Perplexing Paperclips - Numberphile

Featuring Tadashi Tokieda.
More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓
Part 2: • Subtracting Paperclips...
More Tadashi videos: bit.ly/tadashi_...
Raw paperclips slow motions: • Paperclips (slow motio...
Video by Brady Haran and Pete McPartlan (animations by Pete)
Spinning Tubes with Tadashi: • Strange Spinning Tubes...
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[@nickkei2838]

Dr. Tadashi Tokieda started off as a painter and moved to France when he was 15. Instead of learning art, he immersed himself in studying linguistics and mastered French. After coming back to Japan, he majored in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew in college. However, after reading a biography of Landau, he felt frustrated that he did not know mathematics very much. So he started studying math using a Russian textbook, and later received a Ph.D at Princeton. Amazing life story!

[@randomdude9135]

So, was Poincare wrong then? Mathematicians aren't made, they're born ~Henri Poincare

[@randomdude9135]

But, obviously, it could be that Dr Tadashi is a born genius with an out of the world aptitude?

[@krakenmetzger]

In Japan, he number one heart surgeon

[@elisnovat3955]

@@randomdude9135 Obviously he is a born genius, and if he was raised from a young age and put into the university of Tokyo or Kyoto then he probably would have achieved something great in regards to mathematics, like the other Japanese geniuses. Yet it's clear his natural intelligence wasn't fostered the best, evident by him being a mere painter as a teen and I dare say his family were working class etc. Yet he was still able to find things to stimulate his larger intelligence and has still made a name for himself. The fact that he learned initially from some old Russian books shows that his family were almost certainly working class, I can only imagine what he would have achieved in a different setting.

[@vaccaciao]

@@krakenmetzger Darryl gave him a job.

[@MrRishik123]

I swear this guy can read out loud a dictionary and make it sound so interesting.

[@katzen3314]

This was interesting tho.

[@MrRishik123]

Katzen4u the interesting factor was multiplied by 1000 times because of the voice

[@MrRishik123]

jmiquelmb he does

[@MrRishik123]

***** have fun with the amazing world of dictionaries

[@dave5194]

Lol my dad likes to literally read dictionaries

[@cmd2tuts]

5:55 "I do that one only for money", what a legend.

[@anthonylnca8737]

Savage lol

[@PrinceJes]

Impossible

[@catdogfishdogcats]

@@PrinceJes clearly you don't have enough money.

[@SquirrelASMR]

@@catdogfishdogcats 🤣👏

[@asheep7797]

@@PrinceJes impossible to pay for the trick.

[@IVIegadude]

You guys can't possibly release enough Tadashi videos. He is truly mesmerizing and enlightening.

[@ibrahimdin7339]

+SuddenDarkness yes please, that would be gr8

[@383mazda]

LOL, "after you have tried version number one and version number two it becomes tempting, indeed irresistible, to try them together." I love his enthusiasm!

[@sp10sn]

He often uses a turn of phrase not quite 'normal' but beautiful.

[@francois-xavierdessureault8039]

@@sp10sn NATURE OBLIGES

[@Triantalex]

??

[@SendyTheEndless]

"You appear to be trying to do a spatial computation. Would you like some help with that?" Yes, Clippy. Come here. And bring your family!

[@qwa1986]

lololol

[@klvsrs9739]

+SquareWaveHeaven Lol

[@ThomasNimmesgern]

Great. :-)

[@batfan1939]

+SquareWaveHeaven That got dark fast.

[@unaliveeveryonenow]

We are all old.

[@zoranhacker]

I hope Mr. Tadashi never runs out of topics he can talk about!

[@Arfwid]

Professor Tadashi is a superb explainer and teacher. LOVING IT :)

[@numberphile]

+Arfwid great

[@Maxander2001]

+Arfwid He truly is a delight! :)

[@MedEighty]

+Arfwid Yes, he's great.

[@pablo_brianese]

Same here!

[@Niceetee01]

Very much so. If only I knew how to contact every maths teacher I ever had in the past, just to get them to see his technique. He seems to love teaching.

[@NickZack]

I love this guy so much He could probably talk about a piece of string for an hour and make it sound interesting.

[@niboe1312]

Ikr! I can see it now! "Now at first you might think, 'well this is just a piece of string.' but if you look closely, you will see that..." And then I'm hooked for somewhere between 13 and graham's number minutes.

[@gizatsby]

+No videos here saying "grahm's number minutes somehow" feels like more of an exaggeration than "infinity minutes"

[@niboe1312]

Leonardo Cisija Infinity is overrated :P

[@PTNLemay]

These vids are like the polar opposite of clickbaits. The title seems very meh, but the actual content blows your mind.

