How One Line in the Oldest Math Text Hinted at Hidden Universes

Поділитися
Вставка
  • Опубліковано 21 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 11 тис.

  • @Jeff_3007
    @Jeff_3007 Рік тому +26899

    Let’s all appreciate Euclid’s effort he put into writing The Elements just so that Veritasium could make a video about it

  • @birindersingh4146
    @birindersingh4146 11 місяців тому +10747

    Imagine the greatness of the man who wrote 1 little paragraph and made mathematicians mad for 2000 years

    • @TarikSkubalEnjoyer457
      @TarikSkubalEnjoyer457 10 місяців тому +491

      Fr bros a menace

    • @sarc143
      @sarc143 10 місяців тому +207

      Haters pocket watching bro smh

    • @m1k3vroom
      @m1k3vroom 10 місяців тому +393

      The level of genius involved is unparalleled.

    • @dwdelve
      @dwdelve 10 місяців тому +88

      Greeks have been doing that for a long time

    • @pieteruys2032
      @pieteruys2032 10 місяців тому +109

      @@topherthe11th23 Greek architecture, sculpture, philosophy, democracy, science ( the atom ) etc. This is evidence of a high achieving population

  • @swarry3508
    @swarry3508 Рік тому +7010

    The way this entire video beautifully transforms right from a single point in euclidean geometry to the shape of the entire observational universe itself is so fascinating

    • @atinkapruwan
      @atinkapruwan Рік тому +32

      fascinating indeed

    • @matroxman11
      @matroxman11 Рік тому +58

      I’m convinced that math is the key to the secrets of the universe

    • @eddielally2045
      @eddielally2045 Рік тому +103

      ​@@matroxman11 bruhhhhhh obviously

    • @ukleth
      @ukleth Рік тому +25

      a book call Quran (1400 years old ) talk beautifully about the shape of the universe and what will happen to it
      the verse says : "" On the Day when We fold the heaven, like the folding of a book. Just as We began the first creation, We will repeat it-a promise binding on Us. We will act. ""

    • @krakenmahboy
      @krakenmahboy Рік тому +20

      (Comment deleted due to comment crybabies; enjoy the contextless whining below!)

  • @dailyknowledgeOG
    @dailyknowledgeOG 6 місяців тому +278

    As a Mathematician that loves hyperbolic geometry, I'm grateful to you for making this video. I'm going to share it with all my students for sure!

    • @abdussami8498
      @abdussami8498 Місяць тому +2

      I am a high school student rn , and I know nothing about geometry BUT i wanna study it from the very basics to the most advanced level there is , would it be possible for you to provide me with the roadmap and perhaps a guide book too if possible ? (please!)

    • @jjtoobizzare8127
      @jjtoobizzare8127 27 днів тому

      @@abdussami8498 google is free goofy

    • @bluestormcloud791
      @bluestormcloud791 13 днів тому +2

      I have a question that I have been wondering. If we were able to communicate, only using math, with another human civilization, would we be able to define the difference between a person's left hand vs right hand? Or would we first need to show them a picture of what we mean by these relative terms? Is there some fundamental difference that we could use as a beginning point?

    • @jgunther3398
      @jgunther3398 6 днів тому

      i don't get the issue. euclid is obviously referring to a flat surface, where the 5th postulate self-evidently true

    • @tjark5532
      @tjark5532 3 дні тому

      Butiful video

  • @vaibhav3955
    @vaibhav3955 Рік тому +7588

    Veritasium's videos are generally great but the math ones are on another level

    • @feynman_QED
      @feynman_QED Рік тому +85

      This is a fast-paced video. It doesn't give the opportunity to deepen and enjoy the beauty and the importance of these discoveries. Don't let yourself be derived by animations, a double-edged sword tool.

    • @n1ppe
      @n1ppe Рік тому +465

      ​​​@@feynman_QED it's a perfectly paced video. It's not supposed to make you understand everything about the subject, just to introduce it in an interesting way and make people interested to learn more about it on their own. If it was longer and dived deeper, less people would care about it in the first place

    • @feynman_QED
      @feynman_QED Рік тому

      ​@@n1ppe First flaw of your comment: I have never said that a video should let you understand EVERYTHING.
      Second, the reason why people cannot catch this aspect is the same behind the many thumbs-ups received by an illogical comment: you don't want a more articulated video but you want "to dive deeper". Please, make a decision and select which one you wanna pursue because it's not possible to satisfy that requirement simultaneously.
      I love this guy and how he produces videos. But videos are very often aimed at knowledgeable audiences who can keep up with a shortage of details and the fast pace.
      And it is absolutely not true that one requires 3 hours to make a more articulated video. If you indeed are interested, you just find a few slots of time during your week and you watch it carefully.
      Finally, I don't believe you're going to search a book and then study the topic in-depth. You're simply in the "infancy" stage when you are impressed easily by animation and hype, but you haven't developed an internal and sincere urge and interest for learning something more deeply. It's what happens with children: they are excited by toys, but after playing for a while they get annoyed.

    • @hattix6713
      @hattix6713 Рік тому +13

      Derek has good sources, and actually listens to them!

    • @noway905
      @noway905 Рік тому +6

      Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I took freshman Algeria 4 years in a row and graduated with a cumulative grade of a D- . So believe when I tell you, of everything that I think I know, there is only one thing that I know for certain and that is that I don't know anything. 🤣

  • @TimeBucks
    @TimeBucks Рік тому +2370

    Gauss never ceases to amaze me.

  • @adityavardhanjain
    @adityavardhanjain Рік тому +1237

    This video combined 3 best kinds of videos you make:
    1. History of science & math
    2. Visualization of difficult concepts especially those of physics & mathematics
    3. The current great curiousity of humanity

    • @dinogt8477
      @dinogt8477 Рік тому +1

      .

    • @ryugo7713
      @ryugo7713 Рік тому

      @@dinogt8477do you need a tampon?

    • @aniket385
      @aniket385 Рік тому +10

      So Flat Earth were way ahead of curve and Meant Flat Universe??? Also a side note... Euclid Book was one of the things demanded by Arabs ...after one of those Byzantine Arab wars...

    • @jordanfrielingsdorf4761
      @jordanfrielingsdorf4761 Рік тому +3

      I agree it is very Cosmos-esque and I think Carl Sagan would be proud.

    • @cherniaktamir612
      @cherniaktamir612 Рік тому +1

      And
      4. An inspiring story about not listening to seniors about not pursuing your intuition, thinking from first principles

  • @samueldelatorre7752
    @samueldelatorre7752 3 місяці тому +48

    I saw Professor Kontorovich this morning at the DMV and I couldn't remember where I had seen him. I even asked him if he was on TV because I recognized him. I found you professor, you are too humble, you are famous in my eyes!

  • @mosgon
    @mosgon Рік тому +3281

    As an astrophysics major, I love how a video on ancient math turns into a cosmology lesson

    • @TNT-km2eg
      @TNT-km2eg Рік тому +11

      Mayor , no less

    • @Tomico.
      @Tomico. Рік тому +12

      That's how it all started.

    • @no36963
      @no36963 Рік тому

      Your Standard Model of Cosmology is a dead and stinking.
      The BigBang-to-BlackHole sex-and-death cult has no scientific verification. It's all false assumptions for a foundation for a house of cards.
      The god of gravity is dead.
      Long live the Electric Universe Model.
      Good luck in your search for a better understanding of reality.
      Best wishes,
      Charles A Campbell III

    • @truthhub7395
      @truthhub7395 Рік тому +9

      Checkout The Greatest Lie on Earth by Edward Hendrie. I can promise you are being fed a bunch of garbage

    • @Jakekelley-hs8bk
      @Jakekelley-hs8bk Рік тому

      Sounds like a religious massive psyop. @@truthhub7395

  • @killmajaro1
    @killmajaro1 Рік тому +2634

    Being able to observe and predict a phenomenon as large scale as light bending around an entire galaxy to make a cosmic lense is insane. What a time to be alive.

    • @tinobemellow
      @tinobemellow Рік тому +36

      Can't really do anything practical with it like funnel energy and hack into the quantum mainframe of reality, but it's cool.

    • @yashsarda2263
      @yashsarda2263 Рік тому +82

      The act of observing such a phenomena is practical in itself no? It's not a theory that we could observe gravitational lensing, we have done it.

    • @irg008
      @irg008 Рік тому +6

      wrong channel ;)

    • @TheEpicProOfMinecraf
      @TheEpicProOfMinecraf Рік тому +3

      ​@@irg008 I was about to say this myself

    • @vattghern7592
      @vattghern7592 Рік тому +34

      People out here measuring galaxies while I’m struggling in trigonometry….

  • @clarencejohncabahug5466
    @clarencejohncabahug5466 9 місяців тому +2494

    To call Euclid just "Father of Geometry" is an understatement. The major branches of math are built from Axioms, and Euclid pioneered that. He might as well be called the Father of Pure Mathematics itself.

