If you enjoyed hearing our expert Tom Magliery discuss his 37 collection, you can watch an extended interview with him - for free! - over on our Patreon ve42.co/PatreonTom
Must admit I was rather interested in how different regions, languages or cultures affect the statistics you collected, so a bit sad you didn't discuss that. You did say 37 is prevalent everywhere, but how much and to what extent does it differ? Like, I don't think I see it much over here when it comes to roadsigns or pricetags
woah I wonder if it would be the same if the number system isn't based on 10? Like if the max number is 9, would there still be mirror images of 37 equivalent?
its simple, if we consider single digit then - 1 is extreme left, 9 is extreme right 2, 4, 6, 8 are even numbers 5 is mid so only 3 and 7 are left. For two digit number we subconsciously use thier combination.
I’ve been trying to find this comment Like we’re incapable of producing truly random numbers so it’d be concerning if there wasnt some trend based on the logic of selecting the “most random” seeming numbers
@@RotAndRomanticismThe same is thing true for generating "random" digits in electronic systems (mobile, desktop, etc.). A computer is not able to generate complete randomness, because its operation is based on patterns. The same rule affects us - People.
@@jangrygiel9934 I didn’t know that! It makes sense now I think about it, the task of producing truly random figures from a set seems insurmountable and complex, if to us then to computers… computing has a single, pure application- running the built in solitaire game that comes with your laptop.
People seem to ignore that 3 and 7 are the numbers furthest away from "round" numbers (0,5,10). I believe that is one of the main reasons people THINK that it's random but in reality they're just creating distance from the "regular" numbers.
37 goes into 111 three times, and thus it divides 999. This is IMPORTANT because if something costs $9.99 for example, which is not an uncommon price, with the scheme corporations use where stuff ends at .99, then $0.37 is quite a likely price to have if stuff comes in bulk, that's why $0.37 seems to pop up everywhere. This fact also makes 37 special at least in decimal because anything divided by 37 will have a much simpler decimal expansion compared to other primes of that size (the lengths of repeating decimal expansions depend on the divisors of 10n-1 for any whole number n) -- in fact, it is the ONLY unique prime that gives a three-digit repeating decimal expansion in decimal
On Earth you have a variety of interests. The workings of life gets dismantled hence the search for nuances like numbers. If you are interested in the basic binaries of life, example 1's and 0's, your purpose becomes clear and the nuances becomes absolute. It is a matter of living your best life as a 1 or as a 0. Ps. 1's is Always the way to live a Good Healthy and Wealthy Life. Ahoeaaa.
Are bulk items usually shipped in batches of 27? (Perhaps shipped in 3x3x3 cubes?) This explanation would only work if they are. True, things are often priced ending in 99 cents, but those prices ending in .99 aren't divisible to end in .37 unless there's a batch of 27 (or 127, 227, 337 etc) of the item sold at the same price. I would've assumed that things would much more often be shipped in containers with even numbers of items per side. Anyone familiar with the shipping industry know if bulk items are commonly shipped in 3x3x3 cubes? This explanation also only works if B2B wholesale prices end in 99 cents. Is that common for bulk items? (From the little B2B pricing I've seen I wouldn't expect it to be, but I've only worked with B2B SaaS pricing, not with B2B pricing for bulk items that are intended to be re-sold to consumers. I'd expect a retail price ending in .99 to be much more common than a wholesale price ending in .99, especially since wholesaling at numbers ending in .99 would mean that the retail price wouldn't generally end in .99, which would be problematic for retailers wanting to sway consumers with pricing psychology.) [edited for spelling]
This is mind-blowing!!! Here are numbers that can be divided by 37 (from 1 to 1000): 111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, 888, 999 And also 148 and rotation (481, 814), 185 and rotation (518, 851), 259 and rotation (592, 925), 296 and rotation (629, 962), 370 and rotation (037, 703), 407 and rotation (740, 074)
Yeah? Also: 666 / 37 = 18. While simultaneously, 6 + 6 + 6 = 18. Also: 444 / 37 = 12. While simultaneously, 4 + 4 + 4 = 12. Also: 111 / 37 = 3. While simultaneously, 1 + 1 +1 = 3. Meh'. Color me unimpressed. The world is not going to end due to some numerical coincidences. The world will go on.
111 is a common factor for the rest of the numbers, so it’s just a coincidence- it looks cooler than it actually is. But a really neat coincidence none. But that’s the whole feeling 37 has to it…
I think the explanation's simpler: People think randomness is whatever's furthest from the extremes and medians, and three is in the middle of 1 and 5, and seven is in the middle of 5 and 9.
73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th. And its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3. In binary 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001. -Sheldon Cooper
@@haxer4057but it’s not just faith. Read the Bible, the most common numbers are 3 & 7 by far. God straight up says that 7 is his holy number, he created the Earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th in which he declared that day holy. 7 is known to be the number of completion, 3 being the Trinity of God. And this video only solidifies that 3 & 7 are written throughout the universe. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, do your own research on it rather that disproving it by opinion if you think I’m just being foolish. How could you think a universe designed so precisely in every aspect with signs of the numbers of God written everywhere could be without a higher power?
@@omkarnagarhalli5217 I mean, I can understand ruling certain numbers out, as they were explained in the video. Like priming numbers from the question 1 and 100, and the obvious sex joke reference 69 (you wouldn't get this bias in surveys outside internet culture actually) But I agree, at some point it felt like they were ruling out too many numbers just to get 37 at place 1. But at least one cannot deny the pattern of 3 and 7. But I would assume this is simply because they just feel right. They are odd, lie exactly between multiples of 5, are not multiple of 10 (which is also the reason most multiple of 10 seemed to be the least favorite in the survey, as they just felt too even, too easy, too unrandom, at least to me)
My cousins and I noticed this phenomenon and have been sending each other pictures of 37 every time we see it out and about. We’ve been doing this for about ten years. I thought it was just a weird thing that we noticed. My mind is BLOWN right now.
I'm not sure why this wasn't brought up by the video, but a far more intuitive argument is simply that 37 is a prime number with both digits prime. Going with the prime number being intuitively random theory, people are also less likely to choose digits perceived as less prime, being 4, 6, 8, 9 as they're composite, but also 0, 1, 2, and 5 as they're more linked to our number base of 10 and therefore come to mind as less relatively prime. What does that leave us with? 3 and 7. And of the two, people tend to be more familiar with 37 simply because it's lower and has the digits in ascending order, as opposed to 73, which takes a bit more thinking to come up with.
rules of 3 is littered all throughout western literature, Hegelian dialectics, holy trinity, etc. 7 is a "lucky" number, 7 days it also took in the bible for god to create the universe.
@@SilkySnow_ Yeah, people like 7 more then 3. But it`s favorite numerological, religios and magical digits, this is the most obvious explanation. Coz experimental chimpanzees tend to choose a 1 and 2.
After watching the video I looked all around my room and checked every number I could find and seems like I'm living a life completely devoid of the number 37.
Omg I was gonna say I always see the number 101 and I checked the likes on this comment to my surprise it’s 101 😂. But probably just because I pay attention to it more than any other number.
In case Tom is interested, the nail with 37 on it is a date nail. These were hammered into the wooden ties that the rails of train tracks were spiked to. Sometimes on the end of the tie, sometimes on top. They were commonly collected by railroad fans who, by doing so, stymied the purpose of the nails. It helped keep track (no pun intended) of how long the ties had been there … and possibly have some indication of when the tie should be replaced (ties in dry climates would need to be replaced less frequently than those in wetter climates). There types of nails (as well as a kind of ‘spike’ that looks a bit like a strange, two pronged bottle cap) were also used on telegraph/telephone poles and on utility poles … particularly ones that ran along beside the tracks. (All of this is my best recollection of info. Any inaccuracies are on me). I hope that Tom finds the clarification of what his 37 nail means, interesting. :- )
Yes. As a college student in the late seventies I worked for a couple of summers on an extra rail gang for Burlington-Northern in Indiana and Ohio, both laying new track and replacing old ties on existing track, the old-fashioned way. I have -- or had -- a few of those nails from old ties that we replaced. If I find them, I'll have to check if I have any from 1937.
As someone in his class currently, I have sent a message to him with a screenshot of this comment. He replied saying he's already gotten at least 10 emails about it :D
I came looking for this comment! Back in 1988 my dad and I built a retaining wall out of old railroad ties, there were some date nails in some of the ties (though none as recent as 37, mostly years in the early 1920’s). In the early 2010’s someone partially disassembled the wall and stole the date nails, apparently the nails were (are?) quite valuable to collectors.
Yes, I too saw that and came here to see if I would be the 37th to tell him, maybe the 370th. There were rarely-used railroad tracks in my neighborhood growing up, and we kids had a game of walking on the ties and avoiding any that had a nail from 1950, the game was called "50-50". The railroad must have had a major repair effort that year, because there were quite a few 50s and sometimes two or three in a row.
To be honest, it's because 37 is both prime, uses both 3 and 7 (which are both prime), and 7 is the number that is least "cleanly" handled in base 10. It's also what the magician points out: it's that both numbers are odd and both are different. Somehow, it "feels" like the "most random" number in our base 10 system.
Also 3 and 7 are well known magic numbers. It's super hard to take this out of any study as the culture that brought this has been here for thousands of years. The only thing more culturally enshrined in the West is calling mothers something like mama.
That is EXACTLY what came to my mind. They are both odd, prime, and the number is prime. You even know that 37 is prime because you know your times tables and it wasn’t there.
Hello could you plz give me a complete example of what you're saying ive tried to multiply and divide 3/555 and got nothing like whats bn discussed.. Im just learning
@@draymondgreen7606 555 5+5+5 = 15 555 / 15 = 37 666 6+6+6 = 18 666 / 18 = 37 If you do it with 2 digits you will always get 5.5. if you do it with 4 digits you will always get 277.75 and so on. It's not specific to 37.
@@HakunaYourTata42 is the answer to everything in the universe from the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy and it’s been a popular cultural reference since then
I wonder how many studies involving students/reddit have to include a footnote explaining why they considered "69" an anomaly that could safely be ignored without affecting the outcome.
this reminds me of how jrr Tolkien died in 1973 - like 3 rings for the elves, 7 for the dwarves 9 for the men and 1 ring to rule them all. it's even crazier cause he was born in 1379 and 37 appears right there
Ever since the poll in the community post, I wrote my choices in a notepad & been waiting for the video. I chose 37 & 63, and when I saw the new vid with the number 37 in the thumbnail, I was blown away!
