Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Check out Jane Street's icosahedron puzzle:
janestreet.com/IMO2022
2022 International Mathematical Olympiad!
imo2022.org
If you want those d60 and d120 we sell them on Maths Gear or you can go direct to The Dice Lab.
mathsgear.co.uk/collections/dice
mathartfun.com/thedicelab.com/d120.html
Here is my terrible python code.
github.com/standupmaths/higher_of_two_rolls
Thanks to Gilad Levy for sending in the question. This is the best collection of maths about the problem we found at the time: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/14690/how-does-rolling-two-d20-and-taking-the-higher-affect-the-average-outcome
But much of that looks at getting a certain value OR GREATER whereas I focused on specific values and the average value.
I’ve also noticed that Chalkdust just beat me with a similar article. Nice to see a different way (induction) to derive the same probability of getting specific value equation! chalkdustmagazine.com/features/slaying-the-dragon
Cheers to my Patreons for buying me all those dice. If you think I still don't have enough dice, get involved here: patreon.com/standupmaths
CORRECTIONS
- Yes, on the bar chart axis it goes 2%, 4%, 2%, 4% instead of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%. First spotted and pointed out by Deadeaded. It was just because I was copying and pasting in photoshop and forgot to edit it. Not because I was making that chart in a bar.
- At 23:07 I have (n=1) in the graphics which should be (n-1). Or maybe I put in two - and you should pick the highest. (Pointed out by Leick Robinson.)
- Marco Davi correctly noticed that the fifth Rhombic Dodecahedral Number is 369, not the 269 you see at 21:46.
- Let me know if you spot any other mistakes!
Filming and editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Dice gluing by Alex Genn-Bash
Putting 1/n in front of everything by 1/nMatt 1/nParker
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson
Check out Jane Street's icosahedron puzzle:
janestreet.com/IMO2022
2022 International Mathematical Olympiad!
imo2022.org
If you want those d60 and d120 we sell them on Maths Gear or you can go direct to The Dice Lab.
mathsgear.co.uk/collections/dice
mathartfun.com/thedicelab.com/d120.html
Here is my terrible python code.
github.com/standupmaths/higher_of_two_rolls
Thanks to Gilad Levy for sending in the question. This is the best collection of maths about the problem we found at the time: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/14690/how-does-rolling-two-d20-and-taking-the-higher-affect-the-average-outcome
But much of that looks at getting a certain value OR GREATER whereas I focused on specific values and the average value.
I’ve also noticed that Chalkdust just beat me with a similar article. Nice to see a different way (induction) to derive the same probability of getting specific value equation! chalkdustmagazine.com/features/slaying-the-dragon
Cheers to my Patreons for buying me all those dice. If you think I still don't have enough dice, get involved here: patreon.com/standupmaths
CORRECTIONS
- Yes, on the bar chart axis it goes 2%, 4%, 2%, 4% instead of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%. First spotted and pointed out by Deadeaded. It was just because I was copying and pasting in photoshop and forgot to edit it. Not because I was making that chart in a bar.
- At 23:07 I have (n=1) in the graphics which should be (n-1). Or maybe I put in two - and you should pick the highest. (Pointed out by Leick Robinson.)
- Marco Davi correctly noticed that the fifth Rhombic Dodecahedral Number is 369, not the 269 you see at 21:46.
- Let me know if you spot any other mistakes!
Filming and editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Dice gluing by Alex Genn-Bash
Putting 1/n in front of everything by 1/nMatt 1/nParker
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson

![The 1890 US Census and the history of punchcard computing [feat. Grant of 3blue1brown fame]
Thanks to Grant Sanderson (of 3blue1brown fame) for joining me on a fun day out! Best double-check you are definitely subscribed to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/3blue1brown
If you are ever in the Bay Area you should totally check out the Computer History Museum.
https://computerhistory.org/
Bubbles Whiting - Using Punch Cards - Hollerith and IBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7jAOcc9kBU
Read more about the Hollerith Tabulator!
https://www.census.gov/history/www/innovations/technology/the_hollerith_tabulator.html
Ben Eater makes amazing videos about computing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0N5baNlQWJCUrhCEo8WlA
Buy the doubling sequence signed by Matt Parker and Grant Sanderson.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362981493936
All the money from the sale of Stand-up Maths memorabilia goes to charity. WaterAid is working hard to provide sanitation and hand-washing facilities in places which desperately need them, so either bid on the auction or donate to them directly. https://www.wateraid.org/uk/
CORRECTIONS
- Nothing yet. Let me know if you spot anything!