    • @gilbertogarbi4479
      @gilbertogarbi4479 9 місяців тому +110

      Euclid had a great merit in consolidating in the Elements most of the mathematical knowledge of his time. But he is by no means the "father of Geometry". At least 2 centuries before him, other pioneers like Thales of Miletus and Pytagoras of Samos had already devised the logic-deductive Method, on whitch rests all of Mathematics.

    • @isaacpianos5208
      @isaacpianos5208 9 місяців тому +48

      ​@@gilbertogarbi4479 yes he is by father of geometry by some means, saying "by no means father of geometry" is incorrect

    • @Mayank-tm2km
      @Mayank-tm2km 8 місяців тому +26

      He collected all the known math knowledge at that time, he didn’t create all of it by himself

    • @patrikfloding7985
      @patrikfloding7985 8 місяців тому +44

      @@Mayank-tm2km ok, so not Father of Geometry. More like Midwife of Modern Geometry?

    • @linktv7979
      @linktv7979 8 місяців тому

      ​@@gilbertogarbi4479Greeks are famous in history for just stealing all the other countries best ideas of cultures, inventions, math and making it seem like research was just like inventing. Greek alchemy is just middle eastern alchemy etc they've never come up with anything only debated other cultures creations they stole from and improved the original idea. Pythagore was a cult leader who stole sumerian math and has gone down in history as it's inventor.

  • @mayanktripathi8726
    @mayanktripathi8726 Місяць тому +22

    it hurts to imagine that many great minds and their works were lost to arson in burning the libraries at Alexandria , Nalanda , Takshashila and Baghdad...what have we lost?

    • @ronaldviens7862
      @ronaldviens7862 13 днів тому +1

      And incarceration in the Vatican Library.

  • @alex-nb3lh
    @alex-nb3lh Рік тому +749

    the buildup from first principles to the payoff via einstein’s relativity is phenomenal. one of my favorite videos by you so far.

    • @opticalreticle
      @opticalreticle Рік тому +2

      ti is

    • @JaiminPatel-t3r
      @JaiminPatel-t3r Рік тому +2

      Yeah this was amazing

    • @0RbIt1000
      @0RbIt1000 Рік тому +1

      Agreed

    • @huyxiun2085
      @huyxiun2085 Рік тому +4

      Haven't seen the video yet, just the introduction (0:55 now). And I must say: it sounds extremely fishy for now.
      Don't get me wrong, I very much like Veritasium and I appreciate is work. His means to get the public interested in sciences, even the fishy ones, I see them as a good ideas.
      Doesn't change the fact that suggesting Euclide already knew about "Hidden Universes" (modern science ones) is, at best, sketchy. I know a bit of history of sciences and Euclide most certainly is one of this genius among geniuses. A mind like that would probably (hard to prove) make discoveries ahead of its time in any era. But still. It's very confusing to suggest that, since it leads to a very inaccurate understanding of what was the state of science (philosophy) back then.
      It's a great way to introduce the concept. But I don't think you should repeat this idea at lunch time, you'll propagate a misunderstanding or pass for a fool. Well, maybe not, I have to watch the rest of the video to now ;-)

    • @canderson9167
      @canderson9167 Рік тому +7

      @@huyxiun2085 Watch the video.. I don't think you should repeat this idea at lunch time, you'll propagate a misunderstanding or pass for a fool.

  • @myoky
    @myoky Рік тому +894

    I took a geometry course in college where we started from Euclid and went on to derive essentially everything that you covered in this video to end with the shape and dimensionality of the universe using relativity. It was the best class that I ever took and this video was an amazing refresher on it.

    • @happysailor315
      @happysailor315 Рік тому +21

      Whoa sounds great, what was it called?

    • @black_crest
      @black_crest Рік тому

      ​@@happysailor315Probably differential geometry

    • @emmanuellawal2694
      @emmanuellawal2694 Рік тому +23

      What was it called, and please can you share resources that might help

    • @AissamElkirafi
      @AissamElkirafi Рік тому +3

      Bump

    • @mustard1007
      @mustard1007 Рік тому +10

      iI loved my geometry course in uni and we did almost the same up to spherical and hyberbolic geometry, but your ending on the dimensionality of the universe sounds brilliant

  • @unvergebeneid
    @unvergebeneid Рік тому +698

    I love how some things went unsolved for millennia and then multiple people have the same idea at the same time. This has happened over and over in the history of science and mathematics.

    • @catfishingfornitro3416
      @catfishingfornitro3416 Рік тому +135

      its cause they all get new info to work with. Some day some new proof may come out that allows everyone to figure something else out at once

    • @culwin
      @culwin Рік тому +26

      Often this also happen when and where institutions have been set up to publicize (or at least preserve) those findings in some way.

    • @Tinil0
      @Tinil0 Рік тому +97

      It's because individual geniuses are utterly meaningless to the history of progress. Humanity has always had plenty of smart people, what matters is the opportunity. If one famous historical person didn't discover something, someone else would've, and for the same reason that person did: Not specific individual intelligence, but individual intelligence applied to the sum of human knowledge at that point in time.

    • @johnlucas6683
      @johnlucas6683 Рік тому +17

      These are just the ones that have been on record, or at least have surviving records.

    • @patu8010
      @patu8010 Рік тому +19

      Makes you wonder if there was something about the time period of the 19th century (more mathematical geniuses?), or if older versions of the idea are lost to time. Possibly during 2000 years countless mathematicians came up with non-Euclidean geometry but never published it because they feared ridicule.

  • @tshahin
    @tshahin 5 місяців тому +29

    Did anyone else notice how Gauss’s gaze followed the camera at 11:47 , I thought I was tripping. Veritassium your editing is a masterpiece

    • @Skwertydogs
      @Skwertydogs Місяць тому +1

      Wow. I did not notice that. How fun! Thank you.

  • @trunghungpham9414
    @trunghungpham9414 Рік тому +4338

    Veritasium’s math videos are so good. Just never gets bored watching them.

    • @atinkapruwan
      @atinkapruwan Рік тому +9

      me too

    • @prerakmann1418
      @prerakmann1418 Рік тому +70

      Shortest 30 mins on UA-cam

    • @Ostinat0
      @Ostinat0 Рік тому +36

      Man I used to think I hated math even though I was really good at it...every Veritasium video about math that I watch makes me feel more and more like they just trained me wrong as a joke

    • @daddycationxx
      @daddycationxx Рік тому +7

      for real, learning has never been more exciting

    • @Micke240
      @Micke240 Рік тому +5

      yeah and you will always learn alot watching his videos.

  • @caschque7242
    @caschque7242 Рік тому +396

    This video surpasses your usual Veritasium content in a unique way. The layered storytelling, which included extra details beyond just non-Euclidean geometry, enriched my experience. It felt like a 3D exploration rather than a linear journey, giving me a deeper and more nuanced understanding.
    I think this is one of the best ways to explain a topic yet.
    Good job!

    • @em-agoo-481
      @em-agoo-481 Рік тому +5

      Great observation. In the 2nd episode of Cosmos, Sagan opens with a recounting of a 12th century Japanese battle only to segue into a discussion of selection/evolution: there's a magical quality to that scene that I've rarely felt elsewhere. This has a similar feeling, and "layered" captures it perfectly.

    • @minhvan1216
      @minhvan1216 Рік тому +1

      ok

    • @dieSpinnt
      @dieSpinnt Рік тому

      Yeah, you are absolutely right:)
      I really love the butchering of Greek and Arabic names, the misuse of the Latin Roman spelling for Greeks and those fantasy images of some material, where we actually have real historic content available. Stock Photos ... it's just a blessing ... Also getting Εὐκλείδης Axioms ignored and the purpose of Postulates confused is rather embarrassing. Well ... he had ONE JOB to do. I guess nobody's perfect?:) (Talking about "Journalists" here ... better consult a historian next time)

  • @chanceroberson7517
    @chanceroberson7517 Рік тому +612

    This is I think the 3rd or 4th time having professor Alex on the channel and I’ve loved it everytime. He seems so enthusiastic with his explanation to the point where it’s infectious.

    • @Cameron-ls3qt
      @Cameron-ls3qt Рік тому

      I find his argument about definitions ridiculous back then that language most likely lead to a specific understanding.. otherwise, why does everybody else agree and well mathematics as well. Seems Alex was the only one who didn't understand.

    • @maxinator2002
      @maxinator2002 Рік тому +40

      @@Cameron-ls3qtNo. At first, I too wasn’t buying it. However, I heard him out (and digested his whole argument), and I can now see it. It’s actually pretty brilliant. If you write a definition, the definition is made up of things that also could be defined, of which all are composed of even more things to define, and so on. It’s either a cyclic (circular logic, flawed) or never-ending (no useful definition) problem. Instead of establishing definitions, the professor suggests to establish relationships. As in, given this thing (regardless of how it could be defined), here’s how it relates to other things (regardless of how they could be defined). It all of a sudden makes this never-ending definition problem into a finite relationship problem, and it has much more rigor this way (as the postulates now only need to establish relationships, which then could be used to demonstrate other relationships, proving theorems). Yes, one could certainly understand Euclid’s definitions (and they don’t invalidate his results). However, his definitions are hand-wavey and non-rigorous… and most importantly (as the professor explains), unnecessary.

