How good are Mathematicians at estimating 1 meter? (Not very)
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Some Tom Foolery from behind the scenes at the recent Number City project in Orkney!
Too long for a short.
The Orkney Science Festival was so cool, at one point I was in a swimming pool with a bunch of physicists and 50 Orcadians, learning about gravitational waves and listening to experimental techno made with the sound of the LIGO gravitational wave chips. There were speakers above and below the water so you could hear how the waves move differently through different mediums. It was rad.
Don’t worry I have a few proper videos in the works and I will get them to you as soon as possible! If I’m being very honest most of my time this week has been taken up by producing a short documentary film on the discovery of a 12 year old unopened can of limited edition fiery irn bru and my brother’s quest to drink it.
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk (and a genuine thanks for all the support on the channel, it’s exciting and it means so much to me).
I’m convinced nobody reads the descriptions of videos hehehe
I think you phrased the question wrong for mathematicians. You should have asked: "imagine a perfect sphere. Now estimate the diameter is 1 meter and show me how long it is."
Oh, that's easy. Just define your scale such that one meter equals whatever you use as your representation.
"estimate" 🤢
that sounds like prompt engineering
Fun game, but I feel like the judge should be more precise when reading the measuring tape :^) 1:48
Too many Mathematicians in one place. Separate them before they invent Algebra 2.0.
Very cool, great video 😊
Please us updated on the fiery Iron Bru side quest. 🙏
Stupid autocorrect. How dare you not know Scotland's national drink.
Ah, a true connoisseur, reading the description box! Of course I will.
The Fiery Irn Bru drinking is scheduled for tomorrow, hopefully drinking a 12yr expired can of fizzy juice doesn’t have any side effects!
@@Aylieanwill the documentary be on your channel? 😂
I just tried and got 106 cm. I am sitting at my desk, not sure if that made it easier or harder than standing outside.
Why did producer "Nicole" get her name in quote marks?
Those boxes are telling me you are all up to something!
Very much so! I think it might be guessable by the position of the boxes :)
Another clue I will investigate!
You should go to a building site and see how they are.🙂
I am 100% confident they would do better!
Now that's what I call a Parker meter
omg you got to meet Matt Person? so cool
(I read the description
"Give me 3 meters, 14 centimeters."
Let me shape it into a circle and we might have something.
What a clever experiment! A fun little bit of genius. Looking forward to seeing what all those boxes are up to!
What's funny is most guesses for a meter were closer to being a yard (91.44 cm). The US chuckles a bit.
"Wait, it's all yards?"
- "Always has been"
Yards piss me off. They're like the cheap American off-brand version of meter
@@RicoxemaniThey predate the meter because they're about the right size for people.
@@Ricoxemani But you'd buy it if that's all they had, right?
because a yard is closer to about half the size of an ordinary human
What a simple but fantastic concept! Im going to try this tomorrow!
Oh yeah, go for it! Let me know how it goes :)
@@Ayliean 1.04 meters! Pretty chuffed with myself imo
I always succeed at this, but that’s only because as a musician with incredible rhythm who can sight read really quickly, I can count in intervals of 1/299,792,458 and follow the path of photons with my eyes in a vacuum chamber. Also, I don’t breathe.
do you think you get a higher percentage of accuracy with larger distances?
It’s a good question. I think I would be incredibly accurate in the 1mm to 40mm range, that’s my zone.
Being a couple of cm out in the 1m distance changes your percentage accuracy more than being a few cm out in the 3m distance but I think most humans have more experience in the 1m distance. I think the graph of accuracy might go in waves as you reach new orders of magnitude?
Further investigation required!
@@Ayliean that was my thoughts too!! I also wonder about repeat guesses. how many repeats before you get limited improvements in accuracy? and does estimating 3m accurately make you better at estimating 1m? so many questions!
Perhaps too late now, but it would be fun to see if the estimates/guesses correlated well to their heights. I.e. plot height on one axis and the meter estimate on the other and see if it's just random-ish or if people judge short distances relative to their own size.
Im disappointed Matt Parker didnt get 99cm
Ayy 103cm != exactly 100cm
I'm studying industrial maths. These people look gainfully employed
For the love of God, what are the jobs I should be expecting in future. Idk wtf we actually do in the real world.😭
Is this an interview question?😭
why am i so irrationally worried that someone is gonna cut themselves on the edge of that tape measure >.
One of the best arguments PRO imperial is that people have much better estimates on how long a foot is, an inch, a mile, etc. It's all online btw. I live in a metric country so I am NOT campaigning for imperial
Hmm... so they pretty consistently guessed short? I wonder if they would've consistently guessed long if instead of asking them to add distance until they got to 1 meter, you asked them to remove distance from some randomized 2-3ish meter distance until they got to 1!
In their defense, matemathicians know numbers, but they don't actually know what they mean.
1:47
"Mommy can we have 1 meter exactly?"
"We have 1 meter exactly at home"
1 meter exactly at home: 1.02m
☝️ criminally underrated comment, you win best comment of the day
@@Ayliean thank you so much 😂
This would be a more serious question for an engineer
Either perpsective is really bad, or a persons wingspand is not 1m
Should have at the end had someone else hold it and have you try. Did seeing everyone else help you estimate better?
Also, being nearly 3m for pi meters is pretty good.
From nipple to end of opposite hand is very close to one meter.
As boys we're used to be "more" accurate 😭😭
Why should mathematicians estimate correctly how long a meter is ?
americans watchings this: tf is meter
Even with that wide angle lens I could tell he was a good half meter longer than 3.14 meters... and that was converting from imperial units.
It's a similar margin of error to what they'd say 20 cm is.
Even Matt 😂
Looked like a fun time. And I always read the video descriptions 😜
Mathematicians work with Numbers and Symbols.
Physics majors and Engineers work with Units
As an American, I can honestly tell you that I have no clue what a meter even is. We use them to pay for parking where I live.
Fun fact: One meter it is approximately the distance from the beginning of the shoulder to the tip of middle finger of the opposing arm
I gotta admit, I chuckled a lot at this pun 1:05
It was just for you, glad you enjoyed it! 😏
your enthusiasm is so contagious. nothing better than a bunch of nerds doing what they love!
Qual o contexto disso? O que vocês estavam fazendo? Com certeza não estavam nesse campo para adivinharem o tamanho de um metro.
How interesting ! I’m going to try this tomorrow too :)
I'm seeing some Primes written on those boxes 🕵
Awesome video!
The real question is, did your brother skull the whole thing?
The ceremonial drinking of this long lost forgotten can happens tomorrow - so it remains to be seen!
Very entertaining haha
Random fucking Matt Parker. Totally unexpected. Chuckled when he appeared
Next question: how far does light travel in 3.3 nanoseconds?
I think that one's for the physicists
Roughly 1 foot per nanosecond, IIRC a meter is 3.28 feet, so roughly one meter, as expected from the context of the question. 😁
@@JonBraseyeah i think that's how the meter is defined
@@ssrini2002 For about the last 5 years, yes. Before that it was a bit more involved.
A set of mathematicians... nothing good can come from this.