[@Dansg08]

My line of work is far away from the world of mathematics, but given the chance I'd probably sit in on this guy's lectures just for fun, he's that engaging.

[@nicholasmichalak6631]

dansg08 I

[@woodfur00]

I love the way Tadashi can seemingly show you the same thing over and over yet still keep you on the edge of your seat.

[@elfutbolphenom]

Absolutely LOVE the way Dr. Tokieda chooses his words... "we thought nature should behave in a certain way, and nature obliged."

[@GaMatecal]

I want more of Tadashi. I've been showing my young nephew your tricks, and he is astonished by it. He is 4 now, but with these kinds of things, it'll definitely develop his mind to ask the harder questions, WHY! He always does, and I explain in great detail and he understands. He even shows his friends :D

[@Locut0s]

I love professor Tadashi one of the best Numberphile guests. Fantastic educator. You can tell he really knows his stuff because his explanations are so clear. I also love his accent, perfect English, better than most native speakers, but still with that wonderful Japanese accent. And I don't mean that to be an insult or negative!

[@desfefe]

+Locut0s I am crying thinking if only the lecturers I had could explain that well, or were as easy to understand...

[@desfefe]

NeoHCgbz Words of wisdom from the uneducated muppet of the new generation...

[@Fanofjambi]

+Locut0s I agree although I don't think you should have to worry about being offensive when you had a clear, concise point that was obvious not insulting or negative

[@BarelyNoticeable]

"and.. this is carved out of a single piece of wood and when I first bought this in Africa I was very impressed to hear that then.. it occured to me that it was the only way to carve something like this of course" AHAHHAA OH MY GOSH HE'S AMAZING :D

[@redherring6268]

What sorcery is this?

[@matthewlewiscomposer]

Witchcraft

[@Omegadarkdrake]

+Red Herring modern day science and physics might as well be considered magic to the basic modern layman, let alone 1 from pre-1600s

[@2Cerealbox]

+Matthew Lewis Mathcraft!

[@SKyrim190]

+Omegadarkdrake This is much more related to topology than physics

[@tedchirvasiu]

+Red Herring mathemagic

[@hypnoticfart]

This is might be the best video/teaching tool to explain computing that I have ever seen. No previous knowledge of any science is required to understand how our brains learn things and build upon them. Absolutely incredible.

[@Matthewkyle12]

Every single video with this guy is absolutely amazing, while at the same time spectacularly simple. I love it!

[@TiagoSeiler]

"Maybe the two rubber bands get linked, although I do that only for money" Top kek, love Tokieda!

[@jvarunkumar]

What does it mean? I didnt understand the joke here.

[@Moneyisgoodforme]

Same

[@Moneyisgoodforme]

Same

[@Moneyisgoodforme]

Same

[@SuperHurra]

The joke is that it's impossible, so it'd be magic he'd want to be paid for.

[@CastorQuinn]

I love Professor Tadashi's videos. It's like, I know he's talking about maths, but you have to work to figure out *how* he's talking about maths.

[@geraldjohn8587]

"Excellent!" At 16:16 is amazing haha! Sounds like a villain in a movie.

[@adnanabbas.]

Props to the editor! Great job

[@adnanabbas.]

And brady you're smart as fuck

[@nytrex2001]

Tadashi videos are always so fascinating. I love his dry sense of humour. More Tadashi please.

[@Ivo--]

Professor Tadashi is now my favorite numberphilian.

[@Ivo--]

***** Sure but a numberphilian is a person who is featured on the numberphile channel. ;-)

[@StoneGarage]

+spankmeister bonus points

[@jopaki]

+spankmeister say it aint so

[@MarkHarlan]

I love how this guy is so passionate about rubber bands, paper clips, and paper. He just exudes so much passion, enough for me to watch an almost 20 minute video.

[@droro8197]

This is, for me, Numberphile's greatest video. It presents the essence of mathematics (which is basically pattern observation) so gracefully and clearly. Plus Tadashi is such an excellent Teacher!

[@astropgn]

"Always guess before solving any problem."

[@geraldjohn8587]

Great teaching sense in this guy!

[@WhiteRAZOR]

This guy needs to do audio books

[@skroot7975]

+White Razor Agreed.

[@Triantalex]

??

[@CristiNeagu]

Borromean rings, eh? One does not simply link two paper clips together.

[@AntonAdelson]

Haha, nice!

[@xerkules2851]

He's right about the guessing thing - the benefit for learning has been demonstrated in many experiments. Learners who are told to guess before seeing the answer retain the answer better (as measured by performance on a delayed test) than those who are told to just wait for it without guessing.

[@KL_Stereo]

Slomos are like something from the Ring

[@MrMerowind]

Scarry :(

[@GarioTheRock]

Spooky scary rubber bands...

