What do Mathematicians Eat for Breakfast?

A compilation of Numberphile sound checks - Brady typically asks "what did you have for breakfast" so he can monitor audio levels.
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[@degaculo]

Finally I can understand a video from this channel

[@itsreeah2663]

LOL

[@Triantalex]

??

[@linforcer]

I feel like no matter what you ask John Conway he'll come up with an answer that ends in "but I don't really care about it."

[@RonWolfHowl]

savage guy, that

[@BearsThatCare]

Always talking about seriously interesting stuff too.

[@tahaismetsevgili1801]

He is a nihilist i thnk

[@manueldelrio7147]

'cept the Monster Group!

[@jantheodorhrdy4598]

Rest in piece, John Conway

[@thekkl]

John Conway even manages to sound melancholic about his breakfast.

[@tanukigalpa]

It's incredible how invested I am in these mathematicians' breakfasts.

[@itsreeah2663]

I know

[@TheEduardo81]

John Conway looks like he's reminiscing all his life while talking about that coffee.

[@Hyo9000]

-"Ahh, I did some maths for breakfast." Love it

[@itsreeah2663]

Yeeee best breakfast

[@Sebi0043]

I absolutely love James Grime!

[@alexdroman]

Right!?

[@TheGerogero]

It would have been doubly funny if 2:42 was his only clip in the video.

[@philipmalaby8172]

Or Grimey, as we call him

[@keithwilson6060]

Sebi0043 What is the value of James Grime factorial?

[@skylark.kraken]

What *is* the value of the James Grime factorial?

[@bootblacking]

I eat a Mandelbrot set for breakfast every morning, but I can never seem to finish it.

[@joachimkaddah6040]

Only German speakers will get it :P

[@einekonsequenz341]

😁

[@GrantGryczan]

Actually, only some German speakers _won't_ get it.

[@10names55]

Mandelbrot set has a definite area but infinite perimeter

[@marc8239]

that can only happen when you are trying to eat the edges mate

[@LillianWinterAnimations]

James Grimes had a whole pot of coffee I guess :P

[@keithwilson6060]

Alexis Finch With lots of sugar.

[@michael-gary-scott]

"Breakfast? What's that? I just got out of bed".... My hero...

[@michaelholland5424]

John Conway had the toughest breakfast.. "I had samon which I fished out of the lake with my teeth"

[@quinn7894]

michael holland *salmon.

[@rolandlee6898]

Salmon doesnt live in lakes. Ocean and during spring in rivers connected to the ocean as they go upstream to die.

[@jotabeas22]

Roland Lee They go upstream to reproduce.

[@rolandlee6898]

Not all of them get to reproduce, but all of them die.

[@jotabeas22]

Roland Lee that is not the point. The reason why they go upstream is mating. Not all of them can but they do not swim upstream to die.

[@rngwrldngnr]

The best thing about this video was the reminders of all the different videos I'd seen here before. Along with noticing a few mathematicians I had missed out on. Very fun.

[@numberphile]

some are yet to be made!!!

[@MatematicaRio]

I sleep too late, so I wake up during lunch time! hehe My breakfast then is rice, beans, beef and fried potatoes. Ok, I know this is not healthy, but this is what I can do.

[@Rafael-gx8qt]

Ola professor 😅

[@PM_____]

carne con papas y frijol con arroz lol

[@disaidra]

Bouncy James at 2:42 was the best XD he didn't even say what he had for breakfast there but by the looks of it he just had a bowl of pure sugar.

[@jackpfefferkorn3734]

You misunderstood him. He didn't say "Hey, hey, hey", he said "Hay, hay, hay".

[@mapledoctor3915]

James Grime: "I had a bacon panini apparently" ^^^^^^^^^^ Were they being told what they 'had for breakfast'?

[@Andreas4696]

Nah, he probably just bought something at the store.

[@michaelibrahim9275]

He probably bought or ordered something that was called a bacon panini but he didn't feel that was an appropriate name

[@dirmilj]

To conclude: just your average person, mathematicians are addicted to carbs and caffeine.

[@doombybbr]

and pottasium, they like bananas

[@zamfofex]

doombybbr Singing ones! xP

[@sweepingtime]

I'm rather surprised at the larger number of responses with fruits. Like only 1 with potatoes and sausages and maybe a couple with bacon.