I'm an air traffic controller and sometimes we have to estimate (or rather) calculate the arrival times of aircraft for the next sector or arrival airport. When I still was a trainee, one of my coaches said to me: "A good estimate ends on 3 or 7, then your coordination partner will think it's actually calculated and not rounded."
I haven't seen it yet by if i had to guess... Its a nice number. I wonder what will happen to the world if this test didn't yield 37 and have that "nice" number as the result instead.
Not bullshitting, I remember seeing 37 everywhere for years when I was a child, and as I grew I up I decided to ignore it and just assumed I was subconsciously looking for it. Now some 15 years later I've never felt so vindicated
I saw that Veritasium removed 42 insiuating it was was about them instead of Hitchhiker's Guide, and promptly unsubbed after 10 years because at this point valuing engagement is more important than creating an actual "Idiocracy" through misinformation presented as fact. It's happening everywhere, but the fact that it's happening here is most concerning...
@@MFWb00bi3s42 wasn’t even close to the Amount of 37, nor does it have anything to do with the main topic of the video. Also most people do not know that the answer to life is 42 lol. Assuming that 42 was mostly because of their channel logo, on a poll on THEIR channel is a fair assumption.
3 and 7 are truly fascinating numbers. In hebrew every letter is also a number, thats how hebrews use numbers. So you can add the numbers in a hebrew word and you will have it’s number value, and you can also do so for setences. Like so, the number value of the first verse of the Bible is 2701 which is 37x73. if you take 2701 and add it to its mirror image 1072 you get 3773. The verse has 7 words and 3 of which are nouns and if you add up the number values of these nouns you get 777 which is 3 7s and is also equal to 37x3x7. 3 and 7 are also the numbers commonly associated with God because of the trinity and perfectness they represent. I encourage you to look into it yourself so you may behold God’s power firsthand. He truly changed my life and I hope does the same for yall❤️.
I do understand the logic behind the explanation. Odd numbers seem more random than even numbers, so when asked for a "random" number, it's more likely to be an odd one. 5 sits right in the center that's not feeling random, 1 is right at the start, 9 right at the end - don't feel random either. That only leaves 3 and 7. So, when people try to construct a random number between 1 and 100 in their heads, they are more likely to come up with 37 or 73, than any other number. And while the frequency of 37 and 73 coming up is highly statistically significant - 37 was still just picked somewhere around 2%. That's twice as much as it should be - but far, far less common then the video snippets of asked people would suggest. It's small enough a derivation from the expected value to be easily conceivable. What I don't understand though, is the logic behind collecting thousands of occurences of the number 37 - and claiming it shows up everywhere. Because, how do you know, that if you were collecting occurences of 36 or 38 or any other number instead, you'd be getting less? Without anything to compare it to... you could actually be finding 37 exactly as much, as you would be finding every other number. There's no telling if you are above or below what you'd expect to find... Yeah, 37 is everywhere... but so are all the other numbers between 1 and 100.
The Number 37 in the Sacred Scriptures and Gematria The number 37 is not only fascinating because it is a prime number; It also stands out in sacred writings and in the field of reflected prime numbers. Genesis 1:1 and Gematria: The first seven words of the Bible have gematric values that add up to 2701: 913+203+86+401+395+407+296=2701 This number is equal to the product of 37 times 73: 2701=37×73 Symmetry and Mathematical Beauty: By adding 2701 with its reflection 1072, we obtain 3773, a number that reflects symmetry and mathematical beauty: 2701+1072=3773 Mirrored Prime Numbers: The numbers 37 and 73 are the first and only mirrored prime numbers, of the first 100,000 examined, whose positions (12 and 21) are also mirror reflections: 37 is the twelfth prime number and:12^2=144 73 is the twenty-first prime number and:21^2=441 Digital Ascending Order: Looking at the sum of the word values of Genesis 1:1 with their digits in ascending order, we find that this sum corresponds to the prime number number 37 with a prime index: 139+023+68+014+359+047+269=157 The number 157 is the 37th prime number. Specular Reflections and Midpoints: The sum of the prime numbers indexed to the values of the words of Genesis 1:1 arrives at the prime number 2161, and adding this number with its mirror reflection (1612), we again obtain 3773: 2161+1612=3773 This result is the midpoint between the sum of the specular reflections of the first 37 numbers (1279) and the sum of the first 73 numbers (3043): 2161−[(3×7)2+(7×3)2]=1279 2161+[(3×7)2+(7×3)2]=3043 Sum of Indexed Prime Numbers: The prime numbers indexed to the word values of Genesis 1:1 are: 913th cousin = 7127 203rd cousin = 1237 86th cousin = 443 401st cousin = 2749 395th prime = 2711 407th cousin = 2797 296th cousin = 1949 The total sum of these prime numbers is prime 2161: 2161+1612=3773 This discovery reinforces the mirror code of Genesis 1:1 and highlights the main factors of this verse: 37 and 73. Sum of Natural Numbers: The sum of the first 37 natural numbers (T37) is 703 and the sum of the first 73 natural numbers (T73) is 2701. Incredibly, the number of integers between the 703rd prime (5303) and the 2701st prime (24317) is the 2161st prime (19013): GENESIS1:1 2161st PRIMO(19013)=37×73 =2701 The number of our integers between the 703rd PRIME (5303) and the 2701st PRIME (24317) 2161+1612=3773
The 37 collector isn't evidence of anything. However, I'd wager that if there were 100 equally determined people each collecting a number over the same time period, 37 (and 69 and 42) would have found more examples than most of the others. Like, think of the football cartoon. The cartoonist had to think of a "random" number, and he chose 37.
37 is also an incredibly fascinating number as it’s the first “Sheldon Prime”. This means that 37 is the 12th prime and it’s mirror image, 73, is the 21st prime, with 21 being the mirror of 12. Edit: on a more careful examination, the actual Sheldon Prime is 73, since we also want the property that the product of it’s digit (7x3=21) is the number of the prime (21st prime).
3 is equidistant with 7 from 5, which is equidistant between 10 and 0, the extreme values. 3 and 7 are equidistant with an extreme value (3 with 0, 7 with 10). My hypothesis is that it seems "random" because the idea of randomness is often viewed through the lens of relevancy to a brute force attempt at finding the answer through a literal stack of numbers; 5 has "high relevance" because it is the exact center between 0 and 10, and could be reached very quickly by counting from the middle, even though someone counting forwards vs counting backwards would be foiled equally. The extreme values also have "high relevance" because they could be reached very quickly by simply counting from the beginning up or the end down. Someone who subconsciously or consciously considers the "most straightforward starting points" for a brute force search to be the middle, the beginning, and the end may be trying to "bury" their supposedly-random answer from these approaches equally. 3 and 7 are equally "buried" between the three most straightforward brute force starting points. 37 and 73 are also as equally "buried" as possible.
Yes exactly what I thought of aswell... While the video might be true, I think most of the reasons people chose these numbers and the combination of them is what you wrote. This is why the multiples of 10 were so rarely choosen, because it's so common, even numbers feel common aswell, so that leaves us with the odd numbers only. If you ask people to choose, they want to choose something rare, what they think most people will miss, what feels uncommon, and you see there are infinite numbers, but still we take the decimal system as a default, and there are 10 numbers which are unique, the others are just some permutation from these 10 digits, so even if you want people to choose between 1-100, they will shrink it down to only 10 numbers, and tho choose some random number you have to guess "randomly", so neither the 2 ends, nor the middle and not the numbers next to them... So, 0,5,9 are out, next are the numbers inbetween 1,4,6,8, there only remains 2,3,7... Remember I said even numbers feel so common? Nontheless 2? So there is the 3 and 7...
“The best number is 73, “Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th, and its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying seven and three ... and in binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001.” ~Sheldon Cooper
I agree. Also part of the lyrics to the song "The Body Electric" by Rush... Trying to change its program Trying to change the mode, crack the code Images conflicting into data overload 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 S.O.S. 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 In distress 1-0-0-1-0-0
The nail with 37 on the head is a date spike. These were used on railroad ties to show when the tie was made. In this case, the date spike represents 1937 as the year of manufacture.
In case anyone is confused on the math around 15:25 there appears to be a small typo: after factoring out S the first term in the sum should be 1/S instead of 1.
For those who don't know. The silver chip with the number 37, he said he got somwhere in germany... it's actually a chip card from a checkroom from a theater or a philharmony etc. Usually you give it back when you get your bag or coat back. Since he still got the chipcrad i persume he didn't got back his stuff.
This reminds me how Sheldon’s(big bang theory) favourite number was 73 “73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th, and it mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3 … and in binary 73 is a palindrome… 1-0-0-1-0-0-1, which backwards is 1-0-0-1-0-0-1.”
Yep, what number did you guys think when you first heard what he asked in the video? I thought of 97,still what he said is true. It's weird I thought of something ending with 7.
Throwing this out there: We are schooled to not revel our age. When you’re a (very common) baby boomer 37 is safely not your age or the age of your milieu. Fun video and interesting topic -
37 as a random number makes sense to me personally. Scale it down to [1;10]. 1 and 10 are the edge cases, so they are not random. 5 is the median, so not random either. 2 is the number that defines all the even numbers, so it's out as well. And '2' rules out half of the choices, as when we are learning even and odd numbers, we are NOT learning them separately; instead, we learn all the even numbers (i.e. the focus is on the evens, meaning they are stuck in our heads), so they aren't random either. This rules 4, 6 and 8 out (4 is ruled out doubly, because of the 2+2=4 -- the universal example of simplicity). That leaves us with odds: 3, 7, 9 (I think in your distribution graph 99 was one of the highest-rated numbers. However, 99 is in our daily lives every day: the price tags. Everything costs xx.99 nowadays). But 9 is also stuck in our heads as 3*3 and 3^2, so it's also not random enough. And 3 and 7 are a good pair, because these are the only two numbers between 1 and 10 that don't have a place **AND**, when added together, they add up to a nice 10. I often catch myself searching for 7s and 3s when I'm doing calculation in my mind, because they make calculations easier (they add up to 10 and one of them is small and manageable, easy to calculate the remainders). And in my opinion people subconsciously change the semantics of the question from "what's a random number" to "what's the number that's most detached and undefined by any rules". And then they do a surprisingly quick logical negation (~) of numbers that are bound by any of the rules learned at school and end up with some variation of 3 and/or 7.
