What was the first (known) maths mistake?

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  • čas přidán 8. 12. 2020
  • Thanks to Waterstones for choosing Humble Pi as a 'top 100' paperback of the year.
    www.waterstones.com/book/humb...
    Signed copies are available at Maths Gear. It's cheaper at Waterstones, but not signed. You choose!
    mathsgear.co.uk/collections/b...
    Thanks to Robert Englund and the Free University of Berlin for producing Archaic Bookkeeping. What a niche but amazing book. But be warned: copies are not cheap.
    www.amazon.co.uk/Archaic-Book...
    books.google.co.uk/books/abou...
    Hey look, Kushim has their own wikipedia page!
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushim_...
    CORRECTIONS
    - None spotted yet. Let me know if you locate any mistakes.
    Thanks to Penguin Random House for supporting this video.
    As always: thanks to Jane Street who support my channel. They're amazing.
    www.janestreet.com/
    And thanks to all my Patreon legends. You allow me to take risks and make different videos like this. Will the internet like an all-animated Stand-up Maths video? We'll find out!
    / standupmaths
    Animation by William Marler
    Music and sound by Howard Carter (including the SUM-erian theme remix)
    Written and narrated by Matt Parker
    Beer by Kushim and Nisa
    MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
    Website: standupmaths.com/
    US book: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...
    UK book: mathsgear.co.uk/products/5b9f...
    Nerdy maths toys: mathsgear.co.uk/
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Komentáře • 2,9K

  • @standupmaths
    @standupmaths  Před 3 lety +2539

    To answer a common comment: I think the correct version should be 10 × ½ = 5. You could argue 5 × ½ = 2½ but I think it's not in keeping with the tablet.
    Also: people seem to enjoy this new style of high production value video. And there could be plenty more where that came from, if, you know... www.patreon.com/standupmaths

    • @frool76
      @frool76 Před 3 lety +46

      It would be great if you would've included some examples of the operation in use. You're most likely right with your point it was supposed to be 10*(1/2)=5, but maybe it was the definition of a somehow neutral operation? Without knowing more about their math system, it's hard to tell if the writing or our understand is wrong.

    • @jorn-jorenjorenson5028
      @jorn-jorenjorenson5028 Před 3 lety +44

      Yes, those animations are so great and the ancient styled music and jingles are awesome, really loved it!

    • @hebl47
      @hebl47 Před 3 lety +14

      I really love your theme remixes!

    • @ThePhoenixpaw
      @ThePhoenixpaw Před 3 lety +11

      But, there's another mistake. You see Ku Shim's mistake wasn't the first know to man, but the oldest to survive to this day. But then, what mathematician cares about accuracy?

    • @Cr42yguy
      @Cr42yguy Před 3 lety +14

      I still like seeing your face though. Your grin is priceless!

  • @peeng3066
    @peeng3066 Před 3 lety +8732

    “Don’t worry, everyone makes mistakes, no one will remember tomorrow.”
    5000 years later:

    • @elrac7333
      @elrac7333 Před 3 lety +318

      Poor person will never live it down.

    • @sammeboi7920
      @sammeboi7920 Před 3 lety +161

      Well, I bet no one remembered it the next day

    • @raharmakis
      @raharmakis Před 3 lety +256

      I filled out 50 000 Tablets in my day... And you Kept the THREE I F'd Up on!!! Gawd... Why did we ever invent Human Resources!!!

    • @skalra63
      @skalra63 Před 3 lety +124

      Ha, remember that kushim guy that got that multiplication wrong?

    • @mikebar42
      @mikebar42 Před 3 lety +9

      Tomorrow never comes

  • @janTasita
    @janTasita Před 3 lety +5292

    I hope everyone realizes that this video is about 5000 year old spreadsheets.

    • @xander1052
      @xander1052 Před 3 lety +77

      beautiful

    • @Allumik
      @Allumik Před 3 lety +214

      5000y old spreadsheets on 5000y old tablets

    • @stevenmcclary534
      @stevenmcclary534 Před 3 lety +47

      @@Allumik the more things change...

    • @tekvax01
      @tekvax01 Před 3 lety +84

      ...and spreadsheets on a tablet, no less! :P

    • @sgttomas
      @sgttomas Před 3 lety +12

      I actually thought of my workplace during the video

  • @coltin1494
    @coltin1494 Před 3 lety +3087

    Kushim : "work is so stressful"
    Kushim's wife: "its ok, what's the worse that can happen?"
    *5000 years later* "lol check out this dumbass"

    • @FLS96
      @FLS96 Před 3 lety +9

      Two top comments in one video.. nice

    • @coltin1494
      @coltin1494 Před 3 lety +8

      @@FLS96 battin 1000 on this vid lol
      I'll never understand the YT algorithm, I wrote both comments back to back, the other one got likes and this one had 0 likes for the first 2 months then YT started showing it to people again, probably since the other comment was getting likes, idk this came outta nowhere

    • @MitchellD249
      @MitchellD249 Před 3 lety +38

      "Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal." - Ernest Hemingway
      One of those ways is apparently being an idiot.

    • @gavinbrown216
      @gavinbrown216 Před 3 lety +18

      @@MitchellD249 don’t forget the guy who sold bad copper

    • @kylezo
      @kylezo Před 2 lety

      This is the only kind of brutally dark humor that makes my meaningless existence slightly less unbearable for a brief moment lol

  • @coltin1494
    @coltin1494 Před 3 lety +2548

    Moral of the story: Even if you're an ancient accountant, the internet will still make fun of you

    • @yeetdosis39
      @yeetdosis39 Před 3 lety +40

      no one escapes lmao

    • @Nugcon
      @Nugcon Před 3 lety +29

      We really be out here laughing at some guy that made a small math mistake from 5000 years ago

    • @AlecsNeo
      @AlecsNeo Před 3 lety +31

      Looking at this video , the system in the video makes as much sense as the imperial system

    • @yeetdosis39
      @yeetdosis39 Před 3 lety +1

      @@AlecsNeo lmao

    • @D00000T
      @D00000T Před 3 lety +2

      @@Nugcon our species have always been assholes to each other so this is not that unexpected

  • @tankinator451
    @tankinator451 Před 3 lety +3747

    Plot twist: this isn’t the earliest recorded math mistake, it’s the earliest recorded embezzlement scheme

    • @ultimatecalibur
      @ultimatecalibur Před 3 lety +373

      Or record of a minor loss of 15 bowls of barley due to spillage, settling, pests or testing when transferring between storage containers. 15 bowls is only a .38% loss of the roughly 3910 bowls they had

    • @hamag3655
      @hamag3655 Před 3 lety +327

      @@ultimatecalibur They just "fell off the chariot".

