The magic of maths
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2013
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tim Harford speaks to Persi Diaconis, top professor of maths and statistics and legendary magician. The Stanford University professor and co-author of the book "Magical Mathematics" has an enthralling story to tell of how he discovered magic as a boy, and then, as a consequence, a love of maths. And to illustrate how closely maths and magic are linked, Crossing Continents editor and the BBC's in-house magician, Hugh Levinson, performs a mathemagical card trick - see the performance below. This programme was broadcast on the BBC World Service. The interview was recorded in 2011.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:04.0 | The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use go to BBCWorldService.com |
| 0:10.0 | Slash Podcasts. |
| 0:14.0 | Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:18.0 | We're your guide to the numbers that surround us in the news and in life. |
| 0:22.0 | And I'm Tim Harford. |
| 0:24.0 | It's a trick that I've studied and developed hidden behind it |
| 0:28.0 | and rather elegant mathematics, it's not so hard. |
| 0:32.0 | We're honoured to have a guest appearance from a top of professor of maths and statistics. |
| 0:37.0 | Percy Diaconis is by all accounts of brilliant mathematician and a brilliant magician. |
| 0:42.0 | Before we speak to the great man himself, I've booked another special treat. |
| 0:46.0 | Someone who can demonstrate one of Percy's tricks right in front of my eyes. |
| 0:51.0 | The editor of Crossing Continent, Hugh Levinson, doubles as the BBC's in-house magician. |
| 0:57.0 | Now, you've seen these cards, they're completely normal cards. |
| 1:01.0 | I'd like you to take off, I'd know about a third of the deck, something like that. |
| 1:05.0 | Okay, so I've got 20 or so cards in my hand. |
| 1:07.0 | What we're going to do is we're going to mix them in six different ways. |
| 1:11.0 | And what I like to do is to shuffle overhand. |
| 1:13.0 | So just the regular... |
| 1:15.0 | Regular, incredibly comfortable shuffle. |
| 1:17.0 | And that's what I do. |
| 1:18.0 | Okay, right, so I've done that. |
... |
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