[@Po0dle99]

"The rubber band ring"

[@grapefruittango4707]

send shivers down the paper

[@AwesomeCrackDealer]

Not only Tadashi is a great speaker but Brady did a spectacular job at animating and editing. Really, this channel is superb.

[@TruthNerds]

The animations are done by Pete McPartlan though.

[@rtpoe]

I now know how I'm going to waste time at work tomorrow.... trying it with three loops....

[@DocFunkenstein]

I loved his laugh when he said "I only do that for money." It was the pinnacle of nerdom!

[@reinekefuchs267]

Numberphile videos with Prof. Tokieda are always such a delight, just fascinating. Just read the wikipedia article about him, this guy is unbelievable, started out as a painter, then went on as philologist before even getting seriously involved in the field of maths, furthermore he is fluid in about six languages. this man is a genius, a beautiful mind.

[@DontMockMySmock]

Tadashi is awesome, more videos with him!

[@julessmith2]

Tadashi is AWESOME. I love how he does maths with physical objects and how you can see the patterns and theory being applied to real world, rather than just being numbers on paper. It's fascinating and intuitive and what maths is really about.

[@minijimi]

I agree, more Tadashi....... please!

[@ThatBulgarian]

I love the Tadashi videos :D

[@DenisRyan]

Professor Tadashi has the most fascinating videos on this channel, which is saying something given how fascinating the rest of the channel can be!

[@GaneshNayak]

Huge respect for Tadashi. love his videos

[@N....]

The fact that it works isn't so surprising to me - it's the fact that it works so consistently that blows my mind.

[@parkers.8748]

I agree.

[@hombreg1]

I wonder, though, how the paper clips would behave if positioned in such a way that the "linking" was less likely to happen.

[@jacobyarinsky5130]

This guy is my favorite. He is Brady’s greatest gift to the internet.

[@Harlequin314159]

I would watch this gentleman explain paper math for hours. Cheers!

[@NothingMaster]

“It’s very lucky that I have another rubber band.” 😂 Once the paper clips and the rubber bands have been strategically placed on the manifold they are already attached in a ‘higher dimension’, but only by removing/manipulating the manifold itself you would be able to see their particular order of attachment in 3D. Now, try reversing the process [if you could]. In other words, try to go from the attacked 3D state back to the manifold setup.

[@romanr9883]

those slowmos will give me nightmares. just sayin. they are filmed like some 1950 russian electroshock experiment

[@shanlykrismas1326]

Roman R not to mention the sound

[@MrMalthusMusic]

Mr Tokieda is always a delight to watch, thanks for awesome videos as always!

[@whatthefunction9140]

I like that profs voice. hypnotizing!

[@samsmith1580]

A really lovely mix of live action, animation and super slomo. All with the mellifluous sound track of Mr Tokieda's voice. A very excellent video indeed. Well done Brady.

[@37metalgearsolid]

Really interesting. I love Prof Tadashi's videos.

[@Zejgar]

The thing I like the most about these curious outcomes is how simple and demonstrable they are, while I bet there is some very serious and useful application of them somewhere in our life.

[@JimFortune]

Paper goes in, paper goes out. You can't explain that.

[@MagicHotline]

I just taught a beginning Magic class at the University of Texas last Saturday, including this basic trick, and one of my students started experimenting and came up with some of these other versions on his own. Thank you for the very clear explanations!

[@Ripa]

It's a kind of magic... thanks for this video. You and Prof. Tadashi are great!

[@billborrowed3939]

Dr. Tokieda has an amazing way to convey knowledge. You could listen to him for hours... ...which is what I intend to do.

[@tubefu]

try it with different colored paper clips and rubber band to see how they connect

[@aboriani]

I love the way Tadashi speaks... calm and concise... Sometimes I catch myself thinking using his voice...

[@chody5840]

The one liner about the links being carved from a single piece of wood had me dying. That troll grin is legendary.

[@MrPacurtin]

Brilliant. He demonstrates how your biases affect your judgement at the end. Earlier experience prejudices what you think the outcome will be.

[@AtuOma]

The animation quality is godly! damn spot on!

[@mirabilis]

The person(s) making the graphics did a splendid job.

[@superj1e2z6]

Definitely not a Parker clip

[@xystem4701]

The animation in this video is both very well done and very helpful. It enhances the experience incredibly, nice job!

[@knexator_]

My guesses were always wrong... Like a Parker Square.

[@Weriton001]

+Daniel Hurtado Did you get them almost right though?

[@Neis999]

+Daniel Hurtado At least you gave it a go.

[@Zothaqqua]

I've spent too much time in the past visualising what was happening to the clips. Well done for filming it in slow motion!