    • @opticalreticle
      @opticalreticle Рік тому +1

      @@Cameron-ls3qt it is language

  • @deedsrae9323
    @deedsrae9323 4 місяці тому +8

    For someone who barely understands mathematics and wants to learn more, this is articulated very well. Good job 👍

    • @nerobaal6655
      @nerobaal6655 2 місяці тому +1

      Learn basic math and algebra.

  • @hirakbandyopadhyay699
    @hirakbandyopadhyay699 Рік тому +1279

    I am a physicist, and this is one of the best explanations of curvature of spacetime I have seen on youtube, starting from absolute basics! Thank you so much, and keep up the good work. 🙂

    • @cheoa1473
      @cheoa1473 Рік тому +7

      ok

    • @Steve-si8hx
      @Steve-si8hx Рік тому +2

      How does anybody know that postulates are true ?

    • @archit1048
      @archit1048 Рік тому

      😂@@Steve-si8hx

    • @ForkGenesis
      @ForkGenesis Рік тому +24

      @@Steve-si8hx we all just assume that they are true, and develop from them

    • @efhi
      @efhi Рік тому +33

      @@Steve-si8hx empirical observation of reality

  • @feliperiquelme8504
    @feliperiquelme8504 Рік тому +446

    As a Mathematician that loves hyperbolic geometry, I'm grateful to you for making this video. I'm going to share it with all my students for sure!

    • @chaosopher23
      @chaosopher23 Рік тому +1

      Psst... Euclid is describing parallax. Postulate 5 is a really stretched out triangle.

    • @Roxor128
      @Roxor128 Рік тому

      Take a look at the game Hyperbolica. It's set in a world with hyperbolic geometry. It takes a bit of adjusting to go back to moving around the real world after playing it for a while. Appropriately, the first tag to show up on Steam is "surreal".

    • @rocketscience4516
      @rocketscience4516 Рік тому +7

      Just call them your nerds, it's three less letters to type.

    • @BisexualPlagueDoctor
      @BisexualPlagueDoctor Рік тому +3

      @@rocketscience4516he’s a mathematician, who loves hyperbolic geometry, why do you expect him to care about the length of words
      Lmao

    • @rocketscience4516
      @rocketscience4516 Рік тому +4

      @@BisexualPlagueDoctor Aw, someone lacked the perspicacity to realise it must have been said in jest. Think a bit before you type.

  • @RealGhoda
    @RealGhoda Рік тому +3281

    I find it so wild that mathematicians can do crazy things like predicting one supernova appearing 5 times spaced 1 year apart, but do things like spending 2000 years arguing about 1 sentence
    Edit - How did this start a war. I just exagerated some stuff to make a point

    • @NNOTM
      @NNOTM Рік тому +196

      one is not possible without the other

    • @capitano3483
      @capitano3483 Рік тому +120

      Physicists were the ones predicting the supernova appearing one year later.... the pragmatic mathematicians.

    • @RealGhoda
      @RealGhoda Рік тому

      Mathematicians in general@itzhexen0

    • @pickle380
      @pickle380 Рік тому +48

      I apologize for my actions

    • @RealGhoda
      @RealGhoda Рік тому

      same thing 🤷‍♂@@capitano3483

  • @nadiabairamis3854
    @nadiabairamis3854 4 місяці тому +13

    I think this is my favourite Veritasium episode ever! Especially well written and engaging.

  • @timothyshapka1309
    @timothyshapka1309 Рік тому +724

    You just summed up my entire university foundations of geometry course in 30 minutes. I admire your ability to educate so concisely immensely.

    • @grim_reaper977
      @grim_reaper977 Рік тому +9

      My question, was the hardship worth it, (the long nights to prove one theorem problem, while miscalculating several times)??

    • @KhuongTuan-ef7hi
      @KhuongTuan-ef7hi Рік тому

      zzz

    • @maythesciencebewithyou
      @maythesciencebewithyou Рік тому

      So you are saying that your university course was only superficial and just taught you some history and only explained concepts, but didn`t teach you how to calculate the stuff?

    • @mrb5510
      @mrb5510 6 місяців тому

      ​@@maythesciencebewithyou "Foundations of Geometry" sounds like your typical survey course for students aiming to one day teach high school mathematics/geometry. So, ironically enough, there's likely little in the way of teaching them how to actually "do" geometry.

  • @tomvesely4008
    @tomvesely4008 Рік тому +915

    If someone had told me this when I was in highschool (I was fascinated with astronomy as a kid, so maybe even earlier), my relationship with math would be completely different.
    This is fascinating

    • @firstnamelastname9215
      @firstnamelastname9215 Рік тому +45

      That’s what I’m saying. Now I wish I cared for it because it would make life easier. But no they wanted to torture us instead of nurture.

    • @alecmartin8543
      @alecmartin8543 10 місяців тому +30

      ​@@firstnamelastname9215they didn't necessarily want to torture you, there aren't many teachers as good as this channel but there are a lot of honest people trying their best

    • @milferdjones2573
      @milferdjones2573 10 місяців тому

      The system wanted to torture them is the point. And in a system like the best Finland lot of those honest people would be unable to qualify to be a teacher which is harder to do then get in med school. @@alecmartin8543

    • @LumaSloth
      @LumaSloth 10 місяців тому +2

      What change do you believe it caused you?

    • @ФдФ
      @ФдФ 10 місяців тому +11

      @@alecmartin8543 I love math and had a good teacher, but there are a lot of teachers who hate/mistreat children or aren't good at their job. I've definitely had more teachers that made me dread going to school than good ones

  • @AndreasTriandafilidis
    @AndreasTriandafilidis Рік тому +129

    Learning new and often very complicated things is always so joyful and easy with your videos and passion. Thanks Veritasium team!

  • @AaronSkone
    @AaronSkone 7 місяців тому +13

    You should do a video on the “flatness” of the universe to clear up misconceptions about what flat means in this context.

    • @LeeNotSa
      @LeeNotSa 4 місяці тому +1

      This concept is what confounded me the greatest. We know the universe must have thickness so it can't be a plane, much like a tabletop, which is flat but you can still measure its thickness. So how "flat" is the universe? Is it a sheet of paper or a tabletop or ...?

    • @AaronSkone
      @AaronSkone 4 місяці тому +8

      @@LeeNotSa the universe is not “flat” in the sense that it can have “thickness,” it is flat in that, if you move in one direction forever, you will move further and further from your starting point and never circle back around to your starting point, which is exactly what would happen on a spherical planet. Another way to think of it is: On Earth, you and another person start on two different locations on earth and head north. No matter where they start, they will always end up at the true North Pole, in the exact same spot. In space, that doesn’t happen, instead they just head straight in the same direction for eternity, like two parallel lines never crossing paths.

    • @LeeNotSa
      @LeeNotSa 4 місяці тому +3

      ​@@AaronSkone OK, but wouldn't the same thing happen if the universe were hyperbolic? Wouldn't a straight line still cause you to never return to your starting position?

    • @AaronSkone
      @AaronSkone 4 місяці тому +3

      @@LeeNotSa yes, however the difference is that in a hyperbolic universe, the parallel lines would grow infinitely further apart. There’s theories for either or and we’re not really sure! The universe is so massive that even measuring the small section of space-time we occupy would be inadequate (similar to someone looking at the open water and saying “looks flat to me”).

  • @TheRealQuickSilver
    @TheRealQuickSilver Рік тому +487

    Gauss never ceases to amaze me. There isn't a single math or science class I've taken where his name hasn't come up. Someday I'd love to spend some time learning about all of his greatest discoveries and trying to connect all of the dots of the contributions he's made.

    • @ivanleon6164
      @ivanleon6164 Рік тому +56

      he was a monster, what a gigachad.

    • @ImKinoNichtSabbeln
      @ImKinoNichtSabbeln Рік тому +51

      The German author Daniel Kehlmann wrote the superb novel "Measuring the World" on C.F. Gauss' and Alexander von Humboldt's (yes, THAT Humboldt) lives.
      It was an sensation, depicting two crude geniuses in a absolutely entertaining, readable and intelligent way. The moment you open the book, you'll read it in one go, accompanying both Gauss and von Humboldt getting old, and even more strange.
      Gauss did not publish all his findings. He published only if he decided that he treated a subject in it's entirety. E.g. he did not publish his vast and deep findings in mathematical knot theory for he just wanted to complete some details, as we learned from his duaries.. Decades after Gauss' death, other mathematicians began to devolop the very same ideas, that Gauss already had knew.

    • @XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX
      @XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX Рік тому +55

      Don't sleep on my boy Euler. Lots of things are named after the person who discovered them after Euler, otherwise almost everything would be named after Euler

    • @SylveonSimp
      @SylveonSimp Рік тому +14

      He was on the 10 DM bank note in Germany. Now we have soulless windows on our Euro notes. What a pity.

