The Discovery That Transformed Pi

For thousands of years, mathematicians were calculating Pi the obvious but numerically inefficient way. Then Newton came along and changed the game. This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 314 people to sign up via brilliant.org/veritasium get 20% off a yearly subscription.
Happy Pi Day!
References:
Arndt, J., & Haenel, C. (2001). Pi-unleashed. Springer Science & Business Media - ve42.co/Arndt2001
Dunham, W. (1990). Journey through genius: The great theorems of mathematics. Wiley - ve42.co/Dunham1990
Borwein, J. M. (2014). The Life of π: From Archimedes to ENIAC and Beyond. In From Alexandria, Through Baghdad (pp. 531-561). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg - ve42.co/Borwein2012
Special thanks to Alex Kontorovich, Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University, and Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Public Dissemination of Mathematics National Museum of Mathematics MoMath for being part of this Pi Day video.
Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Jim Osmun, Tyson McDowell, Ludovic Robillard, jim buckmaster, fanime96, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Lyvann Ferrusca, Alfred Wallace, Arjun Chakroborty, Joar Wandborg, Clayton Greenwell, Pindex, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal
Written by Derek Muller and Alex Kontorovich
Animation by Ivy Tello
Filmed by Derek Muller and Raquel Nuno
Edited by Derek Muller
Music by Jonny Hyman and Petr Lebedev
Additional Music from epidemicsound.com "Particle Emission", "Into the Forest", "Stavselet", "Face of the Earth", "Firefly in a Fairytale"
Thumbnail by Gianmarco Malandra and Karri Denise

[@davidjohn4364]

Newton giving a lecture - "Hi guys, today we're talking about circles. The first thing you wanna do is invent calculus."

[@ruttolomeo1987]

Newton’s quarantine: boring. Let’s upgrade human understanding of mathematics.

[@ikeatable1]

If it was anybody but Newton or Euler this would be one of the most iconic moments in mathematical history. The fact that this is one of the least interesting things that Newton discovered is completely insane.

[@yt_sricharanp]

If only my Math teacher explained it like this back in my college days ...

[@kimi9572]

Imagine having a career so illustrious that discovering a groundbreaking way to accurrately find pi is just one of your side achievements

[@betterideas]

I really like this video because I didn’t understand 99% of the math, yet I was invested. It felt like something important was unraveling before me, and I was excited by that. And that’s the power of good storytelling.

[@jamesoversight9866]

Me during quarantine: Plays video games all day

[@ariearie5054]

Imagine spending 25 years of your life on something, and then a 23 year old kid comes along and beats you in a week while being in lockdown

[@TheRomichou]

The animator is the hidden hero here!

[@vladimirandreevich]

"We should always know the extent to which the rules have a chance of working farther" - I like that phrase

[@joshc5613]

Everyone is talking about how genius Newton is, but really, we need to shout out Archimedes for solving pi to an almost unnecessary level of precision 1800 years before Newton even came along

[@mrunfunny]

Imagine working on something for 25 years only to find out that someone did it while playing with an equation during a pandemic.

[@saddlepiggy]

“Luckily, Newton had just invented Calculus.”

[@harrokrog4707]

When this man said:“Luckily he just invented calculus“ like its not even that great. I realised what a genius he was. Sadly we dont learn about that in school

[@miceyfb]

Newton was one incredible man

[@HSC82388]

Now I understand how my dog feels when I'm talking to it.

[@benjaminmathew8674]

1666: Newton, during quarantine, discovering pi

[@dufushead]

Love it. After 65 years I've finally understood what the teachers were trying to teach me. Odd remembering and piecing together all those fragments of memories largely because they were ajumble of unrelated abstract ideas which you gave coherence, meaning and understanding too. If only you'd been around when my kids were at school. Cheers Prof !

[@LetsGetIntoItMedia]

This video is an absolute masterpiece of storytelling. The beauty of discovery comes through so well. I watch this every few months, and I'm inspired every single time

[@andrewzmorris]

"Luckily he had just invented calculus" unbelievable