I would also discard 9 for being too close to 10. But your reasoning is terrifyingly close to my reasoning for choosing 7 as my favourite number all those years ago lol 😅
Take it from an autistic person: 37 and 111 take on an associative behavior. 37x3=111 okay, but since a geometrical behavior still needs to be addressed, the answers derive from this behavior. Three 37's triangulate and are connected together by the product (111). This interchangeability shares information equally. It's when we go further and express this as an inverted triangle (Mercedes insignia), then trap it in a circle that we find the circle must have a 111 degree circumference, and three sectors of 37. These reconfigure to three 137's ... which are three primes ... and the Fine Structure Constant at the same time. I recently completed a book on these very numerical behaviors. Mind shredding ...
Being able to determine if such a large number is divisible by 37 at a glance is such a hilariously specific talent I'd have believed it was a reference a Monty Python skit.
@@sammy-brawlstars7350 Split the number up into 3-digit chunks starting from the right (so 21485 would give you 21 and 485 for example), and add them up. If that sum is a multiple of 37 so is your original. You can repeat multiple times if the starting number is big enough. It's basically the same as the trick for 3, just 3 digits at a time. It comes from the fact that 999 is a multiple of 37.
@sammy-brawlstars7350 999 is divisble by 37. If you split the number into the first three and second three digits then if you add them together and get a multiple of 37 the original number is also a multiple of 37. I think the rest of the trick is memorising the multiples of 37 less than 2000.
Its easy, because 37 divides evenly into 999. So you add up the first 3 digits and the last 3 digits, like 413 + 625 = 1038. You can do that again, so you get 39. If the final number, which is < 1000 is divisible by 37, the original number is. This means you have to remember all numbers that are multiples of 37 less than 1000, but there are only 27 of them, and can be learned with a bit of effort. Also, if your number is longer than 6 digits, its still very easy, you just split it into more groups of 3, beginning from the least significant digits, and add everything up.
While I understand the Meaning of Life=42, it didn't occur to me at the intro of this video when people were responding with their 'random' number. Plus, one has to be of a certain age to know this little quip about 42. Discounting 42 on this basis skews the results unless they asked a follow-up question to each person saying 42; why did you pick 42? If respondents say anything other than HHG or Meaning of Life, there's no justifiable reason to discount ALL submissions of 42. As for 69, I've no idea. So probably the same applies; if they didn't ask for a reason to choose 69, then they shouldn't remove 69 from the collected set. So much for quality science: throw away anything that doesn't match the outcome you want and call the experiment a success.
@@TXDude 69 is a meme number, it will always be picked more. Are you denying that the outcome was a success? Its clear that 37 was picked more often than most numbers. Biased data is thrown out all the time.
I've paused at 1:35. Here are my guesses as to why many people picked 37: (1) Odd numbers feel more random that even numbers. (2) Prime numbers feel more random than non-prime numbers. (3) We perceive that a random number within a range should be not too close to the start, exact middle, or end of the range. (4) 37 is a prime number that falls within that sweet spot about one-third of the way between 1 and 100, where it's not too close to the low end (1) or to the exact middle (50.5). It's also not too close to any simple fraction of 100, like 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4, 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, or 4/5. (5) 67, 71, or 73 could also work, but it may be less obvious that 71 and 73 are prime numbers, and 67 is too close to being exactly two-thirds. And 31 is too close to one-third. Of course all of these perceptions as to what kind of numbers feel more random are completely bogus. They are part of the phenomenon where humans are very bad at simulating random number selection.
"very bad at simulating random number selection" - Relative to what? As in what is very good at simulating random number selection? It is not computers, they deal only in pseudorandom numbers.
Well, from the optimal choice making part of this video, now would be the best time for you to find your spouse lol. You’ve seen the options life can give you for 37 years. Assuming a life of 100 years, you must pick the next best spousal option you see 😋
Thanks for this. I'm one of those 37 weirdos.. it's my favorite number and I have made major life choices based upon it. It's haunted me for my entire adult life.. I noticed the frequency with which it popped up and it's lived rent free in my head ever since.
@PenguinFury "I have made major life choices based upon it" - sure you have. This reminds me of those people who think having ADHD is a shortcut to a personality.
i wonder how many people are going to walk away from this and see 37 everywhere the same way confirmation bias makes you believe that when your wife is pregnant everyone is as you suddenly see pregnant women everywhere, the percentage number never really changes but we notice it more because now our loved one is in that group.
Likely so, which i think would have the opposite effect than Derek's final remark (that it becomes more commonly picked), people who saw this video would now think 37 isnt so random anymore and would subconsciously avoid it
i was thinking like, huh. i don't think I've even seen 37 all that often, and its probably not the number I'd select, and i dont think i have it anywhere... and then i remembered i put it myself RIGHT THERE IN MY USERNAME. absolutely insane
This video strays very close to numerology for me - attaching deep meaning to numbers where there isn't any. You can almost certainly pick any prime under 50 and find a huge range of interesting qualities it has. The special thing about 37 is the human psychology, not the mathematics imho.
I had the same feeling. I was expecting a conclusion that talked about selection and/or confirmation bias, but was disappointed and left with the impression that we were apparently supposed to just accept that humans have a natural intuition for the solution to a complex probability problem, arbitrarily taking the first 2 digits in the arbitrary base 10. This video's narrative took a wrong turn when it drifted off from 37/73 being a prime number (which I still consider quite relevant to the human psychology aspect) into more obscure anecdotal "fun facts" about 37 that appeared to be meant to convince us that there is something inherently special or mystical about that number. The explanation should have focused on the human psychology. An interesting control study could have been to repeat the same experiment in a society that primarily uses a base other than 10 (=ten) to check if the statistical anomalies would have been the same, or otherwise if a pattern could be discovered. I don't know how realistically feasible that experiment would be, though. So, essentially everything after around 8:00 seems very esoteric to me and not really relevant to the actual question.
Unproven and not yet supported theory: 37 (and subsequently 73) is chosen as a random number because it 'feels' far removed from patterns. It feels natural to estimate and tally by 10, the first two digit number, and by extension 5, which is half of ten. If we're not using 1's, were paying in bills of 5 or 10. 3 is as far as you can get from those numbers, the midway between 1 (whose ubiquity and fame can go without saying) and 5. Between 5 and 10 you have the choice of either 7 or 8, but 8 itself is involved in so many patterns as well and so people default to 7 (also for any of the reasons mentioned in the video). If you ask someone for a random number, I feel colloquially randomness is considered as simply 'existing outside the norm' or devoid of patterns. Ergo, we try to choose a number removed from patterns, and thus 37 (or 73); ironically creating a new pattern.
Absolutely either the intuition of the marketer or proprietary market research into what the most "authentic" number to use as a percentage was. Especially given the presumable bias towards numbers under 50
I would really like to see this experiment done but asking specifically “pick a number between one and one hundred” removing the word “random” from the question and see if the results are the same cuz something tells me using the “random” has a priming effect on the person being asked the question… similar to how you can ask the same question to the same person just in different ways and get totally different answers.
The nail with the 37 on it is called a date nail. It was used by railroads to indicate when certain crossties were installed in the track, specifically, 1937. Thus the railroad was able to track how long their crossties would last in service.
probably numbers under 10 or what kids think "big and cool" numbers are: 100, 999, 10k, 1 billion (if limited to 1-100 id bet on mostly 10, 99 or numbers somehow related to children's media)
@@Jimmyhendrix234this whole study is so arbitrary. ATHF has a bit about this in their hundredth episode. If you hyper fixate on any one number, you’ll find it everywhere.
This seems like an phenomenon specific to Base 10 numeral system. It's addressed somewhere in the middle of the video: - even numbers don't seem random (2,4,6,8) - 0 and 5 seem whole - 1 and 9 feel extreme And that leave 3 and 7. Incidentally, 3 is the number when most of us would define as the meaning of "several" and "a few" because it does not feel too few nor does it feel too many. 7 is the inverse of 3 between 1 and 10, such that it seems like many, but not too many.
How could you do this and not have "you will pick 37!" written on paper in an envelope ready to give to the person on the street?! It would've blown their minds!
Sure 25 in Hex (to take just one example of bases) designates the same quantity as 37 in decimal, but it's not the most interesting counterpart imo. Just as any triple repdigit in decimal, such as 777, equals 37 when divided by the sum of its digits, so the same operation results in 5b in Hex, even though 5b amounts to 81 in decimal. And just as (2*37)-1=73 in decimal so (2*5b)-1=b5 in Hex. What's more there's another "37" in Hex besides 5b. It's 369D, the result of dividing a quintuple repdigit by the sum of its digits. In decimal that wouldn't get you an integer. Why? Because 16-1 can be divided by 5 as well as 3 to get an integer.
I watched this video sitting in a bus. As soon as I looked out the window i saw 37 on a building. On the very next building a café Calles nr. 37. MIND BLOWN!
I participated in this survey via the google docs. I chose the number 77 for myself, and when it asked what I thought the number that other people had chosen was, well I chose 37 too!
I answered the survey too but for the life of me I can't remember how I answered. I strongly suspect I may have answered 37 for one or even both of the answers. 37 as my random number because I think I'm so brilliant and 37 for the least picked because I'm so unique. 😂😂😂
This video was so therapeutic for me. Knowing that the best chances for success are after 37% of probable information gives me more confidence to make decisions when I need to. Thank you, Derek :)
Remember two things: 1) you only have a 37% chance of actually finding the best option that way, and 2) this presumes the list of options is wholly unfamiliar, or you're discarding any prior knowledge. You can improve your odds of finding the best option if you go in knowing _anything_ to help guide your decision. And it's virtually always the case that we go into any decision knowing at least a little something relevant, just because life is filled with all manner of overlapping patterns. The much harder problem is defining what success looks like and ensuring you arrive at a definition which will not faulter over the longterm. i.e.: _knowing what you want._ Or if/when you find that near impossible, learning to let go of needing to achieve a strict, delineated set of things in order to feel you've found "success". After all, most of us are only indirectly interested in finding the perfect house or partner; at our core we mostly just want to be _happy,_ and that doesn't come from those things.
