for us to hear back from the creator of the video! Although we didn't hear back from Matt Parker, Trey Rogers response was like receiving an answer from a celebrity which made the students even more excited. I also like that my students know that I am not an expert in ALL fields, and that there are very good ways to find answers to our questions straight from the people who know the answers the best.

[@snafu2350]

Mathematically Trey is correct; however, quantum theory currently (I think; haven't looked for a few years) reckons the 12th diminsion correctly amalgamates string &

[@rtendotapiwa306]

@@mccracra Problem solving learning! 😄👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@vidblogger12]

8:53 "If you're solving that you're in so much trouble!" Matt's a teacher, he knows. There's always that one kid in class...

[@efulmer8675]

Yup. I was that kid XD.

[@grapetoad6595]

I like how after he talked about who dragged who along, there was immediately a parent in the background looking around the room ~49:00

[@Slackker_]

but what happens if you cut a Klein bottle in half?

[@joshbruegger9962]

According to Jim Belk in this page math.stackexchange.com/questions/1357773/cutting-a-klein-bottle-in-half: "As you mention, if you cut a Klein bottle in half lengthwise, it is possible to obtain two Mobius strips. However, it is also possible to cut a Klein bottle in half lengthwise to obtain a single long orientable strip, i.e. a cylinder S1×[0,1]S1×[0,1]. Roughly speaking, this depends on which lengthwise direction you use for the cut. Similarly, if you cut a solid Klein bottle in half lengthwise, you can obtain either two solid Klein bottles or a single long solid torus, depending on the direction of the cut."

[@Slackker_]

thanks alot I'll try to wrap my head around that

[@RolandHutchinson]

Cue the poem: A mathematician named Klein Thought the Moebius strip was devine. Said he, "If you glue The edges of two, You'll get a wierd bottle like mine."

[@gunhasirac]

if you want you can try working it out yourself by "fundamental polygon" (the square with arrow on edges at 50:08). draw the fundamental polygon of Klein bottle, then label the edges that match. cut it in half and stick them together again.

[@AnasHart]

Cliff Stoll has done a video on that on the Numberphile channel :)

[@Hugh.Manatee]

The circular DNA in human cells is in the mitochondria; the suger burning powerplants of your cells. It's the only bit of DNA outside of your cell nucleus (assuming you are not a pot of self aware petunias). The fact that they have circular DNA is a part of the evidence for the endosybiosis theory; that mitochondria (and a plant's chloroplasts) were once bacteria that took up residence in our slightly more complicated one celled ancestors.

[@SparklyRazor]

+AdenineMonkey Your nickname is very appropriate

[@SparklyRazor]

+AdenineMonkey Your nickname is very appropriate

[@wildcat69usatexas]

Absolutely loved it :) I'm a math nerd and a designer so this whole thing was right up my alley :)

[@Stalevik]

40:56 I am glad that my way of representing four-dimensional objects through projections was useful to mathematicians.

[@NoriMori1992]

18:25 - I'm in one of those moods where I'm like "I'm gonna prove the Goldbach conjecture!", and then just sigh and shake my head at myself. But I'm gonna try this anyway. I just borrowed some of my neighbour's hemp cord and constructed this knot with it. The ends secure together quite nicely with electrical tape - which is good, because Matt said I'll have to manipulate it into a different arrangement than this, and it's actually pretty fun to manipulate. Gonna try to take on this challenge. I have some backup string to make new knots, in case I ruin this one with too many switching attempts. Wish me luck!

[@xDMrGarrison]

"(K)not-theorists, which is the best name ever" I laughed out loud xD

[@benh8312]

18:18 I know this is a bit late, but having read the book, rearranged the knot into a useful arrangement and tested all possible pairs of crossings I can say that I am entirely sure it is impossible to untie it in two crossings.

[@vantrickpaughney3830]

"The world's first electric motor was demonstrated right here! I made some hearts..."

[@TheseWildAbysses]

The little kids going "woah!" when he showed the square made my day.

[@BigDBrian]

The girl that said 6084 didn't actually have a number correctly cubed, as the cube root of that is roughly 18.2556

[@williamowens7510]

I know, that bothers me so much

[@burhan5217]

it's a parker cube

[@Stonewall42]

She squared 78, forgot to multiply a second time.