    • @taelim6599
      @taelim6599 Před 3 lety +292

      @@hamag3655 Quite tragic to lose 20 bowls of barley. I don't know what we'll do after losing those 21 bowls

    • @orion5992
      @orion5992 Před 3 lety +7

      @@ultimatecalibur good point!

    • @rauminen4167
      @rauminen4167 Před 3 lety +216

      @@taelim6599 I think we should ignore those 25 bowls. It's such a small amount. What do you think Nisa? You can sign off on those missing 30 bowls, right?

  • @bigbayesian9395
    @bigbayesian9395 Před 3 lety +1454

    “Why do I need learn math, I’ll be able to carry my abacus anywhere!”

    • @derpmann2615
      @derpmann2615 Před 3 lety +14

      Lol yeaaah..... funny how we never corrected that.....

    • @knexman427
      @knexman427 Před 2 lety +7

      Beautifully said

    • @10names55
      @10names55 Před 2 lety +1

      Math is not only calculations

    • @GBOAC
      @GBOAC Před 2 lety +14

      @@10names55 woooosh

    • @jeffcampsall5435
      @jeffcampsall5435 Před 2 lety +1

      I'm looking forward to when you can wear an abacus on your wrist 👍

  • @robnorris4770
    @robnorris4770 Před 3 lety +1559

    That symbol for which you don’t know the meaning means “Do NOT show this tablet to the tax collector”.

    • @orion5992
      @orion5992 Před 3 lety +15

      GREAT POINT!

    • @thePronto
      @thePronto Před 3 lety +79

      Or maybe: "This is the version for the tax collector" (since it's short)

    • @EdwardNavu
      @EdwardNavu Před 3 lety +26

      @@thePronto "For tax reference"

    • @Bumi-90
      @Bumi-90 Před 3 lety +41

      It might be the symbol, to throw away this tablet, because of an error in accounting

    • @tomstonemale
      @tomstonemale Před 3 lety +12

      I assumed it was the location of where the barley was stored or from what area was harvested from.

  • @SkyWriter25
    @SkyWriter25 Před 3 lety +972

    Henceforth, messing up a math problem will be know as “pulling a Kushim”.

  • @thehoodedteddy1335
    @thehoodedteddy1335 Před 3 lety +1895

    “I forgot to check my work, oh well, I’m sure no one will notice.”
    -Kushim, not knowing how wrong he was.

    • @migtrewornan8085
      @migtrewornan8085 Před 3 lety +46

      You'd think 15 bowls out of 30,000 probably wasn't a error he got in trouble for.

    • @ZeroOskul
      @ZeroOskul Před 3 lety +30

      I believe that quote is universal to everyone who ever worked out some math.

    • @MichaelOnines
      @MichaelOnines Před 3 lety +60

      @@migtrewornan8085 Considering how imprecise a bowl is as a practical measuring implement, that's well within the margin of measurement error. I doubt their bowls were calibrated to 0.05%, and even if they were, the measurement process using bowls wouldn't be that precise.

    • @tomaskot9278
      @tomaskot9278 Před 3 lety +15

      If he only knew his error would get all over CZcams.

    • @peterkelley6344
      @peterkelley6344 Před 3 lety +2

      @@tomaskot9278 or would be known all over the world!

  • @TheAssassin409
    @TheAssassin409 Před 3 lety +2191

    poor Kushim, being remembered 5000 years later only for his mistakes.

    • @JosephDavies
      @JosephDavies Před 3 lety +106

      It's a _certain kind_ of immortality, for sure...

    • @flippinkamikaze8738
      @flippinkamikaze8738 Před 3 lety +7

      Better Kushim than Abu Hajar...

    • @Kokurorokuko
      @Kokurorokuko Před 3 lety +47

      just like Matt Parker

    • @Bismvth
      @Bismvth Před 3 lety +64

      Also for being a fcking baller apparently, selling metric tonnes of beer

    • @givrally7634
      @givrally7634 Před 3 lety +27

      Better than being known for selling really shitty copper...

  • @MinnesotaExpat
    @MinnesotaExpat Před 3 lety +568

    What I'm taking from this as a 21st century engineer: there are two constants in civilization, beer and paperwork.

    • @kingumi644
      @kingumi644 Před 3 lety +11

      what about death and taxes

    • @Igor_054
      @Igor_054 Před 3 lety +81

      @@kingumi644 It is all connected. Beer causes death and taxes cause paperwork.

    • @rainbowrotcod
      @rainbowrotcod Před 2 lety +2

      @@lawliet2263 and juicy men.

    • @paule_muc
      @paule_muc Před 2 lety +7

      Id argue that paperwork causes beer but thats just me

    • @bag.a.6465
      @bag.a.6465 Před 2 lety

      @@paule_muc it's all interdependant, such is the way of history.

  • @Voodoomaria
    @Voodoomaria Před 3 lety +453

    The first math mistake was:
    "Look, there's THREE of us, and only ONE Mammoth. Dudes, we got this."

    • @anawesomepet
      @anawesomepet Před 2 lety +23

      He means mistakes in math, not mistakes caused by math.
      Hey wooooshers, I'm just making a correction. I understand the joke.

    • @aidangarvey7049
      @aidangarvey7049 Před 2 lety +14

      @@anawesomepet just because you understand the joke doesn't make your comment completely pointless

    • @the-real-zpero
      @the-real-zpero Před 2 lety +14

      That's a judgment error not a math error.
      Your joke doesn't even work.

    • @sandybathwater8385
      @sandybathwater8385 Před 2 lety +4

      I laughed, that makes the joke worthwhile. :)

    • @FeedsNoSliesMusic
      @FeedsNoSliesMusic Před 2 lety +1

      It's true, many forget that mammoths are four people each.