[@Pianoguy32]

Matt parker is so hillarious ! Seems to be a common theme though of banana and cereals

[@Robin_Nixon]

Maybe banana is some kind of brain food?... ;)

[@BakaGaijinSama]

Robin Nixon I did a quick search and banana's are rich in potassium which is apparently vital to brain function, so yes, yes they are.

[@thebombzen]

I was about to comment how hilarious Matt Parker was. Looks like you beat me to it. :D

[@DarkSideDenmark]

Robin Nixon Cereals are usually high on fiber, which keeps you full for a long time, and bananas are loaded with carbohydrates, which is what your brain needs to function properly. So yeah, all they're missing is protein, and then it would be the ideal way to start off your day :)

[@soulstealingginger3612]

don't forget the potassium isotope is k40, which means the banana is radioactive.

[@sneak2attack]

That last answer has a cringe value of infinity

[@DanFrederiksen]

why?

[@ColinBroderickMaths]

Why? The first thing I do when I wake up is work on whatever assignment I feel like (usually mathematical), and if I get into it I will often forget to eat until I start getting the shakes well after lunch time. When you're doing something you enjoy you don't think about food - or anything else really - as much.

[@Cubeeyy]

***** Food is something I enjoy, it's always on my mind

[@abyssaljam441]

***** You need to higher some won to reminde you to eat man

[@DanFrederiksen]

Abyssaljam hire someone to remind

[@tomasfernandez9045]

Why not 3? Because then i would have ended up with an odd number..

[@amisner2k]

I noticed a few commonalities that most of these mathematicians shared: 1. Oatmeal/Porridge/Cream of Wheat/Cereal 2. Bananas 3. Misc. Fruit 4. Nothing/Coffee Outliers: 1. Bacon 2. Panini 3. Toast 4. Yogurt

[@geneticallyinferior1]

panini is fancy italian for toasted sandwich and everybody that ate toast also had something with it (so an open faced sandwich) so toast and panini is the same. you can also argue that the different types of wheat is the same so panini, toast, cream of wheat, cereal is also the same

[@geneticallyinferior1]

the people that ate yogurt ate it with fruit

[@geneticallyinferior1]

bacon can be grouped with salmon, yogurt, eggs and children's leftovers as animal protein

[@geneticallyinferior1]

everybody ate a very typical european/western style breakfast. that is the commonality. it was actually very homogeneous compared to what the rest of the world eats for breakfast

[@amisner2k]

geneticallyinferior1 Yeah, I suppose I used the wrong word "commonality" there. The point of my comment was to list particular breakfast items that were common among each of them because it was fun.

[@lasercatvet]

I am excited about the new faces I saw in these sound checks. Hope that means plenty of numberphile to come in the future!

[@numberphile]

lasercatvet yep

[@razorborne]

thought the same thing. very excited for Don Knuth.

[@spencerfriedman9262]

lol 2:43 james wat r u doin that is not breakfast

[@BenWatkins]

Spencer Friedman hello! Hello! Hey, hey, hey!

[@m.f.3347]

What are you talking about? He clearly said he eats hay for breakfast.

[@TheDisarminghinkle]

Hannah Fry manages to take everything in an unexpected direction.

[@stuartjbray]

The correct answer is: x. (The humour here relies on the stereotypical unknown variable symbol 'x' being homophonous with a common breakfast: 'eggs'.)

[@RonWolfHowl]

THANKS FOR THE INFO

[@Kazoeru]

Rule number 2 of making jokes: Explaining the joke does NOT make it funny.

[@jonathanschossig1276]

Voxle What is rule number 1?

[@Kazoeru]

Unknown Name Rule number 1, also known as the golden rule of comedy: Random is NOT funny.

[@mehmetatabal6923]

Actually, we lost John Conway (at 3:36) to Corona this year. RIP John. You'll always be remembered as the most charismatic genius

[@okuhara]

"I did some maths for breakfast" hahahahaha, the worst thing is that could actually be true.

[@afonsodimasmartins6847]

You know what mathematicians eat for breakfast? INTEGRAL CEREALS!

[@Craftypianist]

Let me just say that Hannah Fry needs more videos..

[@TheMilwaukeeProtocol]

It's interesting to see the different expressions on their faces when they have to recall events instead of facts from their line of work.

[@kujmous]

I like candid moments with people who rarely get to show such moments. As each person was shown, I was reflecting on things I had learned from them. I had to rewind a bit to hear Hannah, because I forgot where I was for a moment.