[@mattgar921]

I love Tadashi

[@enigmabloom]

16:16 Sent electricity up my spine, with that voice of his

[@abdulmuhaimin9780]

this is topology right? also foot guy is back!

[@alejandronq645]

yep!

[@fransezomer]

+Abdul Muhaimin YUP 10 points! As in Universal Quantum Computing consisting of: Gate Flow, Adiabatic, TOPOLOGICAL, and Measurement Based Quantum Computing. Measurement Based is almost the same as Topology but in 2 dimensions.

[@abdulmuhaimin9780]

Pietje Puk I have no idea what is all of that but im just gonna go with it. Wow thanks for telling me all of this!

[@fransezomer]

Abdul Muhaimin no worries mate. I just wanted to show off my big brain, my bad. :)

[@TurkishLoserInc]

+Pietje Puk Doesn't this also cover combinatorics?

[@uforob5601]

I'm very perplexed, mission in the title accomplished

[@Chewy427]

It would have been so epic if the rubber bands became linked

[@TuynRabiz]

He only does that for money, according to him, haha.

[@galerius07]

I love it when Tadashi comes on numberphile. His stuff always blows my mind.

[@dlee645]

How can anyone not like this video?

[@Zero_Chaos]

Numberphile hasn't had Dr. Tokieda on in a long time. Maybe we can get more with him in the future?

[@ThunderChunky101]

This is one of the most hard to visualise things .... And yet, intuitive!

[@lobsterfork]

I never thought I could be entertained so much by only paper, 2 rubber bands, and 2 paper clips.

[@DanielFlint]

lol @ 5:55 "well I do that only for money", I feel like that joke was greatly under appreciated.

[@Nilguiri]

Lovely graphics, and the slow motion close up with transparent paper in black and white is pure genius!

[@miraie]

This video made me want to try this now :D

[@MizhiBirb]

I miss the osu content

[@crazy4hitman755]

This is the coolest ‘’magic trick” I’ve seen😆

[@jessemastenbroek7343]

I could literally watch this for hours, the way he shows us things and explains it is so engaging!

[@BenMcKenn]

Wow, transparent paper! Where can I get that? Oh, wait...

[@davidkymdell452]

I've just started meds for ADD as a 42 year old. I've never concentrated so hard on anything in my life haha. I'm loving this

[@dimpelgimpel]

The animations are very nicely done!

[@ChrisBreemer]

Great stuff, wonderfully lucid and understated presentation. A joy to watch, and tricks to remember.

[@osculocentric]

Prof. Tadashi is Experimentalist of Mathematicians.

[@FrankHarwald]

+Chetan Waghela Link theory & magic tricks go together like fire & flames

[@chanlyelee]

Very interesting!!! Thanks for sharing.

[@TroyOi]

I still remember my grandfather teaching me the original version ("version 0") of this trick some 55 years ago. I guess that was just a short time after Bill Bowman introduced it.

[@ceticobr]

The animation on this series is pure genius!

[@captainzork6109]

PART 2 IS COMING OUT FCK YES!!

[@annayosh]

I saw Tadashi in the preview and I knew I was going to like this. I was not disappointed. Thanks guys.

[@adymode]

Fabulous production on this video too

[@elisnovat3955]

Well he is a professor at Stanford and used to be the director at Cambridge for mathematics. So he certainly is helping western people by working in their universities and teaching the students. It's interesting since he was a mere painter as a teen and came from an average class family and had to teach himself mathematics from some old Russian books he had. Then he went to university afterwards. Probably a natural genius, because people groomed from a young age nearly never reach his level and Tadashi had to teach himself. He is far from the best mathematician from Japan, yet he wasn't lucky like other Japanese to go to the university of Tokyo and Kyoto from a young age and be groomed to be a mathematician. Tadashi had a more difficult route.

[@KaninTuzi]

This unusual route is probably what makes him so accessible

[@ThunderChunky101]

Why is it so intuitive?! That's so weird!!

[@aglees2b]

I think this has to be one of my favourite numberphile episodes

[@TheGamblermusic]

If I had tried that it would have caught on fire

[@TruthNerds]

Being able to make fire with some paper and a few paperclips might be handy, come the zombie apocalypse. ;-)

[@quintessenceSL]

Anytime I see Mr. Tokieda in the preview, I know it is going to be something very simple yet completely intriguing. Great vid.

[@Taraalcar]

Tadashi nominated for Best Guy

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

Prof. Tadashi is one of those people I could listen to talking for hours

[@RoelfvanderMerwe]

I love this guy

[@eoghan.5003]

First the cup chiming video, now paperclips. This man sits at his desk playing mathematically with various objects