@dismalthoughts yeah, it's one of those things in math or statistics which sounds useful but there are so many asterisks for it to be actually applied that it becomes just a fun theoretical problem
harumph...they say 69 is THE number, but it isn't; 77 is..Why? Because you get 8 more.... think about it.. think about it.. mind in the gutter? now you got it! :)
The fact that he said "let's remove 69 because it's not random" and provided no further explanation as to why it's not random made me curious. Then I realized smart audience will figure it out 😂
If you enjoyed hearing our expert Tom Magliery discuss his 37 collection, you can watch an extended interview with him - for free! - over on our Patreon ve42.co/PatreonTom
Yippee!
wow! definitely subscribing to the patron!
Must admit I was rather interested in how different regions, languages or cultures affect the statistics you collected, so a bit sad you didn't discuss that. You did say 37 is prevalent everywhere, but how much and to what extent does it differ?
Like, I don't think I see it much over here when it comes to roadsigns or pricetags
I doubt people will watch this episode enough to move the selection process needle. In fact, probably only 1 out 37 people will have seen it.
I agree with @@feha92. Seems more like a feeding number to people and asking them again.
walking down the street and being asked to say a random number and then having the interviewer get excited over your answer has to be so confusing
Only 37% confusing.
@@andrasbiro3007I beg to differ. It is a 37/37 chance of confusion
Reading this after you posted 37m ago :p
You literally commented this 37 minutes ago for me...
Im Here 37 minutes after the comment was posted
I'm 37 years old. This explains everything!
My parents said if I reach 30K, they'd buy me a professionaI camera for recording... Pls guys I'm literally begging you!
I’m 69 so what does that mean
Me too (as my girlfriend just pointed out 😄)
so you're evverywhere!!!!
Well your 38 next year
37 and 73 being the 12th and 21st prime numbers is satisfying.
woah I wonder if it would be the same if the number system isn't based on 10? Like if the max number is 9, would there still be mirror images of 37 equivalent?
@@xkilla911that’s an interesting question. I will look for a video explaining other number systems after this.
This comment has 37 likes. I can't touch it
yeah yeah yeah and 21 is divided by 3 and 7, blah-blah-blah. We all watched TBBT, thank you very much.
You just blew my mind. It’s a full circle. Now I have to go watch Teenage Butant Binja Turtles.
its simple, if we consider single digit then -
1 is extreme left, 9 is extreme right
2, 4, 6, 8 are even numbers
5 is mid
so only 3 and 7 are left.
For two digit number we subconsciously use thier combination.
I’ve been trying to find this comment
Like we’re incapable of producing truly random numbers so it’d be concerning if there wasnt some trend based on the logic of selecting the “most random” seeming numbers
beat me to it, thought this forever and purposely avoid it when asked 1-10 or 1-100, therefore making it less random AGHHH I HATE TRUE RANDOMNESS
Also, 7+3=10 making it even more weird- @@barzun8
@@RotAndRomanticismThe same is thing true for generating "random" digits in electronic systems (mobile, desktop, etc.). A computer is not able to generate complete randomness, because its operation is based on patterns. The same rule affects us - People.
@@jangrygiel9934 I didn’t know that! It makes sense now I think about it, the task of producing truly random figures from a set seems insurmountable and complex, if to us then to computers… computing has a single, pure application- running the built in solitaire game that comes with your laptop.
The fact this video isn't 37mins long, is an insult to easter eggs everywhere.
It's 23:50. Just add 2 to 5 and 0 and leave 3 and you'll have 37. A little comfort :D
first thing i checked was video length
That was clever
The fact that this popped up in my youtube homepage recommendations 36 minutes after it was posted is also an insult.
if it was just 1 minute and 1 second shorter, 22:49, it would've been 37x37 seconds long
37 actually has a unique universal quality: it's the representation of the exact quantity of 37, a very special property that no other number has.
thanks for making the single best joke in this comment section
😎
what about other number bases? base 2 or base 16?
no way
¿Está en la base numérica decimal?
"he just 37ed and walked away" was undoubtedly the funniest part of this video
My parents said if I reach 30K, they'd buy me a professionaI camera for recording!! Pls guys I'm literally begging you...
The video has only been out for 8 minutes you liar
I have listened to it over and over on max volume and I swear he says 36, not 37. 😵💫
@@Okamikurainya we need to get your ears checked, my friend.
@@Okamikurainya Watch his mouth
six only has 1 syllable but his mouth moves twice (not counting the 30)
People seem to ignore that 3 and 7 are the numbers furthest away from "round" numbers (0,5,10). I believe that is one of the main reasons people THINK that it's random but in reality they're just creating distance from the "regular" numbers.
This comment had 36 likes so I fixed it, your welcome. The opportunity was too perfect.
this was my first thought.
Yep.
That 37 one dollar bills each with the number 37 is a true act of love from his mother. Beautiful.
37 goes into 111 three times, and thus it divides 999. This is IMPORTANT because if something costs $9.99 for example, which is not an uncommon price, with the scheme corporations use where stuff ends at .99, then $0.37 is quite a likely price to have if stuff comes in bulk, that's why $0.37 seems to pop up everywhere. This fact also makes 37 special at least in decimal because anything divided by 37 will have a much simpler decimal expansion compared to other primes of that size (the lengths of repeating decimal expansions depend on the divisors of 10n-1 for any whole number n) -- in fact, it is the ONLY unique prime that gives a three-digit repeating decimal expansion in decimal
The fact this had 23 likes before I hit it struck me, thanks to the film 23. Quite a coincidence
@@Planehazza I know what you did last summer
Bingo
On Earth you have a variety of interests.
The workings of life gets dismantled hence the search for nuances like numbers.
If you are interested in the basic binaries of life, example 1's and 0's, your purpose becomes clear and the nuances becomes absolute.
It is a matter of living your best life as a 1 or as a 0.
Ps. 1's is Always the way to live a Good Healthy and Wealthy Life.
Ahoeaaa.
Are bulk items usually shipped in batches of 27? (Perhaps shipped in 3x3x3 cubes?) This explanation would only work if they are.
True, things are often priced ending in 99 cents, but those prices ending in .99 aren't divisible to end in .37 unless there's a batch of 27 (or 127, 227, 337 etc) of the item sold at the same price.
I would've assumed that things would much more often be shipped in containers with even numbers of items per side. Anyone familiar with the shipping industry know if bulk items are commonly shipped in 3x3x3 cubes?
This explanation also only works if B2B wholesale prices end in 99 cents. Is that common for bulk items? (From the little B2B pricing I've seen I wouldn't expect it to be, but I've only worked with B2B SaaS pricing, not with B2B pricing for bulk items that are intended to be re-sold to consumers. I'd expect a retail price ending in .99 to be much more common than a wholesale price ending in .99, especially since wholesaling at numbers ending in .99 would mean that the retail price wouldn't generally end in .99, which would be problematic for retailers wanting to sway consumers with pricing psychology.)
[edited for spelling]
This is mind-blowing!!!
Here are numbers that can be divided by 37 (from 1 to 1000):
111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, 888, 999
And also
148 and rotation (481, 814), 185 and rotation (518, 851), 259 and rotation (592, 925), 296 and rotation (629, 962), 370 and rotation (037, 703), 407 and rotation (740, 074)
Yeah?
Also: 666 / 37 = 18. While simultaneously, 6 + 6 + 6 = 18.
Also: 444 / 37 = 12. While simultaneously, 4 + 4 + 4 = 12.
Also: 111 / 37 = 3. While simultaneously, 1 + 1 +1 = 3.
Meh'. Color me unimpressed. The world is not going to end due to some numerical coincidences. The world will go on.
Y’all just f’d me up with all these numbers on top of more numbers. I’m going to have a math based nightmare tonight.
This is crazy. Math is cool@@Fritz_Schlunder
This is absolutely incredible.
It means nothing, but it's amazing lol
111 is a common factor for the rest of the numbers, so it’s just a coincidence- it looks cooler than it actually is.
But a really neat coincidence none.
But that’s the whole feeling 37 has to it…
The fact that nobody talks about the book whispers of manifestation on borlest speaks volumes about how people are stuck in a trance
Hour much were you paid for this comment? Enough to cover the botted likes?
This is an ad with paid bot likes
I think the explanation's simpler: People think randomness is whatever's furthest from the extremes and medians, and three is in the middle of 1 and 5, and seven is in the middle of 5 and 9.
Can you see my comment before this one?
i completely agree i think thats also why people tend to rate things 7/10 or 3/10. its the sweetspot lol
Exactly!
This explanation was part of the video if you watched it.
Yes
73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th. And its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3. In binary 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001.
-Sheldon Cooper
lol
That’s fascinating… like wow!
@@PavF9l lol
Hahahahahaha
It's Most Likely Cause, now a days we Have Demonize Number * "36" so, people just add 1 to it and Made 37. Simple. If U know what I mean
😂😅
After the video finished, I got a turbotax ad that said 37% of people qualify. My mind is blown
@ville__😂😂
@ville__uttp kid
Probably UA-cam algorithms picked up the number from the video and matched with the Ad😃
404 likes
404 likes
This is marvelous, I noticed that almost all the comments on this video happen to include the number 37. Wild!
the first line of this comment has 37 signs on my phone 😭🤯 if this is an easteregg, great!! but if thats a coincidence, what the ...
The fact that he discarded 42 and 69 for obvious reasons is just too funny to me.
Why 42 though?😂
@@calebadobah641 meaning of life
What’s the reason?
@@calebadobah641 either because of the number in his logo or because its the closest number to 420 the second "funny" number after 69
42 is a pop culture reference to the meaning of life. Look up the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
It took over half the video to realize i just turned 37... EXACTLY 37 days after the video was published. Been goosebumpy for a while now.
You're the main character obvi
Nice
@millerman33the difference between your theory and the video, is that the video is backed by fact and your theory is backed by faith/belief
@@haxer4057but it’s not just faith. Read the Bible, the most common numbers are 3 & 7 by far. God straight up says that 7 is his holy number, he created the Earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th in which he declared that day holy. 7 is known to be the number of completion, 3 being the Trinity of God. And this video only solidifies that 3 & 7 are written throughout the universe. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, do your own research on it rather that disproving it by opinion if you think I’m just being foolish.
How could you think a universe designed so precisely in every aspect with signs of the numbers of God written everywhere could be without a higher power?
OMG, same here as well. I was gonna comment this till i saw your comment.