  • @justindie7543
    @justindie7543 Před 3 lety +1839

    Space archeologists reading my physics homework 5000 years from now:
    “Haha look he got his math wrong”

    • @peter9477
      @peter9477 Před 3 lety +204

      Also your professor, reading it tomorrow...

    • @T33K3SS3LCH3N
      @T33K3SS3LCH3N Před 3 lety +99

      "This homework by Justin is the last time any human ever did math mistake. He represents the last holdover of this dark age of humanity. Please point and laugh."

    • @trueaidooo
      @trueaidooo Před 3 lety +8

      @@T33K3SS3LCH3N not until we get robot brain implants will we stop making math mistakes

    • @jozsefkalmar7054
      @jozsefkalmar7054 Před 3 lety +13

      @@trueaidooo not even then if our implants are anything like early Pentiums

    • @DanielGonzalez-pg6pc
      @DanielGonzalez-pg6pc Před 3 lety +2

      why do I see you literally everywhere

  • @John73John
    @John73John Před 3 lety +1809

    Imagine if people are still talking about the Parker Square 5,000 years from now.

    • @oliverbrooker882
      @oliverbrooker882 Před 3 lety +179

      @8:22

    • @redpepper74
      @redpepper74 Před 3 lety +75

      @@oliverbrooker882 waitwaitwait _that’s what that was_

    • @dannydgeek
      @dannydgeek Před 3 lety +68

      I laughed so loud at 8:22 that I think my neighbors wonder about me. Some things don't change.

    • @General12th
      @General12th Před 3 lety +3

      Everything is recorded everywhere. It's more likely than you think!

    • @BigBubbles9000
      @BigBubbles9000 Před 3 lety +8

      All that will be remembered is the Parker Square

  • @tetraphobie
    @tetraphobie Před 2 lety +135

    I can imagine they were aware of the wrong symbol being used in that tablet but didn't correct it because clay tablets are hard to fix.
    Happens way too often among programmers nowadays. "It's not a bug worth fixing if it's a pain in the butt to fix and we have a workaround."
    Fascinating video btw.

    • @trueriver1950
      @trueriver1950 Před rokem +27

      Notice how both USB sticks and clay tablets hold their info on silicon: it's just packaged rather differently

    • @Red1Revival
      @Red1Revival Před 6 měsíci +2

      I think your theory is most likely correct. it's the most reasonable. it's something we know is likely to happen, and likely to occur in the way you describe

  • @willsbury5150
    @willsbury5150 Před 3 lety +157

    plot twist: kushim was embezzling and just didn't expect anyone to check his work.

    • @sadkritx6200
      @sadkritx6200 Před 3 lety +5

      And here we are 5000 years later 😅😂

    • @estergrant6713
      @estergrant6713 Před 2 lety +1

      plot twist kushim was embezzling, expected his work to be checked against the actual grain and so built in some “breakage” on the record so that the record matched what the grain was

  • @oopsthatwentwell
    @oopsthatwentwell Před 3 lety +887

    You missed a point in the closing statement
    - we are still making mistakes
    - we are still brewing beer
    - And we are still use tablets

    • @kurumi394
      @kurumi394 Před 3 lety +20

      Ah, humans. Don't ever change

    • @paradauxio
      @paradauxio Před 3 lety +45

      You just made a math mistake if your own. You claim to have "a" point yet provide 3 distinct points. I'm sure you and Kushim would get along just fine!

    • @AfonsodelCB
      @AfonsodelCB Před 3 lety +20

      @@paradauxio are you trying to bait someone into correcting you with your fake correction? is this all a ploy?? well I replied to you!! are you happy now??!?!!

    • @AfonsodelCB
      @AfonsodelCB Před 3 lety +16

      btw it's "using tablets" OP, but oh well

    • @VainerCactus0
      @VainerCactus0 Před 3 lety +9

      @@paradauxio That was covered that in the first point. :)

  • @The_Tactical_Taco
    @The_Tactical_Taco Před 3 lety +836

    The lesson I learned today is:
    If you get caught practicing "creative accounting", just claim it's a maths mistake...

    • @kendalbridges897
      @kendalbridges897 Před 3 lety +56

      seeing as how it's in the cooking range of things it simply could have been lost due to bad batch, spillage, spoilage, and they just didn't include the reason for the shortage in the document

    • @zyaicob
      @zyaicob Před 3 lety +5

      Jimmy Carr is taking notes

    • @leogama3422
      @leogama3422 Před 3 lety +6

      "It's just a small bug in the code, anyone could have made this mistake"

    • @judgeomega
      @judgeomega Před 3 lety

      or better yet; destroy the evidence

    • @peterhayton5417
      @peterhayton5417 Před 3 lety +5

      Or clam it as a spelling mistake

  • @willyolio9590
    @willyolio9590 Před 3 lety +125

    this is why math teachers always need you to show your work.
    so people can laugh at you 5000 years later

    • @2Fast4Mellow
      @2Fast4Mellow Před 2 lety +2

      What makes you think your teachers aren't laughing at you right now???

  • @Metalhammer1993
    @Metalhammer1993 Před 3 lety +293

    To save Kushim's honor here: that's nozt a maths mistake. that is history's first ever typo!

    • @rayes119
      @rayes119 Před rokem +8

      Right
      Assuming we interpreted it correctly

  • @donnalysan
    @donnalysan Před 3 lety +993

    I remember once reading a guide to stockkeeping for royal courts. It stated that you had to remove 0.03% from a total of grain bushels to allow for settling and crushed grains. The manuscript I read was from Denmark in the 18th century and warned that it was unethical to punish grainkeepers for this natural disappearance, which has been documented since time immeasurable.

    • @smaakjeks
      @smaakjeks Před 3 lety +187

      So, the stock keepers were cereal offenders?

