Matt Parker: Stand-up Maths Routine (about barcodes)

Matt Parker performs a stand-up maths routine about barcodes at the Hammersmith Apollo, as part of the 2011 Uncaged Monkeys national tour. standupmaths.com/

[@cyrilio]

I thought this was 11 MONTHS ago. Glad Matt hasn’t changed.

[@aelliixx]

I died at the put 12 in one square :D

[@iwatchwithnoads7480]

What do you call it when Parker puts 12 in one square?

[@isaac9503]

@@iwatchwithnoads7480 ?

[@arnabbiswasalsodeep]

@@isaac9503 (Parker)^2

[@isaac9503]

@@arnabbiswasalsodeep I’m so comfused

[@Kittycathead]

saME

[@wisteela]

"Number Ninja" - Love it

[@QBAlchemist]

I would love to have a t-shirt with a Parker Sudoku on it. Random numbers everywhere, maybe even letters thrown in for good measure. Sounds just like my cup'o tea.

[@mrpokemon1186]

And put the entire thing... In a Parker square!

[@lucca7716]

It would be a parker square of a sudoku

[@Lucas_van_Hout]

QBAlchemist with an whole row of Sevens, a 12 in one square as well as an 69 and 42.

[@ShevkoMore]

@@Lucas_van_Hout Don't forget the ø!

[@ten.seconds]

That's numberwang!

[@mysteryshrimp]

The next time that I am on a train, I'm doing the sudoku thing, but rather than just random number generating, I'm going to complete it. In dozenal.

[@sk8rdman]

+mysteryshrimp I believe sudokus are only possible in a square base. Dozenal is great, but not for a sudoku. However, you could make one for hexadecimal, or, if you like, make a 3 dimensional sudoku in octal.

[@mysteryshrimp]

Not saying it will be correct. Just that it will include dec and el.

[@sk8rdman]

+sk8rdman On second thought, it occurs to me that one COULD make a base 12 sudoku if it was a 12x12 array divided into twelve 3x4 or 2x6 sections. Furthermore, you could even expand it into a 3 dimensional sudoku, if you make a 12x12x12 array divided into 144 2x2x3 sections. In fact, you could make a sudoku of any base in up to as many dimensions as it has whole numbers to factor into, so, for example, you could make a 4 dimensional hexadecimal 2x2x2x2 puzzle divided into eight 2x2x2x2 sections.

[@sk8rdman]

Draevon May Fair point. However, the implied idea is that each character in the base must be used, and there should be no numbers greater than one digit long. At least, this is the idea that my logic was based on.

[@mysteryshrimp]

+sk8rdman 7:51

[@SIRBOB102]

one of few videos I can watch at the max res

[@NoriMori1992]

"The only reason I have this CD, right? I listen to it with all the dangerous high frequencies removed, as a kind of way of inoculating myself against his tunes. Hey, there's a fever going around!" Oh my goodness. That was brilliant. :'D

[@Domihork]

I think I'm to unfamiliar with Bieber to get the joke. Could you explain the fever part, please?

[@allanrichardson1468]

It’s a rhyme on his name to describe how his fans feel about him: Bieber Fever. The fans call themselves ... Beliebers.

[@markusklemm4516]

"there's a fever going around" hits entirely differently in the time of Covid

[@trickytreyperfected1482]

@@markusklemm4516 it really doesn't

[@JoeBlak81]

He’s wearing a barcode

[@zJoriz]

"Suuduuukuuu"?

[@trchri]

This was in the “hair era”

[@turtlette]

You made my day when you called the iPhone a universal Turing machine!

[@fortywatts2548]

It made my day when the subtitle-writer wrote 'Nick Clegg' as 'nuclear bomb'!

[@KristopherNoronha]

but... it isn't :/

[@turtlette]

@@KristopherNoronha doesn't mean I can't laugh at the joke.

[@SamTRC]

Why was this in the Mother 3 aqua midi playlist?

[@swordguy8]

Suduku? You mean sudOku?! Fun game...

[@LillianWinterAnimations]

Base 1 sudoku.

[@duck6872]

great idea

[@frozzenwaterfall]

of course there is a relevant xkcd :D

[@SalahEddineH]

There is always a relevant xkcd :D Cheers :D Love you guys. Just for reading xkcd :D

[@scwfan08]

Binary is Base 2.