[@keyurkulkarni2417]

Great presentation and explanation ! It is just so hilarious and awesome when Matt just discovers what he is there to talk about by saying "And Ooh", "Anyways", "Maybe some other time".. ! 😆😆😁

[@anthonycoleman3270]

once again, i THOROUGHLY ENJOYED this video. now officially subscribing to this channel, with a HIGH RECOMMENDATION TO ALL OTHERS TO JOIN! As always, thank you for the content! ALSO!, I find 4D perception just as perplexing as I do intriguing. I would LOVE to explain further what i mean by that, but i started to be confused by my own thoughts in that process; that I lost my bearings on my explanation (sorry). It seemed like every time I would try to create an understanding of my thoughts i would come across a "knot" that i couldn't fully explain through words. I would love to be able to learn directly from those that can articulate these ideas in a 1-on-1 environment because there are SO MANY questions i have,but would only be relevant in that setting. I am open to (LOGICAL/REASONABLE) suggestions for helping me wrap my head around these ideas.

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

After watching this, a few of you asked just how many dimensions there are in the universe. Kate tackles that question in our new monthly series here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJa1nWiXi66ljNEm30s

[@DisdainforPlebs]

I'm really fucking drunk right now so who knows maybe I learn something

[@PedroSantos-fw6gk]

Not just how many dimension are there, but where can we get that twisted donut hat too!

[@florin604]

10

[@tomszabo7350]

Trick question. There are different dimensions in quantum space and in universal (hyper) space. In quantum space there might be 10, 11, 26 or some other number of dimensions based on string theory. In hyper space, there are at least 6 dimensions (3 Cartesian coordinates, time, torus inversion plane and the inverted dimension).

[@blackrocket4382]

Tom Szabo ha nerd, I cant even remember the the formula to find the volume of a ball... 😢

[@dougrobertson6616]

A few days ago, shortly after viewing this talk I saw an on-line article about a radical new view of the Universe as being a 3-sphere. A 3-sphere is a 4 dimensional hypersphere encountering 3 dimensional space. By mentally using some of the visualization from Matt Parker's talk it made sense. Who says youtube is for dummies?

[@rationalmartian]

+Doug Robertson "Who says youtube is for dummies?" It all depends on what one is "consuming". Although that being said, one can pick up interesting "bits and bobs" in the most unlikely of "places".

[@SantiagoAbud]

Man, I've been thinking that for a couple years now... I should check that out.

[@johnyepthomi892]

I envy those kids with such exposures. In a good way though. It saddens me how many kids don't get such interactive exposures. Hope this video gets out to more and more kids to keep them entertained and learning. This guy is awesome.

[@KaliFissure]

Great presentation! Charles Howard Hinton introduced me to 4D thought at 9yo. His insights and toys should have been adopted decades ago

[@skarmoryfly]

But it gets worse...

[@24kGoldenRocket]

He stole my favorite line...LMAO.

[@winstonknowitall4181]

We can do better!

[@kriss3907]

Haaa..he should have used that line at the end..."But wait, it gets worse...our lecture/presentation is now over".

[@angry4rtichoke646]

@@winstonknowitall4181 Penn & Teller Shawn Farquar is who came to mind :)

[@winstonknowitall4181]

@@angry4rtichoke646 Wow! You're right! "Not Canadian!"

[@Dusty_Moonpie]

cbrt(6084) is 18.2556122102886 not 2 digits

[@TheWanderingChemist]

That's what I figured. That cheeky tw... kiddo.

[@Bunny99s]

You can even prove without a calculator that the number can't be the cube of an integer. Every integer can be split into it's prime factors. That means the resulting number has to have 3 or a multiple of 3 of each primefactor of the original number. 6084 can be divided by 2 --> 3042 --> therefore 2 is a factor 3042 can be divided by 2 --> 1521 --> another 2 is also a factor so far so good, but we need at least three times a "2"... 1521 *can not* divided by 2 therefore the number can't be the cube of an integer. Actually if you work your way further down you will get those primefactors: 2² * 3² * 13² = 6084 Since every factor appears exactly two times, the kid just squared the number instead of cubing it. 2*3*13 == 78 78 * 78 == 6084

[@WantedDeaDorAIive]

I suspect he tried 78. The correct answer should have been somewhat around 400000

[@Flourish38]

474552, to be exact.

[@marctelfer6159]

Huh, that makes so much more sense than what I thought. I'd assumed he'd decided to multiply three two-digit numbers, but not the same two-digit number, so I thought he'd tried 13, 13 and 36. 78*78 at least means he just lost track.

[@caryd67]

As a drummer, I think the fourth dimension could be thought of as rhythm. My brain constantly dissects time like crazy, even when I’m not actively thinking about it. I can merge 4/4 with many other time signatures, even if it’s for brief moments, so it mathematically works without any mental effort. It just happens for me. So in a very abstract way, I kinda get the concept of a 4th dimension.