    • @spiderspyy
      @spiderspyy Рік тому

      eulor is big, but his yxy still haunts my dreams@@XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX

  • @rhov-anion
    @rhov-anion Рік тому +1905

    I had a math teacher with Elements sitting on his desk. I have dyscalculia, numbers are extremely confusing (if not downright nightmarish) and math was always my worst subject. Straight A's with a D- in algebra.
    However, glancing through that book a little bit every class period, I found that the THEORY of math fascinated me. Sadly, schools only cared on if you could find answers to questions, and they didn't give a damn on if you knew WHY math worked.
    In college, after struggling for 3 years with "self paced math" meant for people with learning disabilities, my campus came up with an experimental "Algebra for Liberal Arts Majors" class, where we had the option of doing 30 math problems, creating art projects to illustrate the math theory, or writing essays on the theorems, how mathematicians came about discovering and proving them, or how this particular type of math applies to the real world.
    THAT I could do with ease, and it was my very first A in a math class.
    Numbers are still a mystery, something I just cannot sort out with my weird brain, but I love the history of math and what went into the geniuses who came up with these ideas.

    • @ATF2099
      @ATF2099 Рік тому

      check out "fractals" that's probably how your brain is trying to operate. like mine, in reality, not fictional numbers. this thousand year old stuff is cool, but new thinkers might benefit more from realizing 3d math exists but is just way too complicated for most to even fathom. i figured it out on my own but then learned somebody already did in the 70s, thank god, cuz i wasn't trying to write that book myself.
      the way i understand it is every atom is 3 parts. and reality is base 3 number system. everything in 3s, based on that simple postulate. expanding out in all directions, continuously. interesting rabbit hole, but that's the real infinite realm.
      base 10 makes sense on paper, and counting on our fingers, but that's not how god designed the universe.

    • @Sorrowdusk
      @Sorrowdusk Рік тому +36

      I've never heard of a course like that!

    • @rhov-anion
      @rhov-anion Рік тому +182

      @@Sorrowdusk It was brand new when I took it back in 2004, a test program for students who don't need advanced math in their given major, especially folks like me with a learning disability that nearly prevented me from getting a degree. It was humiliating during matriculation when my counselor exclaimed, "How can you be in the top 1% in English and Logic but the bottom 1% in Mathematics?"
      Dyscalculia. That's how. It's because my brain cannot process numbers, so it compensated by using logic. (Also part of being autistic.) Yet the California education system refused to give me a pass on the math requirement, even though it had NOTHING to do with my major.
      Struggling with numbers doesn't mean that I can't have a successful career; in fact, the way my brain works is THE IDEAL for my job.... it just means I have to hire someone else to do my taxes, because my brain can't process numbers in the right order.
      If this sort of program didn't catch on at other colleges, that's a real shame. We need an education style that evolves with our growing understanding of neurodiversity.
      I've begun to work with Umbrella US, a NPO trying to change this sort of thing and get society to realize that not all brains work in "typical" ways. There are talented people out there being held back because they can't pass a course designed for neurotypical students.
      Look at all the scientists over the generations who struggled in school, because their brain danced with numbers but struggled with language, or danced to the music of etymology but fell flat with numbers. Imagine if they lived today, where they had to pass all these frivolous classes mandated by the federal government, but have nothing to due with their interests, or else their ideas and theories are disregarded due to not graduating from the "right school."
      One day, hopefully, programs like what I took become the norm. Give students the option to show the teacher that they truly understand a subject, even if the way they do that is not neurotypical.

    • @suzuki8951
      @suzuki8951 Рік тому +43

      Me too i hated math growing up but now that i am learning it's history and creative applications, I am really starting to appreciate it more and more. I'd say it's just a beautiful subject taught in an ugly manner

    • @aviilokinkshi
      @aviilokinkshi Рік тому +53

      Brother/sister; math is just about seeing coherences and expressing these coherences with symbols we call numbers. Art and music are ALSO about seeing coherences and expressing these, but NOT in numeral symbols but having the coherences expressed in form and colour; or in the case of music: sound. You too are a mathematician, you just use a different language to describe the coherences you see.

  • @Grimlo9ic
    @Grimlo9ic 7 місяців тому +838

    28:35 It's so mindblowing to me that Euclid's work was mostly based on the 2D plane. Then as the Earth was proven to be spherical, the math became more complex and humans had to adopt these new models of geometry to keep up. But apparently on a large enough (i.e. universal) scale, it's all apparently a 2D plane still. It's as if Euclid's genius came from some arcane, otherworldly knowledge.

    • @zwenkwiel816
      @zwenkwiel816 6 місяців тому +32

      I don't get that part. The universe is flat? Like it is wider than it is tall or something? Cuz theres definitely an up and down dimension with stuff scattered in every direction.
      So how is it flat?

    • @Grimlo9ic
      @Grimlo9ic 6 місяців тому +59

      @@zwenkwiel816 I'm not gonna pretend to understand the math behind it, but yes, the data presented in the video points to the universe being flat. This next part is only my understanding, but yeah I think that that's what it boils down to - the universe is so unfathomably wide and expansive that the "up" and "down" (z axis) are nowhere near significant enough compared to it's length and width (x and y axes).

    • @thegreatreverendx
      @thegreatreverendx 5 місяців тому +171

      @@Grimlo9icFlat: as in that it doesn’t curve around in dimensions higher than 3 and meet itself on some other end like a hyper sphere or some other hyper shape. If you keep traveling in our 3D universe, you won’t come back to the same point. In this universe, parallel lines really are parallel.

    • @LDVincenzo
      @LDVincenzo 5 місяців тому +9

      ​@@thegreatreverendxor at the very least they were in the early universe, does it still hold for closer distances?/ more recent times ?

    • @leonardosaboya55
      @leonardosaboya55 5 місяців тому +7

      @@zwenkwiel816imagine a cone expanding from a point into everything

  • @iSherry
    @iSherry 3 місяці тому +1

    I am a physics and maths enthusiast and a game developer myself, and I generally love the explanations you provide also the small little details in the video, like moving the eyes of Gauss when the explanation texts goes from left to right of his picture. I mean ofcourse its not necessary but knowing that you guys put in the efforts into even the minor little things in video production makes me respect your efforts infinitely.

  • @AT-27182
    @AT-27182 Рік тому +1273

    This is one of the greatest stories of human history. Thank you for explaining it for a large audience.

    • @cereal-killer4455
      @cereal-killer4455 Рік тому +22

      It really is. On a different note, flat earth confirmed
      /s
      Seriously: flat universe confirmed

    • @LeonEdwardsFitnessOfficial
      @LeonEdwardsFitnessOfficial Рік тому

      @@cereal-killer4455 how

    • @ninebreaker274
      @ninebreaker274 Рік тому +1

      ahaha normie

    • @fearlessjoebanzai
      @fearlessjoebanzai Рік тому +4

      ​@@cereal-killer4455, isn't that the bizarrest thing - he claims the universe to be essentially flat after just describing the reason why mathematically any sphere can be seen as essentially flat when zoomed in enough!

    • @PinguinKeks
      @PinguinKeks Рік тому +5

      It's funny how quick people can be to misunderstand things though, Gauss never said anything negative about Bolyai in his letter

  • @shininio
    @shininio Рік тому +344

    I find the quality of the content in this channel to be in a completely different league than most of the things you find in UA-cam. Kudos Derek

  • @omkarpawar2620
    @omkarpawar2620 Рік тому +404

    Euclid: Makes 5th postulate bit long
    Other mathematicians: * thinks intensly for 2000 years*

    • @adrian9098
      @adrian9098 Рік тому +6

      😅👍

    • @ivanleon6164
      @ivanleon6164 Рік тому +22

      they took it personal, lmao.

    • @MARK-gp9hb
      @MARK-gp9hb 4 місяці тому +1

      the greeks already knew the earth was round, and used spherical geometry as well (Eudoxus of Cnidus, Autolycus of Pitane, Hipparchus, Menelaus of Alexandria, Theodosius of Bithynia, Ptolemy...) they wrote books and theorems on spherical geometry, since the time of Euclid in fact. It's not true that it took 2000 years to figure out these things...

    • @izzylevi.
      @izzylevi. 3 місяці тому

      @@MARK-gp9hbdid you even watch the video?