[@pursutruth]

Yeah, base 1 would just be one empty square, in which you would be forced to place a zero. :D

[@paulstaf]

Would have liked to watch the video, but the audio was killing me... :(

[@lisamariefan]

So you know, I actually wound up using the knowledge about check digits along with UPC's having consecutive values (minus check digit) of for clothing size increments to figure out if there was a medium size jacket when a large was given to me at my job today. They can look that stuff up of course in the system but using some mathematical reasoning I was able to save everyone a bunch of time.

[@inventgineer]

That is, indeed, unquestionably the absolute best use of Sudoku 😂; just brilliant.

[@panda4247]

SUDOOKU ? was it invented by Count Dooku?

[@minigolfkid]

Is that Tom Scott as the MC?

[@patrickhannon4217]

To be fair, making Maths both funny and educational at the same time, is a bloody fantastic skill

[@overlisted]

why are the audio channels so unbalanced

[@johncameron1935]

Oh my god a whole row of 7s. absolutely barbaric. I love it.

[@jemand8462]

I'm going to say "let's n+1 this up a notch" way more often in my wrong med school major study group.

[@DavidVanAcker92]

For all those who don't understand Matt's explanation on how to calculate the last digit of the barcode check mathspig.wordpress.com/tag/how-to-calculate-the-check-digit-on-a-barcode/ (and remember that google is your best friend :) )

[@antares9601]

I really need to try the Sudoku thing LOL

[@Dthenn]

I played along with the calculator thing at the beginning and must've typed in the same 4-digit number as that bloke did, because my number was identical. Spoooooky.

[@EthanTheJuggler]

+Draevon May hahahaha 😂

[@U014B]

A 1/8999 chance!

[@catlover-fp5ig]

+Noel Goetowski Actually it would be a 1/10000 chance, as all numbers from 0 (0000) to 9999 would be possible 4 digit numbers for him to put into his calculator.

[@cosminaalex]

catlover12670 yes,but the zeros are irrelevant if written before any nonzero digit and so all combinations of 4 digit numbers that fall short of being at least 1000 are not 4 digit numbers,or else we may be forced to write or represent an infinite string of 0s "ending" with the actual number (in a p-adic sort of fashion)

[@karthik0121]

Mathematically speaking it is way too likely than that. Infact it is just a modulo 9 operator. No matter how big the pattern be the sum of all of them modulo 9 is ALWAYS 0-8. Which makes the probability Always 1/9 Independent of numbers taken!!!

[@achatterjee14]

I have always loved numbers and the inherent magic they contain. I couldn't become a mathematician myself but when I see it hear one I am filled with an overwhelming sense of joy and ofcourse admiration. Awesome work Matt!

[@Gorgana68]

Only discovered Matt a few years ago and used the picture on the excel spreadsheet to show my class. Very funny and explains clearly.

[@OrchidAlloy]

My right ear loved this

[@HenrysAdventures]

I might do the Sudoku thing on the train!

[@farklegriffen2624]

My right ear laughed really hard

[@abra238]

That sudoku part had me in stitches xD

[@beefytaquitos]

My right ear loved this video. Left ear... kinda meh about it.

[@AstonCulf]

Beef Taquitos fuck my headphones are on backwards

[@ToMeK3001pro]

Beef Taquitos ? on my device sound is working properly

[@crisgale8098]

same

[@TheDruidKing]

In one, out the other?

[@shauryasongara1851]

Did you throw it on the ground?

[@dannymiller7860]

This is absolutely fantastic.

[@tylerbird9301]

My right ear really liked this some

[@NefariousOaf]

Nick Clegg = Link Click

[@prithirajmallik9535]

parker is a mathematician and a comedian. what a combination !

[@michaelwang1730]

The first one won't work if he gave a number like 8226, because the last digit could be either 9 or 0

[@lourias]

"Dispense a microphone 🎤? " Was this presented at a vending machine park? LoL

[@aliceaoc26]

I couldn't finish a sudoku when i was on the train the other day, so i remembered this and put random numbers in!

[@jaywolfenstien]

The only thing that would make that Suduku prank even better is if you pretend to be on the phone having an unrelated conversation while you're filling in random numbers. Not only is it easy, it's easy while you're distracted.

[@ManoftheGap]

The opening joke has a 2 in 10 chance of being a trap. If the one's digit of the four digit number is 0 or 1, the rule applied after leaves you with a 50/50 chance that the guessed digit will be a zero or a nine.