[@thelaurens1996]

I have a slider theory in which everything that is each others counterpart is put on an axis (goes to infinity either way) (and yes you can expand that to more dimensions but I don't want to type that out it is complicated enough as it is) So everything on an axis you can see that axis as being a dimension. If you combine two axis together, you get a higher dimension and you can use vectors in this space to combine the data (coordinates on each axis, if you want to do this and have no idea on how to frame the spot on the axis, it's relative so you have to have other points on the axis so that you can relate to those in the space and get a relative place on the scale of things. Once you have that for both axis, you can use vectors to get a combination of those, an outcome as it where. In a different dimension than the ones you used seperately. Now that point is data, but it is for you to figure out what it means, it might be an earlier undescribed correlation factor or you have to figure out if it's already an existing known fenomena for which we didn't know the linkage to the other known things. Interestingly enough there seems to be utility in most fields, even in the social and psychological fields. So you can use it for emotions or other traits as wel as other things that happen in the world. And yes you can extend this to make cubes or 4cube equivalent. (Or 5D but, that stuff is abstract yo) Otherwise intersecting waves work where the touching intersecting parts are of significance

[@TooshanSrivastava]

what a wonderful and engaging talk; thank you.

[@LadyPelikan]

"I told you to pay attention!" I must become a teacher one day... (Had to stop the video to laugh over the shear evilness of it.)

[@ivanjakovl]

This show was so good. I enjoyed every minute.

[@Peter_1986]

Matt Parker always sounds very enthusiastic and spontaneous in all his speeches, and this makes it very fun to listen to him.

[@Hyraethian]

I keep my calculator on my rubiks cube, this was the video for me. 48:51 "..the 4D equivalent to the mobius loop" **puts face in hands**

[@antonnym214]

As a point of interest, the mathematician the loop is named after was August Ferdinand Möbius. The ö symbol, other than being comical by itself, is pronounced much like the "ur" or "er" in english. It is often transliterated oe, but don't let that fool you. I don't know how to propose to pronounce the loop, but if you want to be accurate to the pronunciation of the man's name, a good english equivalent would be "Merbius". Great vids! I love all of them! All good wishes.

[@JaniceLHz]

An even closer equivalent would be if you can pronounce just the vowel part of the "ur" or "er". -- student of the German language

[@roverboy95]

I'm really glad KZbin recommended this video haha, would "knot" have found this otherwise ;)

[@RanjamAroraKnowledgeHub]

Me too!!!

[@michaelhourihan1866]

What a brilliant lecture, and what a brilliant lecturer! I've loved the RI Christmas lectures since I discovered them on TV when I was about 8 years old (about 35 years ago), and I'm so glad to see the popular lectures still very popular! Long live the RI! =)

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Thank you so much for your kind words. You might find this interesting - we've actually started putting together and publishing our entire back catalogue of Christmas Lectures here: www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch . We haven't made it to the early 80s yet, but give us time and you'll be able to re-watch the very first lecture you ever saw!

[@michaelhourihan1866]

Excellent news, I certainly will be watching! Thank you! =)

[@pennyoflaherty1345]

This has beeen well presented! ! Even a youth would like& learn. I feel I missed out back moons ago through school. We didn’t have internet then. Like many other parts math, our teachers could only stick to the program. It’s only these last years in lockdown I’ve turned back to math through UNSW picking up where I was left struggling in spherical math - sin/ cos / tan etc. going on to your torus re light traveling in straight line, the refraction just like the sunrise the light going out to infinity or is it?

[@Original-GKP]

The end bit with a 5d rubix cube was a bit much...but it could be worse...it could have been a 5d Rubix Klein Bottle. Which you would have to solve looking at a 2d screen, rendering a 3d picture viewing a shadow of a 4d object in 5d using buttons and a 2d mouse interface. Food for thought. Although it... *might* ...be easier using VR equipment, i could be wrong. Have a nice cycle

[@WildStar2002]

Brilliant! Loved it! Matt Parker is awesome! Since I am unfamiliar with the theory of large numbers - I was surprised that someone picked my same number of 89 for the cube root trick and further *astonished* as I work for a company that manufactures iron-nickel meteorite rings *AND* was innocently playing with a Rubik's cube as I watched... :-)

[@mvmlego1212]

Lol, nice.

[@biswayanbagchi8725]

illuminati confirmed

[@XOshinchan27188]

5:45 "You know what, forage nearby." LOL

[@MattacksRC]

I had to slow down the video to get the knot making part. That’s a really neat trick.

[@PeterWMeek]

I once wrote a program (in BASIC, no less) that generated stereo pairs of a 4-d cube being rotated in 3 dimensions. I made a sort of stereopticon, with mirrors, that let you view these stereo images in apparent 3-D on the computer screen. Some (most) people found it hard to look at for very long.