    • @MARK-gp9hb
      @MARK-gp9hb 3 місяці тому

      @@izzylevi. yes all of it

  • @TheSilentKid_yt
    @TheSilentKid_yt 2 місяці тому +151

    Me pretending to understand:

    • @heidis5188
      @heidis5188 Місяць тому +6

      For real lol😂

    • @eeccee11
      @eeccee11 Місяць тому +8

      Yup. Deleted my comment after reading others. Lol. What's the point

    • @frottery
      @frottery 22 дні тому +5

      summary: drawing lines on a sphere or a bendy shape follows different rules than on a flat surface. that's literally it. the spacetime stuff is pointless because we're inside whatever shape the visible universe is, it's the fishbowl problem, you can't be confined to a fishbowl and know the architecture of the house across the street

    • @TheSilentKid_yt
      @TheSilentKid_yt 21 день тому +1

      @ thanks, helped

  • @benmastar
    @benmastar Рік тому +603

    Hey Derek, you probably won't read this but I just wanted to say that I've been watching your videos casually for many years when you first started. I just need to say that your production quality and ability to keep audiences engaged has evolved so beautifully. I watched this 30min video and it felt like only 5 minutes had gone by... and I'm not even that interested in mathematics let alone history. All I'm trying to say is well done. Thank you for all your years of educational content and thank you for continuing to impart the same level of passion in every project. I hope you continue for many years to come.

  • @18th_King
    @18th_King Рік тому +491

    I am sad for Bolyai as he thought his hero Guass would appreciate his work. Still, when Guass replied that he didn't do anything except repredicting his work Bolyai would have been crushed deeply. I definitely see Bolyai as a legend doing such great work at the age of 23 in just 5 years while Guass had spent nearly decades finding out about it.
    "Appreciation can make someone's day, even change lives. So even if the work is small or the best it is incomplete without a 'Good Job'."
    - A Wise Man.

    • @Sharkie1717
      @Sharkie1717 Рік тому

      Nice 👌

    • @thewhitefalcon8539
      @thewhitefalcon8539 Рік тому +88

      What's even sadder is HE DID APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH AND PRAISED BOLYAI TO ANOTHER MATHEMATICIAN but Bolyai never knew it!

    • @SamageetDutta
      @SamageetDutta Рік тому +18

      If I were Gauss, I'd tell Bolyai why I couldn't publish the previous works, and would invite him to come and work with me

    • @kolyashinkarev7366
      @kolyashinkarev7366 Рік тому +21

      He didn't really say that the work was unimpressive or bad, the sentence is taken out of contex, we don't really know if he followed it up with praising

    • @apokalypthoapokalypsys9573
      @apokalypthoapokalypsys9573 Рік тому +18

      Ah yes, Guass, my favourite character from Code Guass.

  • @jacopolibera6974
    @jacopolibera6974 Рік тому +252

    This has to be one of the better animated veritasium videos ever. A pleasure to watch as usual

    • @jacobshirley3457
      @jacobshirley3457 Рік тому +5

      Everybody says that after every history-based Veritasium video, lol. Which is saying something.

  • @jbperez808
    @jbperez808 Місяць тому +1

    This video concretized my understanding of non-euclidean geometery in ways books couldn't.
    Amazing work, Dr. Derek!

  • @MrAulic
    @MrAulic Рік тому +126

    I feel like I finally understand a bunch of stuff that I've always heard, in relation to math and physics, but was never able to fully grasp and connect together, for example what people meant exactly by the curvature of space time caused by gravity and such. This video's narrative is absurdly good and really helps tie it all together in a very comprehensible way.
    Just wow... this channel never ceases to amaze me.

    • @usadefcon1
      @usadefcon1 Рік тому +1

      If you want more checkout the ScienceClic English UA-cam channel. It's the best for visualizing the math.

    • @joerionis5902
      @joerionis5902 Рік тому +4

      Finally understood what physics channels meant when they say that "the universe is flat."

    • @Oscaragious
      @Oscaragious Рік тому +1

      @@joerionis5902 Unless you draw REALLY big triangles.

  • @orngjce223
    @orngjce223 10 місяців тому +486

    Hyperbolic geometry is more than just a giant cosmological thing. You know how the outside edges of some types of lettuce and kale go all crinkly, just like with the crochet model? The cells in them are effectively living on a hyperbolic plane, and studying the shapes and sizes of the cells there - how they fit together and exchange resources and such - requires some of this geometry.

    • @Guy-z6o
      @Guy-z6o 10 місяців тому +23

      The crinkly bits on kale and lettuce, remind me of fractals'....they are everywhere....gotta love em

    • @Tdawg-b2b
      @Tdawg-b2b 10 місяців тому +7

      Are you a biologist or something? Where would i look to learn more about this stuff?

    • @judgesugoma
      @judgesugoma 9 місяців тому +3

      Ok

    • @chetsenior7253
      @chetsenior7253 9 місяців тому +9

      No. Geometry requires real life things to give it value. Geometry is the explanation, not the reality.

    • @niviamaeva
      @niviamaeva 9 місяців тому +3

      Wait. What? 😮

  • @T_Dot94
    @T_Dot94 Рік тому +114

    I love these history of science videos. It makes math and science feel like a lively art form rather than something mechanical and dead.

  • @othmangacem6925
    @othmangacem6925 5 днів тому +2

    Not a mathematician but the undefined terms explanation at 18:05 was cool and helpful !

  • @apolotorresart
    @apolotorresart Рік тому +160

    My goodness, man, I think that quite often but I have to say this is one of your best videos to date. The level of storytelling and the way you managed to tie ancient knowledge all the way to the very edge of our current understanding of the universe was absolutely mesmerizing. And poetic, even, because just as in culture, arts, music and so forth, the new doesn't necessarily destroys the old, but rather builds higher grounds over earlier foundations. Chapeau!

  • @vladbobe26
    @vladbobe26 Рік тому +340

    Leaving aside the educational aspect, the production value of this was incredible. Congratulations Veritasium team!

  • @OliverReinhard
    @OliverReinhard Рік тому +27

    Thanks so much! Great content very carefully done EVERY time!

  • @urmotherivan
    @urmotherivan Місяць тому +29

    For anyone who came from TikTok, video starts at 6:42

  • @Sweet9964
    @Sweet9964 Рік тому +175

    I used to hate math class in school, but the topics that Veritasium covers are so interesting I always find myself going down a mathematics rabbit hole after i watch one of his videos.

    • @zwan1886
      @zwan1886 Рік тому +28

      because this isn't math, it's a history lesson and a story. You just hate making an effort which is what math requires and listening to a story does not.

    • @IIT24Aspirant
      @IIT24Aspirant Рік тому

      yeah and I bet this guy didn't understand the last 10mins of the video lol@@zwan1886

    • @MsMiDC
      @MsMiDC 10 місяців тому +3

      Learning is fun, but its different when its out of your own curiosity, rather than being forced upon you.

    • @allrequiredfields
      @allrequiredfields 10 місяців тому +1

      I know. I'm realizing that my brain is no less inclined towards understanding complicated maths but at least I enjoy TRYING to understand it now.

    • @milferdjones2573
      @milferdjones2573 10 місяців тому

      No he hates the dry boring way that math is normally taught. A very valid point. And he actually states the story gets him interested in doing that effort you describe. Your opinion is why so few like math. @@zwan1886

  • @clionekimura9604
    @clionekimura9604 Рік тому +304

    Leonard Mlodinow's Euclid's Window is a good book for those who want to dive deep into the history of geometry. Thank you, Veritasium, for animating the history and concepts. I am a math teacher and have always wanted to incorporate historical development of mathematics into math curriculum. I want to dilute the goal of math education from only problem solving to explaining math concepts. I want to tell stories like Galois' duel, Zeno's paradox, Newton & Leibniz's letters/rivalry, the centuries of proving Fermat's theorem (and Langland's program), al-Khwarizmi's completing the square, the discovery of the formula for cubic & higher (and the affairs) ....etc. Veritasiim and 3blue1brown are my favorite youtubers who have great influence to our online math community. Now we find THOUSANDS of math explainers on youtube who actually teach better than professors and grade school teachers (myself included).

    • @sharadsemilo
      @sharadsemilo Рік тому +4

      Start a channel. Please

    • @Albertandearthie
      @Albertandearthie Рік тому

      I read it all 2 years ago lol

    • @dlevi67
      @dlevi67 Рік тому +1

      More power to you!

    • @Adroit1911
      @Adroit1911 Рік тому +5

      The kind of mind you must have in order to actually want to teach math to the kids..... I commend you, and appreciate your drive to teach difficult things to difficult peoples.

    • @kwaherikwasasa
      @kwaherikwasasa Рік тому

      I read his Drunkard's Walk book, and it is spectacular! I will look into Euclids Window...😂

  • @taisa8776
    @taisa8776 Рік тому +103

    I honestly believe that learning to sew could have given insight for those mathematicians that spent 2000 years trying to understand the 5th postulate. All fabrics are essentially planes, but our body isn't and, depending on culture and time, it needs to closely follow our body's format - that is definitively non-euclidian.

    • @Grace-ms7un
      @Grace-ms7un Рік тому +5

      You are my new hero for using sewing to describe math ❤

    • @noticing33
      @noticing33 10 місяців тому +1

      Thsi is why it's so important to make men way more feminine, toxic masculinity has stunted those great men of the past

    • @Qay
      @Qay 9 місяців тому +6

      @@noticing33 This has nothing to do with the comment. Maybe concern troll under a different bridge?