It gets even creepier. When you ignore all other numbers, 37 will come up 100% of the time!
Oh my god
You have a point
Yeah as much as there is legitimate and interesting information in this video, it does feel like there’s a LOT of confirmation bias
@@omkarnagarhalli5217then why will people like your comment until the number of likes stop at 37?
@@omkarnagarhalli5217 I mean, I can understand ruling certain numbers out, as they were explained in the video. Like priming numbers from the question 1 and 100, and the obvious sex joke reference 69 (you wouldn't get this bias in surveys outside internet culture actually)
But I agree, at some point it felt like they were ruling out too many numbers just to get 37 at place 1. But at least one cannot deny the pattern of 3 and 7. But I would assume this is simply because they just feel right.
They are odd, lie exactly between multiples of 5, are not multiple of 10 (which is also the reason most multiple of 10 seemed to be the least favorite in the survey, as they just felt too even, too easy, too unrandom, at least to me)
My cousins and I noticed this phenomenon and have been sending each other pictures of 37 every time we see it out and about. We’ve been doing this for about ten years. I thought it was just a weird thing that we noticed. My mind is BLOWN right now.
I'm not sure why this wasn't brought up by the video, but a far more intuitive argument is simply that 37 is a prime number with both digits prime. Going with the prime number being intuitively random theory, people are also less likely to choose digits perceived as less prime, being 4, 6, 8, 9 as they're composite, but also 0, 1, 2, and 5 as they're more linked to our number base of 10 and therefore come to mind as less relatively prime. What does that leave us with? 3 and 7. And of the two, people tend to be more familiar with 37 simply because it's lower and has the digits in ascending order, as opposed to 73, which takes a bit more thinking to come up with.
Underrated comment
rules of 3 is littered all throughout western literature, Hegelian dialectics, holy trinity, etc. 7 is a "lucky" number, 7 days it also took in the bible for god to create the universe.
Surprisingly underrated comment section
You deserve an applause for this, and the world peace award.
@@SilkySnow_ Yeah, people like 7 more then 3. But it`s favorite numerological, religios and magical digits, this is the most obvious explanation. Coz experimental chimpanzees tend to choose a 1 and 2.
After watching the video I looked all around my room and checked every number I could find and seems like I'm living a life completely devoid of the number 37.
I did the same thing! 37 times!
That seems almost more suspect than having a lot of instances of 37 🤔 almost like someone is hiding the truth from you...
Omg I was gonna say I always see the number 101 and I checked the likes on this comment to my surprise it’s 101 😂. But probably just because I pay attention to it more than any other number.
@@diaryofacrankykid7270oh Man U guys r hilarious 😂😂😂😂😂😂
It's a lie they throwing everyone off 27
i like how Derek dismissed 42 and 69 as "not random" and continued without any explanation
I think we all know why 69 isn’t random 🫣
i can see why they say 42 is “not random” lmao
@@rocker8890 closest thing 420 probably because they might've wrote it as "42.0"
69 likes on this comment, perfectly balanced, as all things should be
Did you not see the 42 written under the channel picture?
0:12 most standard person
7
The fact that 1/e = 0.37 is good evidence why the number turns up everywhere, *e* turns up everywhere.
Also number 137 shows up a lot
Thats what i said when i first saw it!
Yeah, and the random quality of it is prominently caused by its odd prime digits 3 and 7 and by the fact that its prime.
Radioactive half life, battery and capacitor charging, many more
@@LucidDreamn 6 days if you believe in that stuff
In case Tom is interested, the nail with 37 on it is a date nail. These were hammered into the wooden ties that the rails of train tracks were spiked to. Sometimes on the end of the tie, sometimes on top. They were commonly collected by railroad fans who, by doing so, stymied the purpose of the nails. It helped keep track (no pun intended) of how long the ties had been there … and possibly have some indication of when the tie should be replaced (ties in dry climates would need to be replaced less frequently than those in wetter climates). There types of nails (as well as a kind of ‘spike’ that looks a bit like a strange, two pronged bottle cap) were also used on telegraph/telephone poles and on utility poles … particularly ones that ran along beside the tracks. (All of this is my best recollection of info. Any inaccuracies are on me).
I hope that Tom finds the clarification of what his 37 nail means, interesting.
:- )
Yes. As a college student in the late seventies I worked for a couple of summers on an extra rail gang for Burlington-Northern in Indiana and Ohio, both laying new track and replacing old ties on existing track, the old-fashioned way. I have -- or had -- a few of those nails from old ties that we replaced. If I find them, I'll have to check if I have any from 1937.
As someone in his class currently, I have sent a message to him with a screenshot of this comment. He replied saying he's already gotten at least 10 emails about it :D
I came looking for this comment! Back in 1988 my dad and I built a retaining wall out of old railroad ties, there were some date nails in some of the ties (though none as recent as 37, mostly years in the early 1920’s). In the early 2010’s someone partially disassembled the wall and stole the date nails, apparently the nails were (are?) quite valuable to collectors.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing that 😎🖖
Yes, I too saw that and came here to see if I would be the 37th to tell him, maybe the 370th.
There were rarely-used railroad tracks in my neighborhood growing up, and we kids had a game of walking on the ties and avoiding any that had a nail from 1950, the game was called "50-50". The railroad must have had a major repair effort that year, because there were quite a few 50s and sometimes two or three in a row.
To be honest, it's because 37 is both prime, uses both 3 and 7 (which are both prime), and 7 is the number that is least "cleanly" handled in base 10. It's also what the magician points out: it's that both numbers are odd and both are different. Somehow, it "feels" like the "most random" number in our base 10 system.
Also 3 and 7 are well known magic numbers. It's super hard to take this out of any study as the culture that brought this has been here for thousands of years. The only thing more culturally enshrined in the West is calling mothers something like mama.
I would like the comment, but it has 42 likes... that means something
53
came here to point out exactly this but u did it far better than i ever could
That is EXACTLY what came to my mind. They are both odd, prime, and the number is prime. You even know that 37 is prime because you know your times tables and it wasn’t there.
Apparently, if you divide a 3-digit number, consisting of the same digit (555 for example) and divide it by the sum of its digits you will get 37.
Apparently if you do the same with 4 digit numbers you will always get 277.75...
Hello could you plz give me a complete example of what you're saying ive tried to multiply and divide 3/555 and got nothing like whats bn discussed.. Im just learning
@@draymondgreen7606
555
5+5+5 = 15
555 / 15 = 37
666
6+6+6 = 18
666 / 18 = 37
If you do it with 2 digits you will always get 5.5. if you do it with 4 digits you will always get 277.75 and so on. It's not specific to 37.
@@draymondgreen7606they mean for example: 555 (5+5+5=15), so 555/15 = 37. Another example is 777 (7+7+7=21) so 777/21=37
@@emilymarie5263 thx but im trying so hard to understand but i just don't get how 777/22=37 lol 🤷
I really like the way Derek smoothly handled 42 and 69 by not considering them random 😄
I understand 69 but why 42?
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and also 420 is a thing
@@HakunaYourTata42 is the answer to everything in the universe from the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy and it’s been a popular cultural reference since then
@@HakunaYourTataKids these days.
@@HakunaYourTata Douglas Adams
I wonder how many studies involving students/reddit have to include a footnote explaining why they considered "69" an anomaly that could safely be ignored without affecting the outcome.
why is 69 ignored
sex@@pranshukrishna5105
@@pranshukrishna5105 funny number
Nice
and 42 lol
As someone born March 7, 1973 i love that you explained what i have always felt.
3 / 7 / 1973
this reminds me of how jrr Tolkien died in 1973 - like 3 rings for the elves, 7 for the dwarves 9 for the men and 1 ring to rule them all.
it's even crazier cause he was born in 1379 and 37 appears right there
@@pajrc1234 Never knew Tolkien was 600 years old
@@taliesinriver I thought everyone knew that 🤷♂️
Wow, I too born in mar 7, 2004 but never thought of 3 7 2004 coz I usually put day b4 month like 7 3 2004
I think when you put the work in to find them, every number is constantly everywhere.
Ever since the poll in the community post, I wrote my choices in a notepad & been waiting for the video. I chose 37 & 63, and when I saw the new vid with the number 37 in the thumbnail, I was blown away!
I freaking hate the fact that I cannot remember what I chose.
I can't like your comment right now because it has 63 likes.
Edit: 275 likes now, I can like it 👍
I was gonna like the comment but then I saw it has 73 likes sooooo
cringe
I'm an air traffic controller and sometimes we have to estimate (or rather) calculate the arrival times of aircraft for the next sector or arrival airport. When I still was a trainee, one of my coaches said to me: "A good estimate ends on 3 or 7, then your coordination partner will think it's actually calculated and not rounded."
We were taught to just ask the pilots
*Now I deeply regret not remembering which number I voted for in the poll* 😭
Statistically it's either 69 or 42
same
real
I also regret not remembering lmao
I thought it was 23
I was expecting it to be 37 minutes long!
I love how the number 69 was ignored 37% of the time in this video.
Stupid redditers
i have the same question..
You are already 69ned in the likes.
Experienced number 23 is everywhere
🤣😭
as a person who was born in February 37, Thank you for making this video
can I interview you?
Commenting 37 mins after you.
@@animatedzombie64good one, i commented 37 seconds after you
Lol 😂
fr
I love how when I was thinking of the number 37 I recalled that death note had 37 episodes, it was always an odd number to me until now!
Heyy! I used to have that memorized! Thank you for the memories.
I mean, 37 is still an odd number, technically.
37 is still an odd number. It's not divisible by two.
@@orrinpants he meant odd as in weird
3=Green and 7=Red in my mind for some reason...and I love Christmas Holidays.
3:58 The MOMENT I saw that there was a Reddit poll of the 1-100 question, I IMMEDIATELY knew what was gonna be selected.
Redditors being redditors
veritasium needs to make a video on that number too
@@leopold3146 redditors being redditors
Nice
I haven't seen it yet by if i had to guess... Its a nice number.
I wonder what will happen to the world if this test didn't yield 37 and have that "nice" number as the result instead.
Not bullshitting, I remember seeing 37 everywhere for years when I was a child, and as I grew I up I decided to ignore it and just assumed I was subconsciously looking for it. Now some 15 years later I've never felt so vindicated
Thats funny ive been seeing the number 15 everywhere.