    • @RandomTomatoSoup
      @RandomTomatoSoup Před 3 lety +22

      @@smaakjeks I don't think you've read what they wrote properly

    • @joep4life
      @joep4life Před 3 lety +42

      I think the expression is "time immemorial"

    • @MrJeberg
      @MrJeberg Před 3 lety +97

      There's a Danish phrase "being round-handed". Now it means "one who gladly gives money/stuff to others", but back in the day when tax collectors met with peasants to get grain as tax, they would dig into a grain bag with a big cup, and scrape off the top with their hand, to ensure they took exactly a cup of grain. However some collectors curved their hand so that they got more grain per cup; they were being "round-handed". This of course upset farmers and at some point the tax collectors were ordered to use a scraping stick instead to avoid cheating.
      This is what I remember reading, but correct me if I'm wrong.

    • @Jehty_
      @Jehty_ Před 3 lety +64

      @@RandomTomatoSoup I don't think you have read what he wrote properly.

  • @goldrake821
    @goldrake821 Před 3 lety +390

    They say you die twice:
    once when you actually die, and again when nobody remembers your name.
    Well, long live ku shim!

    • @AfonsodelCB
      @AfonsodelCB Před 3 lety +29

      uh... I mean, I don't know the history of these documents, but if they went missing for any length of time, wouldn't his name have been forgotten and then remembered again? does that mean he died twice already and came back to life?

    • @andrewhawkins6754
      @andrewhawkins6754 Před 3 lety +51

      @@AfonsodelCB Christ may have risen after 3 days, but Kushim took a few thousand years

    • @felicvik9456
      @felicvik9456 Před 3 lety +27

      @@andrewhawkins6754 Really long respawn time

    • @luiservela
      @luiservela Před 3 lety +17

      I heard it different: you die first when you realize you will die. You die second when your heart stops. You die third when your name is pronounced for the last time.

    • @mjp121
      @mjp121 Před 3 lety

      Yeah, weird thinking that I have every intent to live longer than the first recorded name. Not 'live on in history,' just... live. Might not make it, but I'm hopeful.

  • @adanpalomo9879
    @adanpalomo9879 Před 3 lety +134

    I too tend to make math mistakes when large amounts of beer are involved

    • @justanalien7255
      @justanalien7255 Před 2 lety +28

      Don't derive while drunk

    • @ljoreilly1068
      @ljoreilly1068 Před 2 lety +1

      Just an alien underrated comment

    • @Oturan20
      @Oturan20 Před rokem +5

      @@justanalien7255 Don't Drink and Derive.

    • @michaelcherokee8906
      @michaelcherokee8906 Před rokem

      I make math mistakes when stone cold sober. When beer is involved, math makes me mistakes!

  • @CommissarMitch
    @CommissarMitch Před 3 lety +101

    Kushim's Ghost be like "God damnit they still talk about that?"

  • @00Krohnos
    @00Krohnos Před 3 lety +506

    "Typed into their tablet" got me

    • @tiberiu_nicolae
      @tiberiu_nicolae Před 3 lety +27

      Kushim should've turned on auto-correct

    • @MWSin1
      @MWSin1 Před 3 lety +23

      Siri's voice recognition wasn't nearly so good back then.

    • @gasdive
      @gasdive Před 3 lety +20

      They were touch sensitive tablets too.

    • @josephcohen734
      @josephcohen734 Před 3 lety +1

      @@gasdive Great dad joke, among the best in fact

    • @Kyrelel
      @Kyrelel Před 3 lety +3

      "Type" is another word for "impression", so .. :/

  • @MrMattie725
    @MrMattie725 Před 3 lety +278

    8:22 I'm not doing the maths but I'm going to assume that's a Parker square!

    • @glenmatthes8839
      @glenmatthes8839 Před 3 lety +68

      I did the maths and can confirm that it's a Parker Square. The small bowls in the upper right are the exponent (2). And going across each row from left to right gives 29, 1, 47, 41, 37, 1, 23, 41, 29 which is, in fact, the Parker Square. (obviously square each number - that's what the exponent of 2 does)

    • @johnarken1810
      @johnarken1810 Před 3 lety +23

      Was looking for this comment!

    • @glenferris3071
      @glenferris3071 Před 3 lety +6

      Love it

    • @jaimieritchie
      @jaimieritchie Před 3 lety +14

      That's what I thought! Put in on a t-shirt!

    • @edtsch
      @edtsch Před 3 lety +5

      That's exactly what I thought when I saw it!

  • @athingwhichexists
    @athingwhichexists Před 3 lety +42

    turns out that when your brain is reminding you of that one mistake you made when you're going to sleep, its actually warning you that people thousands of years in the future will be bringing it up

  • @ericcolvin3546
    @ericcolvin3546 Před 3 lety +61

    5:48 "Probably made sense at the time..." I expect it did.
    5 x 6 is close to the number of days in a month, and ten times that feels reassuringly close to the number of days in a year - for which other mathematicians would surely have been developing systems (all civilisations seem to enjoy predicting movements of the sun, moon, stars and planets - one reason, I'm willing to bet, that we retain 360° in a circle, with 90 of those degrees in a right angle).
    9,000 divides by 360 elegently into 25. If you are doing these sorts of calculations without the aid of more recent calculating machines, systems that work with factors of 3, 4, 5 and 10 are all very handy for mental arithmetic and division into shares.

    • @ebob0531
      @ebob0531 Před 2 lety +3

      I suspect also there may have been use in this divisions for being put on an abacus (which would be very limited in space and number of counting beads that could be placed on it). So helping in both mental math and use of an abacus wouldve been crucial

    • @WJS774
      @WJS774 Před rokem +2

      Round numbers in base 10 are pretty bad if you want to divide them evenly. 100 has only seven factors, while 90, despite being smaller, has ten. 360 has 22, compared to only 13 in 400.

  • @itwasinthispositionerinoag7414

    My man Ku Shim skimming 15 bowls of barley off the top for his personal brewery

    • @BrianSantero
      @BrianSantero Před 3 lety +35

      "But I *knead* this barley for myself."

    • @volodyadykun6490
      @volodyadykun6490 Před 3 lety +13

      We just didn't found his personal tablets with perfect maths

    • @evansaschow
      @evansaschow Před 3 lety +3

      Hold up. Is that a Kripperino for a different channel?

    • @jeffreyhueseman7061
      @jeffreyhueseman7061 Před 3 lety +7

      Inventory was taken, 15 bowls of wastage or sampling losses.