    • @noticing33
      @noticing33 9 місяців тому

      how dare you? @@Qay

  • @nazrinharris
    @nazrinharris 28 днів тому +15

    flat earthers are wrong, flat universers prevail

  • @UNr34
    @UNr34 Рік тому +177

    The most impressive of all is how far ahead Euclid was that it took mathematicians thousands of years and forced them to invent a whole new field of mathematics and non-Euclidian geometry.

    • @vidal9747
      @vidal9747 Рік тому +58

      "The consequences of the fifth postulate are left as an exercise for the reader"

    • @AkiraDemi
      @AkiraDemi Рік тому +12

      the entire math community: oh for fu-

    • @TheSkystrider
      @TheSkystrider Рік тому

      😂

  • @sundhar5229
    @sundhar5229 Рік тому +127

    His father not only understood his scientific work, he was so proud and sent it to his peers.. What's more wholesome than that..!

    • @XmarkedSpot
      @XmarkedSpot Рік тому +8

      Taking the literal five seconds to check how his name is pronounced. Nails on the chalk board, I tell you.

    • @zwojack7285
      @zwojack7285 Рік тому

      Isnt that like every stereotypical Asian parent?

    • @GudiUTube
      @GudiUTube Рік тому

      @@zwojack7285 When Farakas cautioned his son Jonas Bolyai with a father's concern that he should come to nothing as he himself failed there being a teacher in the field. But when he later realized his son's originality and brilliance he accepted his mistake, when 1) he made his son's work as an addendum to his own and 2) he sent it to his old friend Gauss. So Farakas did the best thing and was not responsible for what happened next, viz. Bolyai's frustration due to Gauss's fear of "Bootier".

    • @rockjano
      @rockjano 9 місяців тому

      @@zwojack7285 The were Hungarians not asian....

    • @sexmansex4776
      @sexmansex4776 8 місяців тому

      ​@@rockjanohungarians are steppe people anyway

  • @mikehenson819
    @mikehenson819 9 місяців тому +1289

    How terribly tragic it is that one lives, studies and discovers the incredible and never knew the greatness of their accomplishment in life.

    • @-astrangerontheinternet6687
      @-astrangerontheinternet6687 8 місяців тому +63

      How incredibly wonderful to live one’s life and celebrate each moment.
      Likely he lived the exact life he preferred and would spit on your pity.

    • @justaspalabras
      @justaspalabras 8 місяців тому +7

      Are you talking about Bolyai?

    • @divyasasidharan2960
      @divyasasidharan2960 8 місяців тому +5

      I think we should not have that awareness.. u just keep doing it like animals procreate

    • @jinfin221
      @jinfin221 8 місяців тому +3

      Why tragic

    • @benjaminj883
      @benjaminj883 8 місяців тому +24

      @@-astrangerontheinternet6687might be true for him, definitily isn’t for others. People have been hanged or imprisonned for stuff they discovered. Or people like Kafka who has been depressed his whole life, thinking it amounted to nothing only to be successful after his death. It is tragic

  • @adammorrell9553
    @adammorrell9553 13 днів тому

    Sword fights, geniuses, spurned admirations, secrets of the universe, and arguments about parallel lines. Only in Veritasium video could it coellese into something so crystal clear. It's shameful other educators leave out the history and context. It dymisyifies the subject and let's the mind feel safe to play with the ideas. It's brilliant you're teaching this way.

  • @JBNemeth
    @JBNemeth 10 місяців тому +230

    If only my teachers in high school had had this ability to present math in this way.... I'm grateful to finally be able to understand/grasp these concepts.

    • @tannerman46
      @tannerman46 9 місяців тому +13

      Unfortunately making a UA-cam video is completely different from teaching a class, and teaching is not scripted

    • @jmc8076
      @jmc8076 9 місяців тому +4

      Teaching is live vs having an editing team for a content creator on social media w/millions of views. First relies on a fraction of the income and does their own prep. Not saying this channel didn’t take effort to build just not a fair comparison.

    • @tylerhaslam2083
      @tylerhaslam2083 9 місяців тому +4

      I have had this conversation with my class. About 5% of students are riveted-- having in every word. The other 95% are zoned out.

    • @rev0live752
      @rev0live752 9 місяців тому

      you didnt learn anything from this video its just an illusion

  • @3548374
    @3548374 Рік тому +29

    I know, I know... Hungarian is a pretty difficult language, but if you just tap listen in the Google translator, you will be amazed, how big the difference pronouncing Bolyai János in English and in Hungarian.
    As a proud Hungarian, I thank you for this video!

    • @claudiomarcelosilva1087
      @claudiomarcelosilva1087 22 дні тому +1

      Yes, it sounds like bow-yah-y yahn-noz (in Hungarian, like in East Asian languages, family name is said first).

  • @cbwavy
    @cbwavy Рік тому +42

    15:57. That is devastating. Imagine if Bolyai and Gauss actually collaborated.

  • @frozenburrito9313
    @frozenburrito9313 14 днів тому

    An observational cosmologist here, seeing the work of our field appears in the video brings tears to my eyes!!!

  • @flintsparks8406
    @flintsparks8406 Рік тому +333

    The amount of work Veritasium puts in his videos is amazing

    • @barnabas.csermely
      @barnabas.csermely Рік тому +4

      Literally doesn't know how to pronounce the MAIN guy's name. Did a 30 minute video and didn't bother to press play on Wikipedia next to the name.

    • @iateuranium-235forbreakfas7
      @iateuranium-235forbreakfas7 Рік тому +11

      he definitly has a production team working on the videos with him, but that doesnt take away from the passion he puts into explaining the topics he covers

    • @kevinmahaley4916
      @kevinmahaley4916 Рік тому

      He's good but he's been wrong on some things

    • @Nyxyz999
      @Nyxyz999 Рік тому +3

      ​@@kevinmahaley4916maybe because he's human?

    • @ekksoku
      @ekksoku Рік тому

      @@kevinmahaley4916 wish I knew what being wrong was like, luckily I'm infallible

  • @kolakoala6702
    @kolakoala6702 Рік тому +396

    Hi Derek!
    I send you greetings from Göttingen. Right now, while I'm watching this, I am sitting at the Gauss Tower in the cities forest east of Göttingen and I am deeply touched by the emotional gravitas and the history behind the place and it's meaning for human society in conection with the 2000 years of history of the topic of your video. This is truly an intense moment for me it will probably stay in my mind for many, many years to come. Thank you very much ❤

    • @moonman8450
      @moonman8450 Рік тому +7

      As a Geismaraner I can see the tower every day but as far as I can remember the last time I visited the tower was over 15 years ago 😅

    • @tarmorboi5307
      @tarmorboi5307 Рік тому +13

      As soon as he started to talk about Gauss and Göttingen, I thought about going to the Gaussturm to admire the stars and get high on my curiosity about this universe we live in :)

    • @tarmorboi5307
      @tarmorboi5307 Рік тому +7

      Göttingers unite!!🚀

    • @sjsomething4936
      @sjsomething4936 Рік тому +9

      A new place to add to my bucket list! Enjoy your contemplations ☮️

    • @thitran6105
      @thitran6105 Рік тому

      ok

  • @meemdic8682
    @meemdic8682 9 місяців тому +201

    Related note: if you’re interested in seeing more of and playing around with hyperbolic (and possibly others) geometry, I highly recommend the videogame HyperRogue.
    It’s a top-down (with poincare projection by default) roguelike, but also features many tools for building projections, tilings and pictures. It’s unique, offers an interesting point of view on a lot of these things and plays around with them in many different ways.

    • @silviodc1309
      @silviodc1309 9 місяців тому +11

      the game Hyperbolica brings it even into 3D/VR

    • @meemdic8682
      @meemdic8682 9 місяців тому

      @@silviodc1309 So does Hyperrogue!

    • @themagicnerf
      @themagicnerf 7 місяців тому +1

      @@silviodc1309 Side note: If you have motion sickness, that game will quite literally throw you into a coma.

  • @elijahmeinhard4780
    @elijahmeinhard4780 8 днів тому +1

    18:20 I would argue that the word defines the words in the definitions. The postulate tell us what a line is so we can infer what a part is.

  • @Ad_Valorem
    @Ad_Valorem Рік тому +81

    This is one of the best science/math videos - informative, well-organized, and produced - I've ever seen on UA-cam. Thanks!

    • @realdragon
      @realdragon Рік тому +1

      And sometimes not true at all

    • @devshankarnair6344
      @devshankarnair6344 Рік тому +1

      @@realdragon then in your opinion which one is?