Your comment should end up with 37 likes or 3.7k likes
Exactly. I’ve been long telling everyone I know that the number follows me, was even my roll call number in school most of the time.
Same here
Hi
I saw this video on 3.7m views, had no option but to watch the entire thing at 4 am.
I saw that Veritasium removed 42 insiuating it was was about them instead of Hitchhiker's Guide, and promptly unsubbed after 10 years because at this point valuing engagement is more important than creating an actual "Idiocracy" through misinformation presented as fact. It's happening everywhere, but the fact that it's happening here is most concerning...
2am here, I may be cooked
@@MFWb00bi3s42 wasn’t even close to the Amount of 37, nor does it have anything to do with the main topic of the video. Also most people do not know that the answer to life is 42 lol. Assuming that 42 was mostly because of their channel logo, on a poll on THEIR channel is a fair assumption.
The show has become commercial, sponsored (bribed). Good bye.
I read your comment and had to check the time. It was 7:37 am...
3 and 7 are truly fascinating numbers. In hebrew every letter is also a number, thats how hebrews use numbers. So you can add the numbers in a hebrew word and you will have it’s number value, and you can also do so for setences. Like so, the number value of the first verse of the Bible is 2701 which is 37x73. if you take 2701 and add it to its mirror image 1072 you get 3773. The verse has 7 words and 3 of which are nouns and if you add up the number values of these nouns you get 777 which is 3 7s and is also equal to 37x3x7. 3 and 7 are also the numbers commonly associated with God because of the trinity and perfectness they represent. I encourage you to look into it yourself so you may behold God’s power firsthand. He truly changed my life and I hope does the same for yall❤️.
I do understand the logic behind the explanation. Odd numbers seem more random than even numbers, so when asked for a "random" number, it's more likely to be an odd one. 5 sits right in the center that's not feeling random, 1 is right at the start, 9 right at the end - don't feel random either. That only leaves 3 and 7. So, when people try to construct a random number between 1 and 100 in their heads, they are more likely to come up with 37 or 73, than any other number. And while the frequency of 37 and 73 coming up is highly statistically significant - 37 was still just picked somewhere around 2%. That's twice as much as it should be - but far, far less common then the video snippets of asked people would suggest. It's small enough a derivation from the expected value to be easily conceivable.
What I don't understand though, is the logic behind collecting thousands of occurences of the number 37 - and claiming it shows up everywhere. Because, how do you know, that if you were collecting occurences of 36 or 38 or any other number instead, you'd be getting less? Without anything to compare it to... you could actually be finding 37 exactly as much, as you would be finding every other number. There's no telling if you are above or below what you'd expect to find... Yeah, 37 is everywhere... but so are all the other numbers between 1 and 100.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
true
The Number 37 in the Sacred Scriptures and Gematria
The number 37 is not only fascinating because it is a prime number; It also stands out in sacred writings and in the field of reflected prime numbers.
Genesis 1:1 and Gematria:
The first seven words of the Bible have gematric values that add up to 2701:
913+203+86+401+395+407+296=2701
This number is equal to the product of 37 times 73:
2701=37×73
Symmetry and Mathematical Beauty:
By adding 2701 with its reflection 1072, we obtain 3773, a number that reflects symmetry and mathematical beauty:
2701+1072=3773
Mirrored Prime Numbers:
The numbers 37 and 73 are the first and only mirrored prime numbers, of the first 100,000 examined, whose positions (12 and 21) are also mirror reflections:
37 is the twelfth prime number and:12^2=144
73 is the twenty-first prime number and:21^2=441
Digital Ascending Order:
Looking at the sum of the word values of Genesis 1:1 with their digits in ascending order, we find that this sum corresponds to the prime number number 37 with a prime index:
139+023+68+014+359+047+269=157
The number 157 is the 37th prime number.
Specular Reflections and Midpoints:
The sum of the prime numbers indexed to the values of the words of Genesis 1:1 arrives at the prime number 2161, and adding this number with its mirror reflection (1612), we again obtain 3773:
2161+1612=3773
This result is the midpoint between the sum of the specular reflections of the first 37 numbers (1279) and the sum of the first 73 numbers (3043):
2161−[(3×7)2+(7×3)2]=1279
2161+[(3×7)2+(7×3)2]=3043
Sum of Indexed Prime Numbers:
The prime numbers indexed to the word values of Genesis 1:1 are:
913th cousin = 7127
203rd cousin = 1237
86th cousin = 443
401st cousin = 2749
395th prime = 2711
407th cousin = 2797
296th cousin = 1949
The total sum of these prime numbers is prime 2161:
2161+1612=3773
This discovery reinforces the mirror code of Genesis 1:1 and highlights the main factors of this verse: 37 and 73.
Sum of Natural Numbers:
The sum of the first 37 natural numbers (T37) is 703 and the sum of the first 73 natural numbers (T73) is 2701.
Incredibly, the number of integers between the 703rd prime (5303) and the 2701st prime (24317) is the 2161st prime (19013):
GENESIS1:1
2161st PRIMO(19013)=37×73 =2701
The number of our integers between the 703rd PRIME (5303) and the 2701st PRIME (24317)
2161+1612=3773
The 37 collector isn't evidence of anything. However, I'd wager that if there were 100 equally determined people each collecting a number over the same time period, 37 (and 69 and 42) would have found more examples than most of the others. Like, think of the football cartoon. The cartoonist had to think of a "random" number, and he chose 37.
@@rudyemmanuelgaleassanchez4558 it doesn't mean anything and religious scriptures are a bunch of brain rotting dribble.
37 is also an incredibly fascinating number as it’s the first “Sheldon Prime”. This means that 37 is the 12th prime and it’s mirror image, 73, is the 21st prime, with 21 being the mirror of 12.
Edit: on a more careful examination, the actual Sheldon Prime is 73, since we also want the property that the product of it’s digit (7x3=21) is the number of the prime (21st prime).
U learnt it from the big bang theory😂😂😂❤❤
Whats the second sheldon prime??
This one has 73 likes so I am not touching the thumbs up button. Here I'll do it manually
👍
@@chairwithoutwheels914873 I would assume
Our whole universe was in a hot dense state.
3 is equidistant with 7 from 5, which is equidistant between 10 and 0, the extreme values.
3 and 7 are equidistant with an extreme value (3 with 0, 7 with 10).
My hypothesis is that it seems "random" because the idea of randomness is often viewed through the lens of relevancy to a brute force attempt at finding the answer through a literal stack of numbers;
5 has "high relevance" because it is the exact center between 0 and 10, and could be reached very quickly by counting from the middle, even though someone counting forwards vs counting backwards would be foiled equally.
The extreme values also have "high relevance" because they could be reached very quickly by simply counting from the beginning up or the end down.
Someone who subconsciously or consciously considers the "most straightforward starting points" for a brute force search to be the middle, the beginning, and the end may be trying to "bury" their supposedly-random answer from these approaches equally.
3 and 7 are equally "buried" between the three most straightforward brute force starting points. 37 and 73 are also as equally "buried" as possible.
Good hypothesis!
This sounds way more resonable then the whole video.
Make sense
Yes exactly what I thought of aswell... While the video might be true, I think most of the reasons people chose these numbers and the combination of them is what you wrote. This is why the multiples of 10 were so rarely choosen, because it's so common, even numbers feel common aswell, so that leaves us with the odd numbers only. If you ask people to choose, they want to choose something rare, what they think most people will miss, what feels uncommon, and you see there are infinite numbers, but still we take the decimal system as a default, and there are 10 numbers which are unique, the others are just some permutation from these 10 digits, so even if you want people to choose between 1-100, they will shrink it down to only 10 numbers, and tho choose some random number you have to guess "randomly", so neither the 2 ends, nor the middle and not the numbers next to them... So, 0,5,9 are out, next are the numbers inbetween 1,4,6,8, there only remains 2,3,7... Remember I said even numbers feel so common? Nontheless 2? So there is the 3 and 7...
@@CerberusHD yeah, when you are asking for a number from 1 to 100, you are somewhat asking for a set of two digits .
someone should make a movie where a guy finds number 37 everywhere and goes mental....
There actually was a movie like that, but they used 23. It had Jim Carrey in it
thats called "living in poland" XD look up why 37 and 2137 are funny there
“The best number is 73, “Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th, and its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying seven and three ... and in binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001.”
~Sheldon Cooper
I agree. Also part of the lyrics to the song "The Body Electric" by Rush... Trying to change its program
Trying to change the mode, crack the code
Images conflicting into data overload
1-0-0-1-0-0-1
S.O.S.
1-0-0-1-0-0-1
In distress
1-0-0-1-0-0
And 12 is product of 3 multiplied by difference of 7&3 😅
Or any 3 digit number with the same numerical value.
333\9=37
444\12=37
555\15=37
or the other way
777,777\37=21021
888,888\37=24024
@@MrBlazingup420 My brain can handle only so many gasms
@@SmallBobby oh my days i didnt realuse
The nail with 37 on the head is a date spike. These were used on railroad ties to show when the tie was made. In this case, the date spike represents 1937 as the year of manufacture.
Ok that's an interesting fact
37 words in this comment :)
@noahbrown1902 bro tell me he did that on purpose
@@noahbrown1902 more like 42 to be technical, the numbers would add an extra 5 words. But the fact it is 37 without the technicality is hilarious
In case anyone is confused on the math around 15:25 there appears to be a small typo: after factoring out S the first term in the sum should be 1/S instead of 1.
I didn't understand regardless, but thanks!
Thanks! Before this, I was totally lost, but now it finally makes sense!
Only a fraction of 5 million viewers will understand the math in this video.
Congrats you are One of Them! Yes, one of those 37 people!
@@tentiapoe😂same
we just know multiplication blud
For those who don't know. The silver chip with the number 37, he said he got somwhere in germany... it's actually a chip card from a checkroom from a theater or a philharmony etc. Usually you give it back when you get your bag or coat back. Since he still got the chipcrad i persume he didn't got back his stuff.
It’s #37 on trending!
NO WAY IT ACTUALLY ISS
UA-cam really knows how to f with us
The simulation devs must be having a lot of fun rn
It’s back to 37!
I was the 137th like 💀
This reminds me how Sheldon’s(big bang theory) favourite number was 73
“73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th, and it mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3 … and in binary 73 is a palindrome… 1-0-0-1-0-0-1, which backwards is 1-0-0-1-0-0-1.”
WOW!