[@TacoSt8]

1:51 catches me every time

[@sean3533]

Hmm seems about a normal cross section of the population. Also when James Conway came up I was as usual expected him to give some great revelation of the perfect breakfast.

[@geneticallyinferior1]

not really. not too many mcmuffins and donuts as in the usa

[@xavierstanton8146]

Haha, cross section

[@bearscookies9645]

Don't they eat Pi for breakfast? Get it? It's like pie, bu... oh, never mind :(

[@DCUOxDestro]

Lool xD

[@zamfofex]

From all the puns you could have made, that is the dumbest, most cliche one... Yet it's still funny! xD

[@bluefirexde]

Pedro Martins Zamboni Like Pinutbutter?

[@allanrempel437]

Nope, they eat tau-st

[@purplesamurai8964]

Lol

[@Shinobi20000]

This is really nice; really humanizes all the familiar faces that you always interview. I hope you do this more often, it's awesome!

[@sweepingtime]

I think you can eat anything you want if you're willing to exercise 2 hours every day. This video is such a treat because I watched it after going through many of the videos, and it's nice to see familiar faces and hear something more of the person.

[@raythink]

I hope our world have more of these awesome people.

[@eltyo340]

I love at the end where he just blinks his eyes in an, "of course" manner

[@teekanne15]

wow Hannah Fry is incredibly attractive

[@axemenace6637]

teekanne15 so is Holly krieger

[@CrabbyDarth]

and matt parker

[@aspermwhalespontaneouslyca8938]

Closely followed by Don Knuth

[@MasouShizuka]

IT WAS ALL NAWT GUD.

[@hellowkiske]

NAWT GUUUUTTTTTTTTT

[@conradgarcia4850]

They're all lying! They eat Platonic solids for breakfast. ;)

[@quinn7894]

Conrad Garcia Platonic solids for lunch

[@quinn7894]

Conrad Garcia Platonic salad

[@crazychaoskids6873]

Kuin Firipusu that is so funny! I mean really! Platonic salads!

[@andymesa3307]

I support the number of fantastically attractive redheads this channel uses to teach me things.

[@KubrickFR]

Best video in a long time, and the level was already pretty damn high !

[@speedwolf]

Wait, you've got Don Knuth in there but not in any videos I can search for? Come on!

[@numberphile]

speedwolf soon

[@RonWolfHowl]

dragon curve

[@HandreyAlex]

the comment is 2 years old

[@hsterts]

HandreyAlex the comment is two months old

[@hsterts]

Android Kenobi The comment is two hours old

[@TurtleTVUnleashed]

Thank you Numberphile so much for posting such entertaining videos. When I first clicked on this one, I thought it was going to be pretty boring, but even though it wasn't a maths video, I did find it interesting.

[@HDitzzDH]

"Breakfast, what's that? I just got out of bed" couldn't be more relatable.

[@LillianWinterAnimations]

James Grimes had a whole pot of coffee as well I guess :P

[@mastershooter64]

ah yes james grime the only man who can eat "hello hello hey hey hey hey" for breakfast

[@antiHUMANDesigns]

Dude, I usually have some proper food for breakfast. Pasta bolognese with parmesan, or a home-made cheesebuger with salsa and paprika, for example. Salmon, yes, that's a good breakfast!

[@jimmy000]

agreed!

[@antiHUMANDesigns]

***** Naaaaahhhh, there's no meat in it. ;)

[@antiHUMANDesigns]

Hrag Najarian Exactly! Proper breakfast! :)

[@SatanistSin]

Breakfast? That's a freaking dinner.

[@antiHUMANDesigns]

SatanistSin Yes, if it's like a dinner, then it's a *proper* breakfast.

[@DeathlyTired]

I found this a strangely & bewilderingly beautiful little insight into the human condition.

[@johnredberg]

It's so adorable how Conway reflects on his coffee consumption. "Actually, you know, I don't care about the coffee very much... (thinking) But yeah, I do drink it... (guilty expression)"

[@Taikeb0]

so, coffee, banana, oatmels, toasts...

[@mexicanreformist1522]

I LOVE eating breakfast however it's just so painful waking up so early to prepare it.

