How The Most Useless Branch of Math Could Save Your Life

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My earphones discover all 352,152,252 knots half a second after entering my pocket.

Veritasium's graphic designer would have become a physicist by now. It must take a lot of understanding on their part to learn the concept first and then visualize how to demonstrate it. It is just mind-blowing.

The mathematicians missed the opportunity to name it 'Notknot'.

Although I wouldn't in a hundred years choose to study knots, it never fails to inspire me how people take up these causes, pushing esoteric fields forward for nothing more than a pure love of the game until eventually their discoveries can be tied to other fields to make important scientific advances. Science really is humanities most collaborative sport.

There is a certain demographic that I hope never finds this extended tribute to knots

As a Ph.D. student in algebraic topology, I am glad to see that different areas of topology are finally getting the attention they deserve.

"Not knot" "Who's there?" The Unknot

I don’t think I’ve ever watched a video that I completely understood while, at the same time, I had no idea what you were talking about. It’s like a miracle. Fascinating subject!

I'm in awe at someone having the patience and skill to visually tie thousands of knots and distinguish duplicates. Thanks for another great story wonderfully told.

Math is so incredible. People just study a phenomenon and it reveals a language that describes the world in ways we didn't know of before. Wonder what fields of maths exist that we have yet to study

Hello internet, welcome to Knot theory

I've started to lace my shoes like this ~2 years ago when I realized its symetry and aesthetism, but never paid attention to its tightness. Thank you for this great video, as always !

Fun fact: making sure you're doing a square knot instead of a granny knot is also very important in surgery. They are taught to alternate the way they secure off the suture.

When it comes to avoiding knots in headphones, my easy way that I have used for years is to simply not allow the endpoints into the storage case. If it is a zippered pouch, just leave the earbuds and the plug hanging outside the zipper. You can just grab the entire length of cable and shove it in the zipper pouch as a massive wad if you want, just leave the ends outside the zipper, and you will have no knots. Same story if you put them in your pocket. Just leave the ends sticking out of the pocket and you get no knots.

i love that I never know in which rabbit hole I am going to fall into when I watch your videos but it`s always incredibly fascinating! Thank you for your valuable content!

Many of your videos i watch and enjoy your explanations yet only begin to grasp the concepts. Some I’m still clueless yet i love to know how much i don’t know about the world. Thank you for them all.

Derek has been killing it with the math videos lately

Just to avoid potential confusion for those folks moving to a squar knot for tying their shoes, its actually isnt just clockwise or counter clock wise, it depends on how the first overhand knot you make is tied, whether its the left side going over then under or vice versa. It also depends on if you make the loop on the left or right side. So check to look if it actually appears like a squar knot to confirm.

This is amazing Im so glad I watched this till the end to see what it could be used for. It’s a lot to digest and I have a certain problem concentrating but I made it. Thank you for posting.