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What Happens When Maths Goes Wrong? - with Matt Parker

The Royal Institution · talk · Watch on YouTube

Recreational & visual mathStand-up & sketch comedyCivil engineering & construction

What it is

Matt Parker's Royal Institution talk based on his book Humble Pi, covering everyday mathematical mistakes and spurious patterns that went wrong in engineering and software. It mixes stand-up comedy with stories of coincidence and error.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Used as a funny, accessible reference for coincidences, spurious patterns and maths errors.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “Here's a funny anecdote about the same topic”

    Funny anecdote about spurious patterns and coincidence

    db48x, 2020-12 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Astronomical Coincidences. What does it mean?”

  2. “It also comes with an entirely different set of interesting stories for anyone inclined to listen”

    Newer Matt Parker talk with better audio and different stories

    modderation, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “Saint Michael Sword: Are the cathedrals really on a straight line?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: matt parker, humble pi, coincidence, recreational maths, engineering failures

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