    • @realdragon
      @realdragon Рік тому

      @@devshankarnair6344 I don't watch that much pop science channels, I know Dr. Becky is astrophysicists delivering news on astrophysics. From math I know few, 3 blue 1 brown, mathologer and flammable maths

  • @alexandresofman3600
    @alexandresofman3600 Рік тому +81

    So many times I wished I paid more attention to math. It was difficult in high school. My cousin spent quite a few hours teaching me algebra. And I hated it until I started making a little progress. With a little more time it felt like a dam broke and finally, everything was making sense. Math is so beautiful. It's like a language that machines understand and humans who speak different languages do too. And if you feel that it's not your thing just remember that you just need a little more time. Of course, there are people who just get it, and most of us will never reach that level. How Newton came up with Calculus at 27 years of age is beyond me. Recently I watched a documentary about how Cruise Ships are made and operated. Some parts are so precise they can only be made in one country and in one special place that makes those parts. While watching it it occurred to me that there is someone who knows everything about this ship top to bottom and it blew my mind. Of course, some are more specific, like food preparation, doctors, security personnel, or how to find staff that is fluent in more than one language. It's almost like a small country on water. Amazing!

    • @JorgMeyer-dr4eh
      @JorgMeyer-dr4eh Рік тому +3

      Could you please share the documentary? 🤔

    • @neonfroot
      @neonfroot Рік тому +6

      Isaac Newyon was a prodigy. He also was born into nobikity I think.
      It wasnt uncommon for peoppe to achieve landmarks before the age of thirty back then.
      Also the reason why math is difficult is because the way schools teach it is impractical.

    • @martiddy
      @martiddy Рік тому +4

      He was actually 24 when he invented Calculus. However, there's also proof that Leibniz made his own attributions to Calculus at the same time

    • @HateBear-real
      @HateBear-real Рік тому +1

      Unless you're an unusual prodigy in it, I think you need at least one good math teacher to get into it at least to the level of formal logic and algebra, which sets everything else up for you. The first year I went to public school, I was lucky to actually have a good math teacher, and it really set me up for life as far as logic and math go.

  • @ClutchCps
    @ClutchCps Рік тому +797

    It's always nice to see Professor Kontorovich in a Veritasium video. You can see that he really loves what he is talking about.

    • @ccost
      @ccost Рік тому +5

      bro how many videos do u comment on for me to keep seeing you

    • @ginalley
      @ginalley Рік тому +11

      @@Joe-sg9ll You'd be happy to know that mathematics proved that mathematics has true statements that cannot be proven

    • @M2ProMBP
      @M2ProMBP Рік тому +1

      All of you liking bot comments 😂😂😂

    • @carnap355
      @carnap355 Рік тому

      wot

    • @carnap355
      @carnap355 Рік тому

      wat

  • @claudetowery6227
    @claudetowery6227 3 місяці тому +3

    A vocabulary edit might help in videos about distance. “Farther” is correct for distance. “Further” is correct for time and metaphorical distance.

  • @eduardovalenzuela5304
    @eduardovalenzuela5304 Рік тому +10

    Thanks for the video! I love reviewing and scrutinizing the foundations of math. It is very exciting stuff! Is their any book like Euclid's for today's maths? Or is there any book that gives an exhaustive overview list of all the branches, fields, subfields, sub-subfields, sub-sub-subfields, and so on in maths?

  • @LordGino
    @LordGino Рік тому +22

    21:17 The man is falling from a skyscraper.
    Everyone: "Call an ambulance!".
    Einstein: *Is joyful*💀
    Of course I know is just for the animation.

  • @bhuiafuibawerf
    @bhuiafuibawerf Рік тому +102

    As an EE and ham radio enthusiast, the Poincaré disk looked very familiar -- this transformation from 2D euclidian space to a finite-sized disk is exactly what we do to visualize complex impedances more easily. It's called a Smith diagram, it's an invaluable tool, and using it feels like doing black magic.

  • @atanusingha2680
    @atanusingha2680 Місяць тому

    Man! I truly believe that you are doing more for Physics and Science in general than most published author. Kudos!! Never stop.

  • @billhollings6567
    @billhollings6567 Рік тому +206

    As usual, a wonderfully interesting and informative video!
    I absolutely love how the story evolved from a simple, dry, millennia-old mathematics axiom we learn in high school, to an almost incomprehensible explanation of the structure of the entire universe.

    • @thoatran2718
      @thoatran2718 Рік тому +2

      ok

    • @sumathipitchaimani
      @sumathipitchaimani 11 місяців тому

      What is the difference between an axiom and a postulate

    • @FPSIreland2
      @FPSIreland2 11 місяців тому

      @@sumathipitchaimani same thing, different words

    • @mohammadahmednooruddin5990
      @mohammadahmednooruddin5990 11 місяців тому

      ​@@sumathipitchaimani actually, there is no difference between an axiom and a postulate in modern mathematics but euclid differentiated between them as such: Postulates were specific to geometry but axioms were general mathematical statements holding for all forms of maths

  • @CosmoTechChronicles
    @CosmoTechChronicles Рік тому +446

    Your passion for what you do is contagious. It's evident that you genuinely love creating content, and that enthusiasm translates into an enjoyable viewing experience for your audience. Keep that passion alive!

    • @tomaccino
      @tomaccino Рік тому

      Of course all youtoobers love creating content because of that sweet sweet ad revenue and sponsorships 😂

    • @Tbwtas402
      @Tbwtas402 Рік тому

      F

    • @IIllqpllll
      @IIllqpllll Рік тому

      向导 不 佐 奥兹
      Xiàngdǎo bù zuǒ ào zī

    • @abnerasturias6380
      @abnerasturias6380 Рік тому +1

      Oh well, Science GOES Hollywood !!!

    • @nadarith1044
      @nadarith1044 Рік тому

      @@tomaccino Go generalize massive numbers of people through your cynicism elsewhere

  • @tachyeonine
    @tachyeonine Рік тому +61

    It just blows my mind how everything has adds from the past body of work of mathematicians to the current body of work in different fields. During academics we just know mathematics is in the core of everything but this channel just initiates and finishes the stories we never knew they needed to be told. Thanks @Veritasium

  • @xmystictitan6347
    @xmystictitan6347 Місяць тому

    Vertasium just explained the craziest thing in the simplest way possible, props to him i love this channel

  • @bocicsoki
    @bocicsoki Рік тому +20

    Glad that people now can know more about Bólyai. His name is pronounced (sg like) bow-ya-ee, with the stress on the first syllable, not bully-eye, though. Awesome video!

  • @bob-pc9no
    @bob-pc9no Рік тому +499

    To think that if Euclid had not included his 5th postulate in his text, Einstein might not have discovered general relativity. Amazing to think how past discoveries actively shape the discoveries we make today.

    • @QueekHeadtaker
      @QueekHeadtaker Рік тому +45

      Great confidence to include it, despite the seemingly insane implications that came with it.

    • @sdbszz706
      @sdbszz706 Рік тому +26

      Standing on the shoulders of giants

    • @maolcogi
      @maolcogi Рік тому +39

      Think about anything we take for granted nowadays. The screen you're looking at, who invented the materials, the manufacturing process, the coding to make it work, the electrical system powering it, everything ...
      There are so many ridiculously old inventions that made the device you're reading this on possible. And to think I'm impressed when I'm able to eat macaroni and cheese without getting cheese all over my moustache.

    • @jasonrubik
      @jasonrubik Рік тому +3

      ​@@maolcogimaolcogi doodle stuck a feather in his mustache and called it macaroni

    • @EebstertheGreat
      @EebstertheGreat Рік тому +15

      If Euclid had not included his fifth postulate, his theory would have been too weak to prove most of the theorems he wanted to prove, and it never would have been an influential book in the first place. Then Archimedes or someone else would have come along and improved it by adding a similar postulate. There's really no way around it, and it wasn't a "choice" _per se._

  • @thomas6502
    @thomas6502 Рік тому +67

    Mind continually blown. Thank you Dr. Muller (and cohorts) for your efforts to make this extraordinary topic accessible to aspiring minds like this one.

  • @GREGGRCO
    @GREGGRCO Місяць тому

    THANK YOU !!!!
    I wish I had been exposed to your video 58 years ago. The WORK they have put into ALL of this is incredible. The puzzle pieceS you've given me are overwhelming. Awesome.
    Thanks !

  • @fikipilot
    @fikipilot Рік тому +26

    Derek, this was a fun journey. Thank you for taking us on this journey. Brilliantly produced. I was a pilot and flight instructor, now I am a high school teacher; from one educator to another, I would like to honor you with a compliment on how amazing of an educator you are. You are a phenomenal teacher. I consider myself a competent instructor and intelligent person dedicated to being a lifelong student, but it is my opinion that you are in a league of your own. I think educator is one role you can confidently say you are a master. Master educator, check. Professors could learn from you.

  • @marcoparco_9564
    @marcoparco_9564 Рік тому +337

    How is this video available for free? the production quality, the storytelling and the animations are all perfect. Veritasium is truly levelling up every video.