[@InTheBeginningTheUniverseWas]

What a brilliant Mattematician.

[@GhostEmblem]

What he is describing basically sounds like a parity check

[@murderousmaths]

We love this guy! Brilliant.

[@five5oclock]

Woop woop!

[@smorrow]

Needed, literally needed, the subtitles to understand this in places.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Stuart Morrow Yeah, the sound quality is horrible here.

[@peterknutsen3070]

Regarding the soduko on the train, make sure you do it with a pen, not a pencil!

[@manmanman784]

Numberphile hero!

[@Qwerasd]

My right ear is laughing it's lobe off!

[@NoriMori1992]

Every time he said "Suduku", I died a little inside.

[@Chris_Cross]

Why? That's how you say it.

[@professorsogol5824]

@@Chris_Cross NoriMori-san and I know different. Please note that the second syllable has an "o" not a "u"

[@Chris_Cross]

@@professorsogol5824 Yeah, I know. But the pronunciation is the same.

[@professorsogol5824]

@@Chris_Cross I have now consulted with four dictionaries: Merriam Webster has sü-ˈdō-kü, Oxford has soo'dokoo or su'douku, Collins has s[swa]'d[swa][horseshoe] ku (NB I can't type these symbols and You tube doesn't let me cut an paste them) for British English (this pronunciation seems closes to Matt Parkers) and suede[horseshoe]ku for American English, and Macmillan has sued[horseshoe]ku. Japanese is u as in boot, o as in boat and u as in boot; nice clean Cardinal Vowels

[@Chris_Cross]

@@professorsogol5824 Don't leave me hanging! The anticipation is killing me!

[@crazydrummer4827]

Cannot believe this guy has only 8 likes on Facebook.

[@Fawkes42]

+Crazy drummer You're looking at it the wrong way. He actually has an infinite amount of likes.

[@crazydrummer4827]

Fawkes Hahaha, that is right :D

[@m2mm4m]

+Fawkes Yes you're right ∞ it must be the wrong way up!!!

[@СрбаСтевановић-ю7с]

jako čudnovato

[@crazydrummer4827]

Srbo Srbo Hahaha, ne mogu ni jedan komentar da postavim, a da mi neko to ne napiše :D

[@sk8rdman]

This is brilliant. I never thought about this use for the principles of sudoku.

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

I remember learning about barcode check digits in high school math.

[@TheUrszulat]

Clever, engaging, fun!

[@alwinpriven2400]

but what if, for example I picked the number 3120, if I multiply by 9 I will get: 28080 add digits: 2+8+0+8=18, which is a multiple of 9, so the last digit can be 9/0

[@vividao4123]

There's really no answer to that. It's a hole in the trick.

[@GoldenMada1]

+Alwin Priven I tried 4040 which multiplied by 9 gives 36360, but if I had chosen 4041 it would've given 36369, so there's no way he could've guessed it.. had the same thought

[@remetsron2775]

Alwin Priven Just ask to read from right to left. It will work.

[@alexismandelias]

*_suduku_*

[@melizzavinas4791]

That sodoku tho, an absolute madman lmaooo

[@KhaoticPhoenix]

Has anyone ever referred to you as Math Parker?

[@newbarker523]

MP in 2011: 3:39 "There's a fever going round". 9 years later in 2020: Yep!

[@fahimjunayed5894]

Hey Matt, This number is divisible be 9, tell me the last digit, 12393_ Thank you.

[@ravishkothari8738]

0 OR 9

[@MichaelDarrow-tr1mn]

is it odd or even

[@wasitthat]

"My name is Math. I'm a mattematician", I swear I heard that

[@vipero07]

The next time you do stand up, you should be sure to wear that parker square t-shirt :-D

[@Slayden135]

Brilliant camerawork

[@khalidsakka8020]

a parker sudoku

[@RBXTrains]

wow insulting clegg...... tut

[@Razzfazz87]

Came to this video in an automated playlist and I dreadfully noticed the next video not being from your channel which means that in about 5 videos Google will have decided that it's time for me to watch one of the major youtube partners because somehow it's "related" to maths. In 6 videos I probably will know how to apply make up, in 10 videos I'll know the story of a major game that came out 2015, in 20 videos I'll know the 10 ten of everything and in 40 videos I'll have watched home abortions and cyst removals. KZbin, because who could have guessed that watching 10 videos in a row from one channel could mean that you currently enjoy that channel.