[@coloneldookie7222]

There must be a correlation in there where there are certain foods (like weet-bix and musely, which I'm sure I misheard) that are more common in some regions and not as common in others (I live in the US, so the two aforementioned foods are largely unknown to me). I'm quite partial to what Conway has for breakfast, but I normally make salmon once a week and save some for breakfast the following two days. Also, Simon, Matt, and James have always been my favorite to watch. Glad to see Simon sneak in at the end there.

[@Zuraneve]

I don't know what the first one was, but the second is muesli/müsli/müesli (depending on where you live), which I thought was not unheard of in the US? It's in the cereal aisle (I think) in most of the stores I've been to in the Boston area. I guess it's also pretty regional in the US too.

[@coloneldookie7222]

Kala Reshana Oh, my mistake. I'm on the west coast of the US, so maybe it's an east coast thing?

[@Zuraneve]

Colonel Dookie Maybe? I would have thought it'd be pretty popular in California, at least. It's been a while since I've been in a grocery store out there though. :)

[@Zuraneve]

ssholum As an ex-southerner...to me, grits are icky and yucky. Blech. Mom still tries to make me eat them about every fifth visit or so though. I have not tried cream of wheat, so I cannot compare the two.

[@coloneldookie7222]

ssholum I'm cautiously trusting of most non-aggressive comments on the internet and largely unafraid of sounding foolish by asking people irl about something I read online. :P Maybe there is a hat made of grits somewhere in the world? But I will hold you to the shrimp and grits comment. I loooove seafood: shrimp, scallops, oysters, salmon, sushi of just about every type...I'm just a fish out of water trying to put it all back in me! :D

[@stumbling]

I love John Conway, he seems like a very laid-back and content man. I have not seen quite a few of these people before, will have to keep an eye out.

[@RW-tg8fo]

Surely the most important thing is only ever to breakfast in the company of the person with whom you spent the night. This is a great compilation.

[@migfed]

The young guy with the cup had a Bogotas buys route, brilliant!!! When a was a uni student a took that route everyday. It's call Germania, and it goes along the city north-south direction. Cheers mate.

[@Belckan500]

Will we se a video of him. I take that rout every day !!!

[@numberphile]

daniel ospina perez yes, soon.

[@hanzellmo]

Bogota represent :P

[@dhwanilpatel709]

I can't believe no one said that he or she ate pi for breakfast (at least i didn't hear him or her say it). Also thanks Brady for introducing all the cool and interesting concepts to normal people like me. Its good that your are showing the "fun" side of math and science (in periodic videos of course) because in my school I always felt like I was the only one who thought math and chemical elements were fun.

[@itsreeah2663]

Same same im a maths and science nerd, YAY!

[@natedurham2748]

It's so fun listening to the different accents. Such diversity and they're all so happy.

[@TimmahDee]

Hannah Fry's voice makes me melt

[@emperorpingusmathchannel5365]

I would expect mathematicians to stay away from beans.

[@doubleja]

Hannah Fry is incredibly attractive...that is all. Oh and James Grime is definitely the most entertaining. :)

[@jethrojangles9541]

Anyone else cheering at 1:50 :D this whole thing is adorable for some reason

[@JaredSmithAus]

RE: Weet-bix, there are 12 in each row so eating either 2, 3, 4 or 6 leads to rows being consumed evenly. I feel like there is a video here - perhaps an interview with someone at Sanitarium to find out if it was a deliberate choice to put 12 per row? Surely I'm not the only one who has thought about this? But maybe the more important question is, why do the manufacturers not put a prime number of weet-bix in each row/box to force you to buy more when you finish. Because who has just one weet-bix? Even the name implies plurality!

[@philipsalter934]

you left out eating only 1 or eating all 12 ;)

[@charliekent9526]

Philip Salter or both rows

[@elneozargentino4378]

***** eat all the Weet-Bix!

[@acarolaboutsomething]

i love these random videos showing outtakes and stuff

[@cameosix7077]

I learnt two things from the comments 1. Banana and cereal 2. People be simping hard for Hannah

[@VivekYadav-ds8oz]

We're all listening so carefully to find out what do they eat to be so smart 😂

[@skvello]

3:30 "Two? Why not three? Because then I'll end up with an odd number", I guess an unique answer from a mathematician :)

[@ThoughtsFromClosets]

I really want to see that unused recording of James. He's the first Numberphile intervieww/personality that I saw and that kind of makes him my favorite.