    • @peterkelley6344
      @peterkelley6344 Před 3 lety +2

      @@jeffreyhueseman7061 That may be more the reason for the error.

  • @FrankAtanassow
    @FrankAtanassow Před 3 lety +613

    This was extremely well-produced. Kudos to your graphic designer.

    • @Zolbat
      @Zolbat Před 3 lety +65

      And don't forget the music

    • @kaiirossbaird7623
      @kaiirossbaird7623 Před 3 lety

      Amen

    • @sharpfang
      @sharpfang Před 3 lety +4

      Yeah, also one couple thousand years old guy - that's a tileset from The Royal Game of Ur.

    • @JarvidO
      @JarvidO Před 3 lety +2

      They wanted to do the soomer meme

    • @dg-hughes
      @dg-hughes Před 3 lety +6

      Wouldn't it be funny if the animator made a mistake. Then 5,000 years later a Blorgon holo-influencer finds it and sees a name "William Marler".

  • @unvergebeneid
    @unvergebeneid Před 3 lety +134

    5:12 Wow, that bowl-dot system makes almost as little sense as imperial units!

    • @ClaireGrob
      @ClaireGrob Před 3 lety +3

      lmao

    • @zandaroos553
      @zandaroos553 Před 3 lety +68

      Metric? Sounds like Egyptian nonsense. We would never be able to cultivate wheat with metric! Bowl-Dot is the PATRIOTIC measurement system of Mesopotamia

    • @gavinpascucci3419
      @gavinpascucci3419 Před 3 lety +14

      The bowls and dots make perfect sense if you count in base 60

    • @RJSRdg
      @RJSRdg Před 3 lety +8

      Depends how you look at things - for past civilisations an inch (roughly the length of the end of your thumb), a foot, a cubit (length from your elbow to the end of your middle finger) were measurements everyone could relate to, even if everyone's inches, feet and cubits were different sizes, you could usually get a decent approximation.
      Units based on 1 ten millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator are rather harder to visualise!

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid Před 3 lety +9

      @@RJSRdg sure, but by "imperial units" I meant the _system_ of measurements and not how handy the individual units are when you're stranded on a desert island without a tape measure.
      These days we need to calculate more and count less and there, the system based on the length of the king's foot really shows its age. But hey, if you're really in a pinch, a yard's about a meter.

  • @tonyeaglestone4791
    @tonyeaglestone4791 Před 2 lety +21

    I wonder if the difference in multipliers could be a result of the way they were stacking/storing the grain. So there could be 5 in a jar, 6 in a crate, ten crates in a row, stacked three high and then 10 rows per area (for example). You could then compare the tablets to the stock to ensure you had what you thought. Essentially building a system based off what you were doing practically.

    • @rogerbye4047
      @rogerbye4047 Před rokem +6

      This makes a lot of sense. Ten is the only multiplier that occurs more than once; other multipliers based on practicality is quite convincing.

  • @harry.tallbelt6707
    @harry.tallbelt6707 Před 3 lety +423

    Wow, props to the animator, this looks so pretty! (Props to the person who rerecorded the channel's theme too!)

    • @JacobRy
      @JacobRy Před 3 lety +4

      i know this is some effort wow

  • @graciouscompetentdwarfrabbit

    5:50 "You can see each increase is either 3, 5, 6 or 10 times the previous, which probably made sense at the time but did leave the door open for mistakes"
    Where "mistakes" is another name for "Imperial system".

  • @NatiiixLP
    @NatiiixLP Před 3 lety +42

    8:06 had me really puzzled until the very end of that scene. What a brilliant Easter egg!

    • @tcoren1
      @tcoren1 Před 3 lety +6

      I figured it was gonna be a parker square immediately but I initially looked at the shapes the symbols made rather than their values

  • @alexharbi5546
    @alexharbi5546 Před 3 lety +20

    "Don't worry Kushim, they'll forget you even made the mistake by next week"
    5000 thousand years later:

  • @The_Void_Alchemist
    @The_Void_Alchemist Před 3 lety +731

    The adventures of kushim and nisa sounds like an amazing sitcom

    • @Ventro_Devientro
      @Ventro_Devientro Před 3 lety +7

      After months of searching, I finally found a person with the exact same profile picture as my Discord profile picture but with different colors and style

    • @The_Void_Alchemist
      @The_Void_Alchemist Před 3 lety +2

      @@Ventro_Devientro i made it myself, so idk what to tell you?

    • @Ventro_Devientro
      @Ventro_Devientro Před 3 lety +5

      @@The_Void_Alchemist I also made my logo by myself 😅

    • @Ventro_Devientro
      @Ventro_Devientro Před 3 lety +2

      You want to see my logo?

    • @The_Void_Alchemist
      @The_Void_Alchemist Před 3 lety +1

      @@Ventro_Devientro hell yeah!

  • @michihaba4435
    @michihaba4435 Před 3 lety +370

    Jack Sparrow meme:
    You are by far the worst ancient acountant I have ever heard of.
    Kushim: But you have heard of me.

    • @xmlthegreat
      @xmlthegreat Před 3 lety +33

      After Kushim escapes with the entire supply of beer:
      That's got to be the best Accountant I've ever seen...

    • @Roozyj
      @Roozyj Před 3 lety +4

      This meme has never been more accurate xD

    • @colinharter4094
      @colinharter4094 Před 2 lety +8

      He's also technically the best ancient accountant I've ever heard of.

    • @KjoshWaddellBananasAreGood
      @KjoshWaddellBananasAreGood Před 10 měsíci

      ​@@colinharter4094discounting Nisa here

  • @despy1855
    @despy1855 Před 3 lety +358

    Picture this:
    You’re laying on your deathbed, before your death, you hear your god say:
    “Kusmin, you shall be remember for 5000 years.”
    For what my lord?”
    “Making a math mistake.”
    “NOOOOOOOOO!”

    • @damienasmodeus928
      @damienasmodeus928 Před 3 lety +6

      Since it was ancient Uruk I would say that instead of the Lord he would see goddess Inanna/Ishtar

  • @leodrews3128
    @leodrews3128 Před 3 lety +141

    boys with a time machine: no kushum don't write that down!