[@NoriMori1992]

"in 20 videos I'll know the 10 ten of everything" Wait what.

[@Razzfazz87]

NoriMori *top ten* Missed a word there. "top 10 celebs..." "top 10 games..." "top 10 rapists..." You know, cheap videos based on gathering easy but not verifiable information.

[@NoriMori1992]

Razzfazz87 Ooooh. Thanks!

[@mandolinic]

Razzfazz87 As long as you're not directed to the lunatic part of KZbin where the Flat Earthers hang out, you can think yourself lucky.

[@Cygnus0lor]

*Standing ovation Citizen Kane-style*

[@saladar1958]

when he asks who has a calculator and i realize i have mine on my bedside table, when i get up keep it in my pocker, and thus almost always have my ti 84 plus color within reach.

[@skyr8449]

the letters may have been in a higher base

[@Ambidextroid]

That sudoku bike at the end was hilarious =)

[@sk8rdman]

So I've tried the barcode trick myself, but I can't get it to work. It's possible I don't have the right kind of barcodes to work with, I guess.

[@sk8rdman]

+MichaelKingsfordGray Any chance you could explain how each works, and how I can tell which is which?

[@TheExcalabur]

+sk8rdman as he said in the show, the way that they're written under the barcode tells you the encoding. (It's also written in the bars, obviously.)

[@TheEvilVargon]

+sk8rdman Be sure you can distinguish between numbers and letters

[@dustyb58]

where's Trey Stone

[@sarowie]

The trick in the beginning would not work for 1111/1110

[@bottlekruiser]

Spoiler alert: 314592687 589761423 672483195 825647319 493215768 167839542 736924851 958176234 241358976

[@MichaelDarrow-tr1mn]

pi sudoku

[@teipeu9033]

That sounded like Rebecca (Nerdcubed’s wife) saying “it starts with a letter.”

[@Wizarth]

This guys delivery reminds me a lot of Adam Hill. I enjoy that.

[@turkeyphant]

Are there actually people who don't know about barcode checsums or the multiple of nine trick?!

[@MountainHawkPYL]

In that first trick, if the starting number ends in 0 or 1, then the last digit of the number multiplied by 9 could be a 0 or 9, and his trick could fail.

[@emdivine]

luckily you might use some psychology here: I don't believe many people would actually end on a 0, because that *feels* less random than ending with a 1. humans are rather awful at producing as well as understanding randomness.

[@chshrkt]

Except that the trick is to choose a 4 digit number and multiply it by 9, that gives you either a 4 or 5 digit answer, which Matt then goes on to solve.

[@Ashalmawia]

seems like it yeah. if you picked 3210 or 3211 just for example, that would be 28890 and 28899 which would be ambiguous as to what the final digit might be. probably it doesn't happen often enough, and if it does he can make a joke about it.

[@theblinkingbrownie4654]

​@@chshrkt? Irrelevant

[@CopainVG]

Numberninja XD

[@lambertbrother1628]

The second time he says Nick Clegg the YT captions pick up 'Nuclear Bomb'.

[@kasfpg]

1729th like hell yes!

[@johnchessant3012]

Nick Clegg joke at 6:20 was amazing

[@c.harryknowles9678]

John Chessant a

[@branthebrave]

Sudookoo

[@katiekawaii]

+MichaelKingsfordGray Actually, in Japanese it's pronounced num-baa-pu-ray-su ^_~ [Because they call it "number place" or ナンバープラース. ;) That aside, "sudoku" in Japanese is pronounced like sue-dough-koo.]

[@TheExcalabur]

+MichaelKingsfordGray Incorrect. No syllable in japanese ends with a consonant (except for n). sue-doh-kue. (The first and last vowels are the same.)

[@DanielLopez-up6os]

Katie steckles did a similar thing for our school a week or two a go.

[@Bastard471]

woooooo!

[@iwatchwithnoads7480]

What do you call it when Parker puts 12 in one square?

[@damienporter5345]

What do you do in that 10% chance? just take a guess? I mean that trick at best only works 95% of the time.

[@martinrowlands8631]

If they ask you to do the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures please say yes!