[@davidsweeney111]

I still cant get my head around most numberphile videos, so this one was a welcome relief ;)

[@RonWolfHowl]

You need more computer scientists on Computerphile. I need to know what they have for breakfast!

[@Jayder845]

It would be amazing if you could interview John Pollard and/or Carl Pomerance. Both have discovered some incredibly useful algorithms, like for factoring numbers and for proving primes. Perhaps they could discuss their algorithms with you?

[@womtv69]

If Cliff Stoll was in this video, I am sure he would have had coffee out of a Klein Bottle.

[@giuliorasi2711]

Persi Diaconis and Donald Knuth? wooo. Can't wait for those videos

[@numberphile]

Giulio Rasi me too!

[@giuliorasi2711]

Numberphile Did you manage to talk about his early years as a magician with Diaconis? Anyway, this is an amazing channel.

[@dolltron6965]

Calculators on toast with counting beans and an abacus. Very crunchy yet also quiet county too.

[@Photonface]

No wonder 6 problems from the Millennium prize still remain unsolved, not one of them had a full English Breakfast.

[@AlexFry01]

wait when was Hannah Fry on here? Has it not gone out yet or did I miss it?

[@RinoaL]

i wasnt expecting to see Hannah Fry on here. i love these videos.

[@darkmagician666]

I remember all these videos just by the person in it, the room and the camera angle.

[@S0lar90]

Daaamn Mrs.Fry just stole my Heart *g*

[@TristanBomber]

I'm actually shocked at how few people said "cereal" (as in, the modern sense of the word over cold milk, not including oatmeal or whatever). Maybe it's a regional thing, but cereal is almost all anyone every eats on weekdays in the US, if they do. At least in my experience...

[@kakashisgirlrox]

“I had eggs and cinnamon toast” randomly in the middle of another bit 😂 loved it

[@AtomSmashingMachine]

"Breakfast, what's that? Just got out of bed." Finally someone understands.

[@LoveLetterToNobody]

Oats (cooked in non-diary milk), banana, dates

[@donk1823]

David Eisenbud has the smoothest voice I've ever heard.

[@LinkEX]

The way the title was worded, I was thinking someone would make a joke with the idiom _"eating X for breakfast"_ to express overcoming a certain problem. You know, something like a numberologist saying: »I eat numbers for breakfast!«

[@alexdroman]

I wish John Conway had his own channel. It could just be videos about him talking about anything at all.

[@BlizzardzRS]

1. Breakfast isn't the "most important meal of the day" (look up intermittent fasting) 2. Exercising completely fasted is only sub optimal if muscle growth is the goal of the exercise. If it's fat loss (or just general fitness), there is nothing wrong with exercising fasted

[@MicroBlogganism]

The answers are more diverse than I would have thought :P

[@andresramos6435]

The bus sign Usaquen, Germania, los Andes takes me back to my university years.

[@louisng114]

1:10 I had Professor Federico in San Francisco State University. Was he in a Numberphile episode that I missed?

[@numberphile]

louisng114 soon

[@Eloscar985]

I can´t wait to see that video!! He´s colombian and participated in the IMO, as a student and teacher.

[@mrxwerewolf1]

"I have eating bacon and potatoes and ....., it was all bad" This is golden

[@super_7710]

Love how James Grime is just like "Hello! Hey hey hey hey!"

[@zalikster]

John Conway seems like he's some real stories to tell... He always seems a bit distant (at least in the videos I've seen of him). Love your vids bruh

[@KAF128]

What do mathematicians eat for breakfast ? Surely it's "x" (poached or otherwise) - or could be pi, I suppose.

[@madelinepoopoo]

This made me really happy and I don't know why.

[@Uninen]

Were there some bits from unpublished videos here? Don't rememebr seeing Hannah Fry on Numberphile yet, but really looking forward to it! :)

[@Leitilumo]

00:54 This mathematician is undoubtably related to Fred Phelps in some way. They are practically twins. He seems to be a force for good though. :)

[@vibraphonics]

Please can you show us Cliff Stoll's one? I feel like it would be brilliant.

[@freddiesalone]

James was like: Uh hello hello hey hey hey hey!

[@dampersand]

Are any of these from upcoming videos, or have I managed to miss some along the way? There were several people in there that I didn't recognize.

[@numberphile]

dampersand some upcoming

[@aditya95sriram]

Numberphile Really excited to know you got Donald Knuth in line for us, will he be featuring in a Numberphile video or Computerphile video?