Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
RungeBot on both twitter (for now!) and mastodon.
twitter.com/rungebot
https://mathstodon.xyz/@RungeBot
Yes, I'm on mastodon: https://mathstodon.xyz/@standupmaths
Huge thanks to Matthew Scroggs for letting me turn his MathsJam talk into a video and helping me out with all of the animations. mscroggs.co.uk
Here is the MENACE Scroggs video I mentioned: youtube.com/watch?v=R9c-_neaxeU
Thanks also to Dave Hartburn for doing the flat earth digging. His MathsJam slides are here: mathsjam.com/assets/talks/2022/B%20Dave%20Hartburn%20-%20Maths%20or%20conspiracy.pdf
Cheers to Ben Sparks for making that geogebra file. bensparks.co.uk
Huge thanks to my Patreon supports. They keep me on the level. patreon.com/standupmaths
CORRECTIONS
- None yet, let me know if you spot anything!
Filming and editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Animations and geogebra by Matthew Scroggs
Some geogebra by Ben Sparks
Diagrams by Sam Hartburn
Written and performed by Matt Parker
Produced by Nicole Jacobus
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson
Legitimate scientist by Professor Lucie Green
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: standupmaths.com
US book: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610964/humble-pi-by-matt-parker
UK book: mathsgear.co.uk/collections/books/products/humble-pi-signed-paperback
RungeBot on both twitter (for now!) and mastodon.
twitter.com/rungebot
https://mathstodon.xyz/@RungeBot
Yes, I'm on mastodon: https://mathstodon.xyz/@standupmaths
Huge thanks to Matthew Scroggs for letting me turn his MathsJam talk into a video and helping me out with all of the animations. mscroggs.co.uk
Here is the MENACE Scroggs video I mentioned: youtube.com/watch?v=R9c-_neaxeU
Thanks also to Dave Hartburn for doing the flat earth digging. His MathsJam slides are here: mathsjam.com/assets/talks/2022/B%20Dave%20Hartburn%20-%20Maths%20or%20conspiracy.pdf
Cheers to Ben Sparks for making that geogebra file. bensparks.co.uk
Huge thanks to my Patreon supports. They keep me on the level. patreon.com/standupmaths
CORRECTIONS
- None yet, let me know if you spot anything!
Filming and editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Animations and geogebra by Matthew Scroggs
Some geogebra by Ben Sparks
Diagrams by Sam Hartburn
Written and performed by Matt Parker
Produced by Nicole Jacobus
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson
Legitimate scientist by Professor Lucie Green
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: standupmaths.com
US book: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610964/humble-pi-by-matt-parker
UK book: mathsgear.co.uk/collections/books/products/humble-pi-signed-paperback










![How fast is a bullet? [featuring: pendulum calculation]
Thanks to the Cambridge Engineering Department for building the pendulum.
http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/
Much appreciation to Maria Kettle and Cambridge Engineering Outreach for organising the day.
http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/events-and-outreach/schools-and-community-outreach
And Hugh was there.
http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh1/
The Cambridge University Rifle Association were super helpful and let us take over their range for most of the day! Katherine Fleck was our expert shooter with infinite patience.
http://cura.soc.srcf.net/
If you have other suggestions for calculating the speed of a bullet: let me know!
CORRECTIONS
- At 3:17 the close-up shows the sliding box already taped to a piece of paper. I only noticed when uploading that we had used this shot from later in the day by accident. It should have been the shot of the box sliding off the pendulum platform. Our solution to fix this problem was to tape it to a piece of paper.
- A few people have asked why we didn’t use a “chronograph”. We did actually use one which detects the movement of the bullet using infrared sensors. But the .22 bullet was too small to trip them.
- People have commented that we didn’t need to use the equation for the period as we know the length of the pendulum and the value of g. But the period is really easy to measure accurately by letting the pendulum swing for ages. Length could be measured fairly accurately (guessing the centre of mass) but g would require an extra assumption.
- Let me know if you spot anything else!
Thanks to my Patreon supports who do support these videos and make them possible. Here is a random subset:
Nicholas Main
Julian Metzler
Amanda Pagul
Christopher Wilson
Claire Greenhalgh
Support my channel and I can make more maths videos:
https://www.patreon.com/standupmaths
Music by Howard Carter
Filming and editing by Trunkman Productions
Sound production by Peter Doggart
Design by Simon Wright
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: http://standupmaths.com/
NEW BOOKk: http://wwwh.umble-pi.com
Nerdy maths toys: http://mathsgear.co.uk/ How fast is a bullet? [featuring: pendulum calculation]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IoYm8lcJQ0o/mqdefault.jpg)