Bazzzingaaa 😂
Alright! 73 is the Chuck Norris of numbers.
Thanks!
My name is Sheldon…
Veritasium is single-handledly going to make 37 and 73 now the LEAST randomly guessed number by people.
that is indeed a distinct possibility
Yep, what number did you guys think when you first heard what he asked in the video? I thought of 97,still what he said is true. It's weird I thought of something ending with 7.
undoing all that careful work on 23 by Robert Anton Wilson!
Wait until he discovers what 1/137 is. He gunna 🤯
@@ethanmax97 for me it was 47, so pretty close
0:37 i wonder if he just chose that language at random, or it they spoke it.
0:37 💀
you used the time 0:37 of every number
If you needed a justification for accepting cases of ‘37%’, the percent sign is the 37th character in ASCII.
holy moly
Mindblowing
Throwing this out there: We are schooled to not revel our age. When you’re a (very common) baby boomer 37 is safely not your age or the age of your milieu.
Fun video and interesting topic -
@@ruthmiale1239 age?
Fox Mulder - please call your office.
1/137. Fine structure constant. Wolfgang Pauli was obsessed with number 137. He died in hospital room 137.
This comment currently has 37 likes
37 as a random number makes sense to me personally.
Scale it down to [1;10]. 1 and 10 are the edge cases, so they are not random. 5 is the median, so not random either. 2 is the number that defines all the even numbers, so it's out as well. And '2' rules out half of the choices, as when we are learning even and odd numbers, we are NOT learning them separately; instead, we learn all the even numbers (i.e. the focus is on the evens, meaning they are stuck in our heads), so they aren't random either. This rules 4, 6 and 8 out (4 is ruled out doubly, because of the 2+2=4 -- the universal example of simplicity). That leaves us with odds: 3, 7, 9 (I think in your distribution graph 99 was one of the highest-rated numbers. However, 99 is in our daily lives every day: the price tags. Everything costs xx.99 nowadays). But 9 is also stuck in our heads as 3*3 and 3^2, so it's also not random enough.
And 3 and 7 are a good pair, because these are the only two numbers between 1 and 10 that don't have a place **AND**, when added together, they add up to a nice 10. I often catch myself searching for 7s and 3s when I'm doing calculation in my mind, because they make calculations easier (they add up to 10 and one of them is small and manageable, easy to calculate the remainders).
And in my opinion people subconsciously change the semantics of the question from "what's a random number" to "what's the number that's most detached and undefined by any rules". And then they do a surprisingly quick logical negation (~) of numbers that are bound by any of the rules learned at school and end up with some variation of 3 and/or 7.
That is one autistic brainrot but exactly the way I would think, I love it
This makes sense to me!
This!!
I was about to click the like symbol on this, but it was on the number 37...
I would also discard 9 for being too close to 10. But your reasoning is terrifyingly close to my reasoning for choosing 7 as my favourite number all those years ago lol 😅
43 has always been the number that comes up everywhere for me.
I watched the whole video thinking that I don't have anything related to 37 at all, then realized that I'm 37 years old.
Ok ³7 slayed my demons.
37% of my favourite bread consists of whole grains.
What a minute!!!!!!! I just turned 37
Actually 47 is in the back ground of a lot of movies.
Time flies I was 37 when I started watching this now I'm 69.😢
"They have a name for this phenomenon. The Blue-Seven Phenomenon".... researchers truly are great at coming up with names for different things
Because in science the name often describes the phenomenon.
@@goacoa So how does 'Fallopian tubes' describe the phenomenon? Lol. Or any of the myriad of eponyms in any scientific field; 'Bohr's law?' Haha
I thought this was an april fool because it shortens to the BS phenomenon
@@DjoumyDjoums I thought the same. But i did search it, and it is a real thing.
Take it from an autistic person: 37 and 111 take on an associative behavior. 37x3=111 okay, but since a geometrical behavior still needs to be addressed, the answers derive from this behavior.
Three 37's triangulate and are connected together by the product (111). This interchangeability shares information equally.
It's when we go further and express this as an inverted triangle (Mercedes insignia), then trap it in a circle that we find the circle must have a 111 degree circumference, and three sectors of 37. These reconfigure to three 137's ...
which are three primes ... and the Fine Structure Constant at the same time.
I recently completed a book on these very numerical behaviors. Mind shredding ...
The fact that this video had 3.7 million views when I saw it makes it funny
Same pal the only reason I clicked, it was too freaky to pass up😅
@@dreamoflegends4004oh same! I wasn’t interested in watching it but I had to click because of that lmao
Saaame. We are the chosen ones @@go5reni
@@dreamoflegends4004and the thumbnail with the sun as the decimal
Happened to me too
This was filmed in Australia. Isn’t it incredible the amount of diversity there is there. So many cultures in 2 minutes!
Being able to determine if such a large number is divisible by 37 at a glance is such a hilariously specific talent I'd have believed it was a reference a Monty Python skit.
Do you know how he did it?
@@sammy-brawlstars7350 Split the number up into 3-digit chunks starting from the right (so 21485 would give you 21 and 485 for example), and add them up. If that sum is a multiple of 37 so is your original. You can repeat multiple times if the starting number is big enough.
It's basically the same as the trick for 3, just 3 digits at a time. It comes from the fact that 999 is a multiple of 37.
@sammy-brawlstars7350 999 is divisble by 37. If you split the number into the first three and second three digits then if you add them together and get a multiple of 37 the original number is also a multiple of 37. I think the rest of the trick is memorising the multiples of 37 less than 2000.
Its easy, because 37 divides evenly into 999. So you add up the first 3 digits and the last 3 digits, like 413 + 625 = 1038. You can do that again, so you get 39. If the final number, which is < 1000 is divisible by 37, the original number is. This means you have to remember all numbers that are multiples of 37 less than 1000, but there are only 27 of them, and can be learned with a bit of effort.
Also, if your number is longer than 6 digits, its still very easy, you just split it into more groups of 3, beginning from the least significant digits, and add everything up.
@@TheCavemonkthe video about the unsolved constant( 1/137 )makes alot more sense now
Amazing how they explain every little details so clearly, but politely avoid stating the reason for 69 being picked more than 37 😂
Lol I though the same
While I understand the Meaning of Life=42, it didn't occur to me at the intro of this video when people were responding with their 'random' number. Plus, one has to be of a certain age to know this little quip about 42. Discounting 42 on this basis skews the results unless they asked a follow-up question to each person saying 42; why did you pick 42? If respondents say anything other than HHG or Meaning of Life, there's no justifiable reason to discount ALL submissions of 42.
As for 69, I've no idea. So probably the same applies; if they didn't ask for a reason to choose 69, then they shouldn't remove 69 from the collected set. So much for quality science: throw away anything that doesn't match the outcome you want and call the experiment a success.
yea Lol
@@TXDude 69 is a meme number, it will always be picked more. Are you denying that the outcome was a success? Its clear that 37 was picked more often than most numbers. Biased data is thrown out all the time.
@@TXDude He discounted 42 because it's in the channel logo
I've paused at 1:35. Here are my guesses as to why many people picked 37:
(1) Odd numbers feel more random that even numbers.
(2) Prime numbers feel more random than non-prime numbers.
(3) We perceive that a random number within a range should be not too close to the start, exact middle, or end of the range.
(4) 37 is a prime number that falls within that sweet spot about one-third of the way between 1 and 100, where it's not too close to the low end (1) or to the exact middle (50.5). It's also not too close to any simple fraction of 100, like 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4, 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, or 4/5.
(5) 67, 71, or 73 could also work, but it may be less obvious that 71 and 73 are prime numbers, and 67 is too close to being exactly two-thirds. And 31 is too close to one-third.
Of course all of these perceptions as to what kind of numbers feel more random are completely bogus. They are part of the phenomenon where humans are very bad at simulating random number selection.
Do you get satisfaction by making this comment lol
@@cloudededen5819do you?
Not far off actually
@@cloudededen5819why did you ask that?
"very bad at simulating random number selection" - Relative to what? As in what is very good at simulating random number selection? It is not computers, they deal only in pseudorandom numbers.
I'm 37 years old. My daughter was born at 12:52 in the morning. I wore jersey 37 both when I played soccer and football. It surrounds me
I'm 37, and I will be 38 in 16 days. What I can say about it is that it has been an unforgettable year of my life. ❤
Count your days
@@tanr953 is that a threat?
@@epicc_exe maybe he's with the 37 police
Well, from the optimal choice making part of this video, now would be the best time for you to find your spouse lol. You’ve seen the options life can give you for 37 years. Assuming a life of 100 years, you must pick the next best spousal option you see 😋
Make sure EVERY year of your life is unforgettable, because you only have one life.
Thanks for this.
I'm one of those 37 weirdos.. it's my favorite number and I have made major life choices based upon it.
It's haunted me for my entire adult life.. I noticed the frequency with which it popped up and it's lived rent free in my head ever since.
😄
And always will apparently you freakshow
ur comment has 37 likes
@PenguinFury "I have made major life choices based upon it" - sure you have. This reminds me of those people who think having ADHD is a shortcut to a personality.
@@shipoopie5829And now it's 73 👀
i wonder how many people are going to walk away from this and see 37 everywhere the same way confirmation bias makes you believe that when your wife is pregnant everyone is as you suddenly see pregnant women everywhere, the percentage number never really changes but we notice it more because now our loved one is in that group.
Prefiero que mi mente filtre toda la información que pasa por mi ojos. No quiero información basura de las personas de la calle
It is reticular activating system working and incredibly common thing, you buy a car, everyone else has that too..
Like when one of your family/friends buys a Cadillac and you start seeing Cadillacs everywhere
Likely so, which i think would have the opposite effect than Derek's final remark (that it becomes more commonly picked), people who saw this video would now think 37 isnt so random anymore and would subconsciously avoid it
I've just tried to look for 37 in my home, have not found any. I did find quite a few 34 tho!
i was thinking like, huh. i don't think I've even seen 37 all that often, and its probably not the number I'd select, and i dont think i have it anywhere... and then i remembered i put it myself RIGHT THERE IN MY USERNAME. absolutely insane
This video strays very close to numerology for me - attaching deep meaning to numbers where there isn't any. You can almost certainly pick any prime under 50 and find a huge range of interesting qualities it has. The special thing about 37 is the human psychology, not the mathematics imho.
Thank You.