    • @timballam3675
      @timballam3675 Před 3 lety +3

      He said he did it to troll Stand Up Maths!

  • @HalcyonSerenade
    @HalcyonSerenade Před 3 lety +592

    "Mr. Kushim, I finished transcribing that tablet."
    "Excellent." *signs it in approval*
    "Don't you want to double-check it before signing it, sir?"
    "Ugh... it's been such a long day. Just put it in storage, it's probably fine."
    It wasn't fine.

    • @zeroone171
      @zeroone171 Před 3 lety +55

      *5000 years later*
      haha, person in the past can't math.

    • @jorgec98
      @jorgec98 Před 3 lety +10

      Wouldn't it be the other way around? Kushim bringing it to Nisa?

    • @HalcyonSerenade
      @HalcyonSerenade Před 3 lety +8

      @@jorgec98 I actually didn't see Kushim's signature on that particular tablet at all, so I was already taking some comedic liberties with this "the _one_ time he didn't check" scenario ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    • @jorgec98
      @jorgec98 Před 3 lety +2

      @@HalcyonSerenade fair enough. I didn't pay it that much attention myself

    • @davidjuarez2215
      @davidjuarez2215 Před 3 lety +1

      @Xavier Beauchamp ooh God captain PC

  • @squeakybunny2776
    @squeakybunny2776 Před 3 lety +159

    8:22 is that seriously the Parker square...
    Matt... Never change...

    • @sebastianjost
      @sebastianjost Před 3 lety +3

      well spotted. wow!

    • @Wolb
      @Wolb Před 3 lety +7

      I want that Parker Square on a t-shirt!

    • @BrandonDoran00
      @BrandonDoran00 Před 3 lety +14

      I had no idea what the animation was supposed to be, but once the lines crosses it clicked, and I broke out laughing.

    • @TheAstip
      @TheAstip Před 3 lety +7

      Scrolled down to find this - my friend is confused why i'm so happy about this

    • @Yora21
      @Yora21 Před 3 lety +8

      "Don't try to make the Parker Square a thing!"
      - Matt Parker, 2016

  • @danilooliveira6580
    @danilooliveira6580 Před 3 lety +13

    "I want to do something with my life, something to be remembered for"
    some summerian bureucrat not realizing he was going to be remembered for thousands of years because of a math error on his job.

  • @magnushultgrenhtc
    @magnushultgrenhtc Před 3 lety +6

    Fun fact: The decorative square images used in the video bumpers, such as 0:50 to 0:57, are the squares of the Royal Game of Ur, which is in the British Museum.

  • @hmc5208
    @hmc5208 Před 3 lety +439

    So Matt is definitely an immortal making a video about himself

  • @oscargrouch8256
    @oscargrouch8256 Před 3 lety +128

    Maybe there was a predetermined factor for loss, such as barley being a perishable or mouse food. and the first example shown was not a mistake but just accepted loss and the cost of doing business.

    • @estergrant6713
      @estergrant6713 Před 2 lety +8

      exactly i think the word is “breakage” (learned that from breaking bad lol) that was my initial thought as well

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 Před 7 měsíci

      He basically says that in the video.

  • @wizewizard1840
    @wizewizard1840 Před 2 lety +6

    Whoever made the animations / art for this episode made a pretty damn good job. Just wanted to say that.

  • @curiouscraw3927
    @curiouscraw3927 Před 3 lety +2

    This is such a beautiful video! The animations, the graphics, the sounds, the music, the humour - incredible, I am truly amazed! Even though I must admit finding the first half leading up to the mistake interesting, but a bit lengthy at certain points, I marvel at this edutaining feast!

  • @ThePizzaguy542
    @ThePizzaguy542 Před 3 lety +176

    The animation in this video is gorgeous!

    • @AF-lt2fr
      @AF-lt2fr Před 3 lety +2

      For sure, it's so clever and slick.

  • @davidguthary8147
    @davidguthary8147 Před 3 lety +73

    8:21
    Don't think we didn't notice that Parker Square!

  • @afourtrackmind
    @afourtrackmind Před 3 lety

    this is your best production I've seen from you yet
    , great work. THank you.

  • @sparrowruth
    @sparrowruth Před 3 lety +1

    Splendidly done with the animations and remix of Matt's theme. Well done, everyone!

  • @ad3z10
    @ad3z10 Před 3 lety +91

    It's amazing how the only time base 10 turns up is when counting something organised in sets of 12.

    • @Yora21
      @Yora21 Před 3 lety +25

      Greatest stupidly simple inventions of humanity:
      Shipping containers
      Luggage with wheels
      The number 0

    • @average-osrs-enjoyer
      @average-osrs-enjoyer Před 3 lety +1

      Probably because the days in the month are base 10 too if they use 30 days/month approx

    • @alexandr623
      @alexandr623 Před 3 lety +2

      every base is base 10

  • @uzimonkey
    @uzimonkey Před 3 lety +294

    I bet when he realized he made the mistake he slapped himself in the forehead and said "well, that's a real Parker Square." He would never know why he said that, or what a Parker Square is, but it seemed to make sense at the time.

    • @Roomsaver
      @Roomsaver Před 3 lety +29

      This reads like an old text-based adventure prompt or a line from The Stanley Parable

    • @OrangeC7
      @OrangeC7 Před 3 lety +31

      The Parker Square is a timeless idea, it permeates the very fabric of space itself.
      So it's all The Parker Square?
      Always has been.

    • @VainerCactus0
      @VainerCactus0 Před 3 lety +14

      @@Roomsaver Or something the late Sir Terry Pratchett would write.

    • @clemenssuchan5376
      @clemenssuchan5376 Před 3 lety +20

      This line could come straight from a Hitchiker's Guide to Galaxy Book

    • @Xatzimi
      @Xatzimi Před 3 lety +8

      This definitely sounds like Douglas Adams

  • @avoirdupois1
    @avoirdupois1 Před 3 lety +3

    I love the artistry on this video, and the clever dialogue.

  • @EarlJohn61
    @EarlJohn61 Před 3 lety +10

    One possibility is that some of the bowls are reserved for tax!