[@doublespoonco]

He did this year, but as a co host

[@Luzkan]

Can somebody tell me how he did guess the last digit? :o

[@Luzkan]

Luzakk30 I cant understand what he did at 3:04 :(

[@alexcarey8619]

Luzakk30 If a number is a multiple of 9 then the sum of the individual digits of that number will themselves add up to a multiple of 9. ( www.helpingwithmath.com/by_subject/division/div_divisibility_rules.htm#rule9 ) We know that the number will have to be a multiple of 9 as he was instructed to "multiply a 4 digit number by 9". So in this case the number the man in the audience shouted out was 4373. If you add these numbers together you get (4 + 3 + 7 + 3) = 17. Then all Matt had to do was work out: "what do I have to add to 17 to get to the next multiple of 9?" And the answer is 1. 17 + 1 = 18 which is 2*9.

[@Luzkan]

Thanks, a lot! +1 :)

[@sk8rdman]

+Luzakk30 In short, he didn't guess the last digit. He calculated it. ;D

[@denascite2029]

+Alex Carey What would he do if the sum of the digits is 18? The last digit could be 9 and 0...

[@reddragonflyxx657]

I'd be the one with a calculator and a universal turing machine.

[@slightlokii3191]

now seeing this after doing year 12 math, I actually understand all his stuff about sudoku, although it is actually matrices xD good fun maths!

[@weckar]

regarding the initial number trick, doesn't that fail if the first 4 out of 5 digits already up to 9? Because then the final digit could be either 0 or 9, right?

[@lammy3055]

I guess you could call it parker square sudoku

[@Altoclarinets]

Whoever captioned this really really doesn't know what to do with Nick Clegg...

[@TheEzzran]

"If you get someone who , put in another row of 7s." Did anyone manage to catch that?

[@webby258]

+TheEzzran Pretty sure he says 'If you get someone hooked right'.

[@TheEzzran]

That makes sense. Thanks!

[@PaldBenis]

math*

[@AlexK-jp9nc]

+WCPMachines their British, don't question it lol

[@monochromeboi267]

I was so expecting this to be about Modulus 11 (I coincidentally got the 1 from Mr. Smartarse's 4 digits) that I tried to get the last digit from the barcode. No such luck. You've defeated me this time, Parker, but I will be coming back soon.

[@calculusfan1]

Matt, with regards to the first trick, what if someone gives you digits that already add up to a number divisible by 9? For example, 4+6+2+6 = 18. Do you just take a 50/50 guess at 0 or 9?

[@AndrewWilsonStooshie]

I don't know for certain but something tells me that in a 4 digit number that is multiplied by 9, the first 4 digits of the answer won't add up to 9?

[@calculusfan1]

2050*9=18450 and 1+8+4+5=18 which is divisible by 9 2051*9=18459 and again the first 4 have a sum divisible by 9 There are a lot of these - any time the chooser picks a 4 digit ending in 0 or 1, the last digit will be 0 or 9, respectively, meaning the first digits will have to add up to a number divisible by 9.

[@AndrewWilsonStooshie]

calculusfan1 Fair enough. I guess he just says it's a 0 or a 9 then. Which probably gives away a little of how the trick is done.

[@corneliaxaos2745]

I was under the impression you read them out from the units upwards... so the number 18450 would be read out "0 5 4 8 1"... that's probably just my endianness speaking. :P

[@chshrkt]

Except that the trick is to choose a 4 digit number and multiply it by 9, that gives you either a 4 or 5 digit answer, which Matt then goes on to solve.

[@elifisher1282]

i typed random numbers into a calculator and ended up typing the same 4-digit number the guy did......

[@gnaskar]

Writing in 4859 isn't quite random. The spacing between the 4 and the 8 is the same as the spacing for 5 and 9 so it props up more often than it should when you just let your hand move over the keypad. Interestingly, 1111 is one of the least common random numbers.

[@panda4247]

​@@gnaskar that's because if you ask people to write random number(s), their minds would go around to make it as random-looking as possible, which would make it less random. Here is a challenge for you. 2nd step: Get a die and roll it, let's say 25 times. Write down the results in the order you rolled them. 1st step: But first try to make up such sequence of numbers in your mind, and write it down. Write bot sequences here in any order (you will know, which one is which, I will not). I will try to guess which was real and which was generated in your head.

[@Blackmark52]

Keep a running total of the even digits and the odd digits at the same time, multiply the first total by 3 and add the second total, then divide by 10. Okay, piece of cake. What was that first digit again?

[@ZipplyZane]

You use the distributive property and multiply the odd digits by 3 every time, and only keep one total.