Especially after unscientifically excluding other numbers from the enquiery.
Self fullfilling Prophecy.
Another oogy boogy video just like the magic light bulb.
Exactly what I was thinking. Was about to write
"Is it me or Derek just validated numerology to his audience?" Clearly lacking scientific method here!
I had the same feeling. I was expecting a conclusion that talked about selection and/or confirmation bias, but was disappointed and left with the impression that we were apparently supposed to just accept that humans have a natural intuition for the solution to a complex probability problem, arbitrarily taking the first 2 digits in the arbitrary base 10.
This video's narrative took a wrong turn when it drifted off from 37/73 being a prime number (which I still consider quite relevant to the human psychology aspect) into more obscure anecdotal "fun facts" about 37 that appeared to be meant to convince us that there is something inherently special or mystical about that number.
The explanation should have focused on the human psychology. An interesting control study could have been to repeat the same experiment in a society that primarily uses a base other than 10 (=ten) to check if the statistical anomalies would have been the same, or otherwise if a pattern could be discovered. I don't know how realistically feasible that experiment would be, though.
So, essentially everything after around 8:00 seems very esoteric to me and not really relevant to the actual question.
Exactly.
Every number if probed, would be special in some way or another.
Unproven and not yet supported theory: 37 (and subsequently 73) is chosen as a random number because it 'feels' far removed from patterns. It feels natural to estimate and tally by 10, the first two digit number, and by extension 5, which is half of ten. If we're not using 1's, were paying in bills of 5 or 10. 3 is as far as you can get from those numbers, the midway between 1 (whose ubiquity and fame can go without saying) and 5. Between 5 and 10 you have the choice of either 7 or 8, but 8 itself is involved in so many patterns as well and so people default to 7 (also for any of the reasons mentioned in the video). If you ask someone for a random number, I feel colloquially randomness is considered as simply 'existing outside the norm' or devoid of patterns. Ergo, we try to choose a number removed from patterns, and thus 37 (or 73); ironically creating a new pattern.
Fun fact: When I read the comment about there being nothing supernatural about numbers, it already had 42 likes! 42
Oh damn
well thought out
your theory is too complex
i am surprised you think that theory is too complex. to myself it is very simple and easy to undestand.@@grifyn882
The TurboTax ad that played during this video said that 37 percent of people qualify for some benefit, unbelievable
Absolutely either the intuition of the marketer or proprietary market research into what the most "authentic" number to use as a percentage was. Especially given the presumable bias towards numbers under 50
Sounds like the algorithm simply matched an ad that features a word which appears like 200 times in the video.
haha, so they made up a 'random' number' % for the ad? ;-)
That’s because 37% of all statistics are made up
Imagine not having an adblocker 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
37 is my dad's favorite number, and my husband just turned 37 this weekend!
sus
There we have it!!! veritasium confirms 42 isn’t random!!! Mouse theory of world formation and purpose confirmed!!!!!!!!!
Why 42 and 69 are not random?!?!
Cuz trolls@@omenaccipio
@@omenaccipio I want to know, too!
@@omenaccipio 42 coz its in his channel Logo
also coz its in 420
and 69 because nice
I would really like to see this experiment done but asking specifically “pick a number between one and one hundred” removing the word “random” from the question and see if the results are the same cuz something tells me using the “random” has a priming effect on the person being asked the question… similar to how you can ask the same question to the same person just in different ways and get totally different answers.
The nail with the 37 on it is called a date nail. It was used by railroads to indicate when certain crossties were installed in the track, specifically, 1937. Thus the railroad was able to track how long their crossties would last in service.
"able to track" nice
Utility poles have date nails as well.
Cool! :)
This was my roll number for 5 years from Grade 3 to Grade 8! I feel a special connection to this number.
Brilliant should give 37 days free trial instead of 30 for this video
My 37th like for your comment.
@@Shahnawaz-e8n I wish I was the 73th one, but 71th is mine -I don't have the time/patience to do it.
lul
I'm really curious what the results would be if this survey were conducted with children who haven't studied math yet.
Does "cat" count as a result?
probably numbers under 10 or what kids think "big and cool" numbers are: 100, 999, 10k, 1 billion (if limited to 1-100 id bet on mostly 10, 99 or numbers somehow related to children's media)
"wuts a number?"
É só edição de video, eles pedem pras pessoas escolherem um número de 30 a 40, ai mostram apenas 37
someone get this comment to veritasium asap
I am surprised that you didn't mention selection bias, I think that's a huge factor of "it appears everywhere"
Right? There is some logic to the 'feeling' more random. So it shows up more in art. The rest is just selection bias.
THIS COMMENT HAS 37 LIKES LOL
@@Jimmyhendrix234this whole study is so arbitrary. ATHF has a bit about this in their hundredth episode. If you hyper fixate on any one number, you’ll find it everywhere.
i get stuck on 88s
Like the fact that he excluded the first and last numbers. Like, people chose those, why exactly are they being excluded?
This seems like an phenomenon specific to Base 10 numeral system.
It's addressed somewhere in the middle of the video:
- even numbers don't seem random (2,4,6,8)
- 0 and 5 seem whole
- 1 and 9 feel extreme
And that leave 3 and 7.
Incidentally, 3 is the number when most of us would define as the meaning of "several" and "a few" because it does not feel too few nor does it feel too many. 7 is the inverse of 3 between 1 and 10, such that it seems like many, but not too many.
What's more insane now, is that as I'm watching this, this video is ranked #37 in Trending.
Same lol
37 likes 😮
73 likes
Same lol
14 hr later it's still #37 trending
I had a maths professor who used 37 as the standin for "any" number. He was onto something.
Kevin??
You commented this 37 min ago
I want to know that something
@@SoloLevellor you commented this 37 seconds ago
@@c_sea1nYou commented that 37 minutes ago
How could you do this and not have "you will pick 37!" written on paper in an envelope ready to give to the person on the street?! It would've blown their minds!
Hand it to the guesser and then walk away, so when they open it you’re gone and they are so confused on how the trick worked
*Derren Brown has entered the chat*
If they did that, the person might be more biased to pick another number to prove them wrong
@smc415 They would give the envelope after the person has answered
Publishing this video and me watching it the exact year I'm actually 37 years old was the best easter egg!!!
42 has a new competitor for the answer to the life, universe, and everything I see
yes. the number 42 is everywhere and people dont realise it
@@FireBall1881 so is every number u look for.
37 in the first 20 bases:
100101 - Binary
1012 - Trinary
211 - Quadinary(These two are)
122 - Quinary (mirrors, neat)
101 - Seximal (personal fav.)
54 - Septimal (Another pair of)
45 - Octal (Mirrors)
41 - Nonary
37 - Decimal
34 - Elenary
31 - Dozenal
2a - Baker's Dozenal (13)
29 - Biseptimal
27 - Triquinary
25 - Hex
23 - Suboptimal (17)
21 - Triseximal
1h - Untriseximal
1g - Vigesimal (20)
Sure 25 in Hex (to take just one example of bases) designates the same quantity as 37 in decimal, but it's not the most interesting counterpart imo. Just as any triple repdigit in decimal, such as 777, equals 37 when divided by the sum of its digits, so the same operation results in 5b in Hex, even though 5b amounts to 81 in decimal. And just as (2*37)-1=73 in decimal so (2*5b)-1=b5 in Hex.
What's more there's another "37" in Hex besides 5b. It's 369D, the result of dividing a quintuple repdigit by the sum of its digits. In decimal that wouldn't get you an integer. Why? Because 16-1 can be divided by 5 as well as 3 to get an integer.
jan Misali jumpscare
@@RenRenNumberTen Surprise!
I love how base 17 is suboptimal
@@vincentfreddoyle7555 It's just terrible, so the name fits
I watched this video sitting in a bus. As soon as I looked out the window i saw 37 on a building. On the very next building a café Calles nr. 37.
MIND BLOWN!
i see 47 everywhere, not 37
You are the choosing one.
Wow and your comment has 137 likes 😊
Thanks. Now I know why 37,500 randomly appears to my mind sometimes.
This man who collects 37 is basically just a happier version of the film the number 23 and i love it.
Came here for a 23 reference
4:09 who would have thought..
Listening to this in the car, I walked in my house and asked my husband to pick a number. My response to his choosing 37 was as amazed as y’all were.
Curious how your husband reacted. Was he just as confused as those random folk on the street?
I asked the friend i game with and she told me 73!
I gotta try this
Starting to give Jim Carrey vibes
i asked family and friends but nobody gave 37
results: 8, 17, 55, 56, 69
I'm 37 years old.And this video pops randomly.Explains a lot 😂
I participated in this survey via the google docs. I chose the number 77 for myself, and when it asked what I thought the number that other people had chosen was, well I chose 37 too!
I answered the survey too but for the life of me I can't remember how I answered. I strongly suspect I may have answered 37 for one or even both of the answers. 37 as my random number because I think I'm so brilliant and 37 for the least picked because I'm so unique. 😂😂😂
This video was so therapeutic for me. Knowing that the best chances for success are after 37% of probable information gives me more confidence to make decisions when I need to. Thank you, Derek :)
Remember two things: 1) you only have a 37% chance of actually finding the best option that way, and 2) this presumes the list of options is wholly unfamiliar, or you're discarding any prior knowledge. You can improve your odds of finding the best option if you go in knowing _anything_ to help guide your decision. And it's virtually always the case that we go into any decision knowing at least a little something relevant, just because life is filled with all manner of overlapping patterns.
The much harder problem is defining what success looks like and ensuring you arrive at a definition which will not faulter over the longterm. i.e.: _knowing what you want._ Or if/when you find that near impossible, learning to let go of needing to achieve a strict, delineated set of things in order to feel you've found "success". After all, most of us are only indirectly interested in finding the perfect house or partner; at our core we mostly just want to be _happy,_ and that doesn't come from those things.
@dismalthoughts yeah, it's one of those things in math or statistics which sounds useful but there are so many asterisks for it to be actually applied that it becomes just a fun theoretical problem
69 being the most chosen number pretty much sums up our humor on the internet
harumph...they say 69 is THE number, but it isn't; 77 is..Why? Because you get 8 more....
think about it..
think about it..
mind in the gutter?
now you got it! :)
69 likes. Nice
The fact that he said "let's remove 69 because it's not random" and provided no further explanation as to why it's not random made me curious. Then I realized smart audience will figure it out 😂