    • @davidk676
      @davidk676 Рік тому +11

      Thank advertising

    • @SilentRacer911
      @SilentRacer911 Рік тому +19

      He’s a multimillionaire thanks to his patrons, advertising and YT views. That’s how it’s free (because it was also released earlier on Patreon)

    • @MidwestFarmToys
      @MidwestFarmToys Рік тому +2

      No

    • @JuanWonOne
      @JuanWonOne Рік тому +15

      He got the most valuable thing from you, time. Nothing is free

    • @TheMaidenOnes
      @TheMaidenOnes Рік тому

      ​@@JuanWonOnewell, we got educated in return. so i think we got the better part of the deal ;)

  • @zapantalambda
    @zapantalambda Рік тому +39

    Far out ! This blew my mind away and Math is not even my strongest suit.
    So compelling, easy to understand, seamless narration and nicely presented. Thank you for this .

  • @GoodShepheardGames
    @GoodShepheardGames 7 місяців тому +4

    Isn't it wild how, the further history goes back the more people loved to learn anything and everything. And now that we have most information at our fingertips we hate learning things

    • @voidmain9519
      @voidmain9519 2 місяці тому +3

      Exactly right! I usually wonder the same. Because so much information, knowledge at my fingertips and I don't even even raise my finger to learn the things that have been here all along. I guess it's because of easy access and availability people take it for granted and postpone or ignore it. We're, most are intentionally ignorant and lazy.

    • @prateekpanwar646
      @prateekpanwar646 2 місяці тому +2

      ​@@voidmain9519 The information we're given now a days is very very catered to our taste due to algorithms. Books allowed us to choose as library had every genre. While videos are selected by algorithms.
      It's one of the issues that how it's presented. We no longer get vegetables and make fresh dish. We can only buy ready to eat meal which is boring.

  • @Kyanzes
    @Kyanzes Рік тому +557

    Just a side note: Bolyai is pronounced as Boyai or Bo-ya-e. The "ly" is an old form of "j" in Hungarian which is pronounced similarly to the English "y". Cool video.

    • @sujoms
      @sujoms Рік тому +8

      Haha I just wrote the same.

    • @csokasg
      @csokasg Рік тому +31

      Yes, he should have asked/looked it up how to pronunciate his name :)

    • @melybuvar
      @melybuvar Рік тому +27

      It was really bugging me during the video. Not a hard task to check the pronouncing on google translate... On the other hand great video

    • @majdnemkocka
      @majdnemkocka Рік тому +21

      Yeah, the very first line in the Wikipedia article on Bolyai gives the pronunciation as [ˈjaːnoʃ ˈboːjɒi], it wouldn't have been that hard to look up.

    • @akosbakonyi5749
      @akosbakonyi5749 Рік тому +48

      I am Hungarian I didn’t realise he was talking about Bolyai until the middle of the video when it was written on the screen 😅

  • @ilikemoviesandmore
    @ilikemoviesandmore Рік тому +23

    This is insanely good. Explanations of the fundamentals of math, the interesting histories of the people behind them, what they teach us about the universe, all with really high production values. I simply love this video.

  • @learninggodot
    @learninggodot Рік тому +16

    I am a physics and astronomy student and next week I have exams, was getting really demotivated due to the difficulty, but this video re-ignited the candle of my interest. Thanks

  • @matthewcarlton5693
    @matthewcarlton5693 5 місяців тому

    This video should win the Nobel Prize for the category of explaining really hard and interesting math for masses.

  • @chesson6464
    @chesson6464 Рік тому +36

    Amazing video Derek. Sometimes you go too deep for my pea-size brain when you do maths or physics videos, but this time you really nailed it. Bravo and thank you.

  • @erictaylor5462
    @erictaylor5462 10 місяців тому +84

    16:00 The amount of human suffering that is born of misunderstanding, or assumptions that are in error is astonishing.

    • @borisborcic
      @borisborcic 9 місяців тому +5

      ambiguities are like microbes, the pathogenic ones steal the attention...

    • @nerobaal6655
      @nerobaal6655 2 місяці тому

      I believe they’ve all made a few.

  • @Iluhajjot
    @Iluhajjot 8 місяців тому +278

    Great video, but a bit weird that Lobachevsky is mentioned so briefly - he developed non-euclidian geometry earlier than Bolyai and in more detail. Lobachevsky definitely deserves more than just 3 seconds in a video about non-euclidian geometry which he pioneered.

    • @misslayer999
      @misslayer999 6 місяців тому +86

      I think he just really wanted to tell that fencing story

    • @B.E.Z.nOtLayZ
      @B.E.Z.nOtLayZ 5 місяців тому +8

      It's because Non-Euclidic. Check out Terrance Howard latest podcast with Eric Weinstein and you'll further understand why he only got a 3 seconds mention

    • @axialagegamer
      @axialagegamer 3 місяці тому +7

      He didn't duel enough dudes to make a fun video, tho. 😅

    • @hardboo
      @hardboo 3 місяці тому +2

      He's Russian, a russian genius.

    • @benkamen
      @benkamen 3 місяці тому +8

      @@B.E.Z.nOtLayZu gotta be kidding

  • @currawong2011
    @currawong2011 6 місяців тому

    This is what videos on UA-cam should look like but which, for the greater most part, they do not. Much appreciated.

  • @sabotagedgamerz
    @sabotagedgamerz Рік тому +76

    I love maths and I’ve always been intrigued by hyperbolic geometry, not to such a degree as to study it formally, but to look into it. This video, finally explained to me the motivation for hyperbolic, and spherical, geometry. Thanks for the insight. At some point I will certainly study non-Euclidean geometry formally.

  • @ankokuraven
    @ankokuraven Рік тому +44

    The way you make the audience connect with deep mathematical concepts as if they were intuitive and tangible speaks volumes to your skill as a communicator.
    Doing math viscerally hurts me, lol, but understanding the meaning of the math and how it applies to the nature of reality is endlessly fascinating.
    Your ability to translate the deep lore into a wondrous understanding is invaluable to me.

  • @iamleonidus1742
    @iamleonidus1742 11 місяців тому +82

    So what I've gathered from this video is that flat earthers just aren't thinking large enough. The earth may not be flat the universe is

    • @Bynk333
      @Bynk333 9 місяців тому +2

      Wait flat universe? We are in Petri dish? :D

    • @joebeastyg5686
      @joebeastyg5686 9 місяців тому

      Not going to lie, this video has me on the edge. One thing I believe can still remain true.... Just because what we see above our heads my have a certain shape doesn't mean that the ground below us has to have the same.

    • @charlesherman286
      @charlesherman286 9 місяців тому

      No no no, the flat earthers are right. The earth IS flat, it just exists as a large mass in a spherical universe

    • @WTfire10
      @WTfire10 9 місяців тому +2

      Problem is these guys deny the existence of the universe too.

    • @joebeastyg5686
      @joebeastyg5686 9 місяців тому

      @@WTfire10 Who are "these guys"?

  • @Taki47G
    @Taki47G 26 днів тому

    If there is a museum for online content, this video should be one of its most valuable relics.

  • @jozsefbodnar6177
    @jozsefbodnar6177 Рік тому +327

    Just a small remark from a Hungarian mathematician: Bolyai is pronounced "Bo-yay" (with an extremely short "o" just like in "Mom") rather than "Bow-ley-eye"... It was very weird to hear this familiar name consistently pronounced that way :D
    For the content, I believe more details about the spherical geometry could have been useful: it might be a bit confusing first to say that "0 parallels is ruled out" and then coming up with a model with 0 parallels.

    • @peterfireflylund
      @peterfireflylund Рік тому +12

      He said it was disregarded by everybody because it was “obviously” nonsense. Turned out, it wasn’t nonsense.

    • @adityakhanna113
      @adityakhanna113 Рік тому +35

      Now you know how indian mathematicians feel when people talk about Ramanujan

    • @barnabas.csermely
      @barnabas.csermely Рік тому +31

      Amíg nem láttam a nevét kiírva full nem tudtam kiről beszél

    • @VitezGonye
      @VitezGonye Рік тому +4

      @@barnabas.csermely same

    • @adaliszk
      @adaliszk Рік тому +14

      Until I saw it written I totally thought Bolyai was not Hungarian :D

  • @MJfromKAR
    @MJfromKAR Рік тому +17

    A single sentence about Lobachevsky in a 30-minute video? Bravo,Monsieur!

  • @spunktasticjismmonkey8569
    @spunktasticjismmonkey8569 Рік тому +177

    I've always had some kind of mental block when it comes to taking in mathematics, like a minor learning disability, but this video was made in a way where I could follow and understand what was being explained. Thank you for that. 😊

    • @tka3
      @tka3 Рік тому +12

      That's the magic of a professional science communicator

  • @teeteringonthebrink.305
    @teeteringonthebrink.305 4 місяці тому +1

    When I watch a video like this, usually out of curiosity, it makes me realise how ignorant and unintelligent I actually am. How such many great minds throughout history attempt to make sense of the world around us and actually achieve the feat. I wouldn't know where to begin. And their achievements have given (some of) us the understanding we have today. My intelligence is closer to that of a gnat than it is to the names mentioned in this video. Scientists, mathematicians, archaeologists et al...thank you for your work and the knowledge bestowed upon the rest of us, even though it's always hard for yours truly to get his head around!