  • @Rubrickety
    @Rubrickety Před 3 lety +141

    To be fair, I would probably look up if someone shouted “Kushim!”.

    • @11Kralle
      @11Kralle Před 3 lety

      Reallyschk?

    • @elidrissii
      @elidrissii Před 2 lety +2

      Lmao.
      It's a Hebrew joke by the way.

    • @jean-bastienjoly5962
      @jean-bastienjoly5962 Před 2 lety

      @@elidrissii ... what does kushim mean in the joke?

    • @elidrissii
      @elidrissii Před 2 lety +1

      @@jean-bastienjoly5962 Kushi means Cushite, the son of Ham who's the son of Noah, and is traditionally associated with all black people. But in modern Hebrew/Israel, the euphemism treadmill made it equivalent to the N word, in terms of acceptability.
      So in short, kushi is singular n word, while kushim is plural lol.

    • @jean-bastienjoly5962
      @jean-bastienjoly5962 Před 2 lety

      @@elidrissii Okay, i understand the joke. Thanks!

  • @school6268
    @school6268 Před 3 lety +146

    "Hey siri, place an order for ten dotless side-bowls of barley" - Kushim probably

    • @MichaelOnines
      @MichaelOnines Před 3 lety +2

      Big or little dotless side-bowls?

    • @jfan4reva
      @jfan4reva Před 3 lety +2

      But was Siri an individual, or a group of people who spent all their time eves-dropping, so that they would know when their services were needed and got a lot of gossip in between. "We have become so reliant on The Siri that we can no longer function without them." - Nisa - 3000bc

    • @thenasadude6878
      @thenasadude6878 Před 3 lety

      Siri, Cortana and their competitors would probably come up with some AI nonsense at such a request.
      "I marked an appointment with Barley on Dotless 10, year of the side bowl"

  • @SuperHyperExtra
    @SuperHyperExtra Před 3 lety +1

    Wow!!!!! The QUALITY of this video. The graphics, the music... Congratulations!!

  • @Ogaitnas900
    @Ogaitnas900 Před 3 lety

    The animation and design (and music and script) on this are wonderful

  • @brandonfrancey5592
    @brandonfrancey5592 Před 3 lety +31

    A thousand years in the future, in a class room a teacher briefs their students about Kushim. "And that's how 6000 years ago we recorded our first math mistake. Now on to chapter two where we will talk about a Parker Square."

  • @veroniqueblum3506
    @veroniqueblum3506 Před rokem +3

    At 11:30 : "5*1/2 = 10" : the perpetuation of mathematical mistakes

  • @Viniter
    @Viniter Před 3 lety

    What a wonderful design and animation! Great job, William Marler!

  • @AndrewTaylorPhD
    @AndrewTaylorPhD Před 3 lety +169

    Absolutely loving the alternate versions of the theme song. (Anyone else briefly confused by "molten barley"?)

    • @BrianSantero
      @BrianSantero Před 3 lety +7

      I heard it too! I mean, you could kind of argue that it's boiled and liquefied barley, so sort-of molten!

    • @briansmith8967
      @briansmith8967 Před 3 lety +29

      @@BrianSantero I thought he said Malt and Barley. Malt is what you get when it is allowed to sprout then quenched. It converts the starch to sugar for brewing.

    • @wanderingshade8383
      @wanderingshade8383 Před 3 lety +16

      @@briansmith8967 Yeah, he said Malt and Barley, not Molten barley

    • @sebastianjost
      @sebastianjost Před 3 lety +9

      @@briansmith8967 Malt and Barley certainly makes a lot more sense.
      Since I've never heard Malt before, I also understood molten barley though. (I'm not a native englisch speaker)
      Now I've learned a new word and thanks to beer, I already know what it means xD

    • @daerdevvyl4314
      @daerdevvyl4314 Před 3 lety

      @@sebastianjost Next, look up “hops” in relation to beer.

  • @xenon5066
    @xenon5066 Před 3 lety +97

    "Johnny, you've failed your math test, and people remember your name for thousands of years."

    • @tncorgi92
      @tncorgi92 Před 3 lety +6

      "It goes on your permanent record" was never more true.

  • @varungupta9020
    @varungupta9020 Před 3 lety +68

    In the afterlife:
    "MY NAME WILL BE FOREVER ETCHED IN HISTORY!"
    "Yoooo, that's really cool! What did you do?"
    "...I did wrong math."

  • @BrendenJohnFilms
    @BrendenJohnFilms Před 3 lety

    This was fantastic! The whole tale is awesome, but the graphics and editing is top notch... I can only imagine how much time that took!

  • @CircuitrinosOfficial
    @CircuitrinosOfficial Před 3 lety +86

    5000 years from now, an archeologist is going to dig up the parker square.

    • @thekingoffailure9967
      @thekingoffailure9967 Před 3 lety +1

      Someone will have to cast one in metal or something

    • @renerpho
      @renerpho Před 3 lety +13

      They'll argue whether Parker was a real person, or an institution.

  • @LucenProject
    @LucenProject Před 3 lety +265

    Yeah, but are Kushim Squares a thing?

  • @Haplo-san
    @Haplo-san Před 3 lety +24

    5000 years later, Nisa is a still a name in the Anatolia and it translates "woman" in Arabic.

    • @OmnipotentPotato
      @OmnipotentPotato Před 3 lety +8

      It's Nisaa' with a glottal stop at the end and a long a in Arabic, and comes from a root that has nothing to do with ancient Mesopotamian naming.

  • @JannikGetsPanic
    @JannikGetsPanic Před měsícem

    Amazing video with great visuals, very well done 👍

  • @phillee2814
    @phillee2814 Před 3 lety +146

    I imagine that these tablets were running the original version of windows, from which Windows CE, Windows Me and Windows NT were descended - Windows CeMeNT.
    I'll get my coat.

  • @user-hk8yp7cw1v
    @user-hk8yp7cw1v Před 3 lety +86

    Maybe they were both drunk when that mistake was made...

  • @tectix0
    @tectix0 Před 3 lety

    Excellent animations and cool theme variation!