Thanks to Jane Street who are the principle sponsor of my channel. Theyre amazing.
https://www.janestreet.com/
Thanks to my Patreon supports who do support these videos and make them possible. Here is a random subset:
Tracy Parry
Iain Kings
Maksym Borodin
Alex Hackman
James
Lasse T. Stendan
Samuel Ytterbrink
Sjoerd Wennekes
Cooper Jones
Piotr
Support my channel and I can make more videos:
https://www.patreon.com/standupmaths
Filming by Matt Parker
Editing by Michelle Martin
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: http://standupmaths.com/
US book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610964/humble-pi-by-matt-parker/
UK book: https://mathsgear.co.uk/products/5b9fa76f230ffa140094dc43
Nerdy maths toys: http://mathsgear.co.uk/ The 1890 US Census and the history of punchcard computing [feat. Grant of 3blue1brown fame]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YBnBAzrWeF0/mqdefault.jpg)


![General Relativity: Top 05 Mishaps [inc INTERSTELLAR]
Check out A Podcast of Unnecessary Detail: https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/podcast/
This is the Maths Inspiration show Im going with Eugénie on 24 November: http://www.mathsinspiration.com/events/?id=123
We have passes for schools as well as for people watching from home.
Huge thanks to Eugénie von Tunzelmann for being my coolest friend and for taking the time to chat with me for this video. Check out all the films she has worked on!
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1590981/
Gravitational Lensing by Spinning Black Holes in Astrophysics, and in the Movie Interstellar
https://arxiv.org/abs/1502.03808
Read the free book Reflections on Relativity by Kevin Brown
https://www.mathpages.com/rr/rrtoc.htm
This is an archive of their old post about the time dilatiopause. Complete with retro ASCII equations.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!original/sci.physics/2VrFGgiVPi8/F4KK_9MWrlMJ
Thanks to Cleon Teunissen for emailing in with a bunch of useful details. http://www.cleonis.nl/
And they recommend this book chapter for more on why the shape of the Earth is an isochrone: http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~kite/doc/Geodynamics_Turcotte_Schubert_part_of_ch_5.pdf
Speed dilation equation:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Relativ/tdil.html#c2
Gravity dilation equation:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Relativ/gratim.html#c4
CORRECTIONS:
- Yes, the diagram of the photon clock on the train has a light path of over 45° from the vertical which means the train is going faster than the speed of light. Let’s just agree the train (and everything within it) is not to scale!
- Let me know if you spot any more mistakes!
Thanks to my Patreons who mean I can film hours of myself talking about relativity and then ask Alex to edit that into something which makes sense. Here is a random subset of those fine Patreon People:
Markus Herrmann
Chris Connett
Elaine Hewitson
Neil McGovern
Paul LeVan
Claire Greenhalgh
Erin Eldridge
Loren Thomas
Patrick Stover
Glenn Watson
https://www.patreon.com/standupmaths
As always: thanks to Jane Street who support my channel. Theyre amazing.
https://www.janestreet.com/
Filming and editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Animations by William Marler
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson
Clips from Interstellar (2014) are all copyright some combination of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. and I thought we could all agree my use here is pretty fair. But they have already put a copyright claim in on this video, so theres that.
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: http://standupmaths.com/
US book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610964/humble-pi-by-matt-parker/
UK book: https://mathsgear.co.uk/collections/books/products/humble-pi-signed-paperback General Relativity: Top 05 Mishaps [inc INTERSTELLAR]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z4oy6mnkyW4/mqdefault.jpg)