  • @JamesTheBell1
    @JamesTheBell1 Před 3 lety +12

    To alcohol: The cause and solution to all of life's maths problems.

  • @MNalias
    @MNalias Před 3 lety +65

    I believe Kushim would be proud to know, that they are an inspiration to us all! To honour them, i shall do some math mistakes at work tomorrow!

    • @sadkritx6200
      @sadkritx6200 Před 3 lety +3

      Well this type of math was revolutionary for that time. So unless you make some mistake in advanced mathematics or quantum physics or something the chances are kinda low😅😅

  • @jakobvalinder1772
    @jakobvalinder1772 Před 3 lety +90

    Good job putting the beer makers in the description credits:
    "Beer by Kushim and Nisa"

  • @ampleyfly
    @ampleyfly Před 3 lety +1

    This video is beautifully well made!

  • @4.0.4
    @4.0.4 Před 3 lety

    Wow... Some real effort was made on this video! Music and animations are on point!

  • @icecold1805
    @icecold1805 Před 3 lety +41

    Y'know, as an accountant of a big company who has been struggling a lot working from home and making mistakes, it was nice to hear of someone who made it's own mistakes 5000 years ago, to remember we are all humans after all. Thank you :,)

    • @horusreloaded6387
      @horusreloaded6387 Před 7 měsíci

      I actually suddenly started to like my job more thanks to this video lol.
      It is a job that writing is created for, woah

  • @Jegorex
    @Jegorex Před 3 lety +39

    Imagine making a multiplication table for school and 5000 years later people are still grading your homework mistakes

  • @elguido
    @elguido Před 3 lety

    Amazing topic, amazing presentation, amazing animations. Simply amazing

  • @pleaseenteraname4824
    @pleaseenteraname4824 Před 3 lety +39

    Kushim has been weirdly silent since this video came out

  • @HO-bndk
    @HO-bndk Před 3 lety +16

    The symbol at 6:48 is interpreted by some as a brick building with a chimney; so a granary or brewery maybe.
    Interestingly the oldest known ad is for beer, in about the same time and place that Kushim was working: "Beer from the city of Ebla - the beer with the heart of a lion."

    • @VaebnKenh
      @VaebnKenh Před 11 měsíci

      The original Singha 😂

  • @Dan_Divebomb
    @Dan_Divebomb Před 3 lety

    What a great video! Loved every second of it.
    Also I'm suggesting that Kushim was side hustling the 'missing' ingredients.

  • @TigruArdavi
    @TigruArdavi Před 3 lety +1

    Great vid as always. I really like your techno-y signature tune in your videos, but that theme-fitting twist to a 'sumerian' style (or how we would imagine it) was really cool for this one 👍🎵

  • @majorfallacy5926
    @majorfallacy5926 Před 3 lety +108

    damn, this episode has it's own soundtrack

    • @redpepper74
      @redpepper74 Před 3 lety +1

      The “surface area of a country” video also had an amazing reinstrumentation!

    • @Irondragon1945
      @Irondragon1945 Před 3 lety

      It is the same standup maths theme and I love it
      Wish he would give the opportunity to download it somewhere because it slaps

    • @IroAppe
      @IroAppe Před 3 lety

      The music creator needs its own CZcams channel with the soundtracks on it, like many have. (kurzgesagt->Epic Mountain Music , MSFS20->Finishing Move Inc.)

  • @jajssblue
    @jajssblue Před 3 lety +33

    Whoa! Production quality on this video is impressive. Cool adaptation of the theme!

  • @Piffsnow
    @Piffsnow Před 3 lety

    Beautiful designs, very nice music and interesting story. Thanks! :)

  • @KeppyKep
    @KeppyKep Před 3 lety

    The editing on this is awesome

  • @magnus0017
    @magnus0017 Před 3 lety +62

    Per the simpsons: "Alcohol, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

  • @windturbine6796
    @windturbine6796 Před 3 lety +75

    8:20 ye olde Parker Square

    • @Energya01
      @Energya01 Před 3 lety +1

      I lol'd when I saw the lines appear xD

    • @vincentpelletier57
      @vincentpelletier57 Před 3 lety +2

      Sumerian square

    • @simono.899
      @simono.899 Před 3 lety

      I was about to comment the same. But glad to see some men of culture

  • @chakra6666
    @chakra6666 Před 3 lety

    incredible animations! I love it

  • @22Kyu
    @22Kyu Před 3 lety

    Love the animation and visuals! Super cool 😄

  • @maximilianociaffi5802
    @maximilianociaffi5802 Před 3 lety +20

    6:48 Definitely the first icon for Excel.

  • @enzoqueijao
    @enzoqueijao Před 3 lety +179

    * In a job interview *
    Kushim: Hello, my name is Kushim and I'm here for that job offer you posted.
    Interviewer: Kushim? As in, the one who made that counting mistake on that grain trade?
    Kushim: It was a one-time thing!
    Interviewer: No, I think I'll pass.
    * In the afterlife *
    Anubis: State your name, mortal.
    Kushim: My name is Kushim, in my life I was-
    Anubis: Wait, wait... _that_ Kushim? The one who made a counting mistake on that grain trade?
    Kushim: It was just a multiplication mistake! I swear!
    Anubis: I don't know, man... if I let you through, it'd be some real bad rep for us here...
    * Looking inside a museum from the afterlife *
    Guide: This right here is a very ancient and important record we found, it details a man named Kushim
    Kushim: Me? Have they finally appreciated all I've done in my life?
    Guide: He was a man known for making a counting mistake in a grain trade.
    Kushim: Oh, god damn it!

    • @AliceTheSpider
      @AliceTheSpider Před 3 lety +3

      @@SwordQuake2 most Proto-European Gods are based on Sumerian Gods including Abarahamic religions

    • @enzoqueijao
      @enzoqueijao Před 3 lety +1

      @@SwordQuake2 I skipped the part where Kushim was disowned by his gods, so he had to go die in Egypt.

    • @AliceTheSpider
      @AliceTheSpider Před 3 lety

      @wfre devg Majority of European Pagan Gods and myths (especially Egyptian, Greek, Nordic and Celtic) have originated from Anatolian and Mesopotamian Gods where Sumerian God's and myths have affected the most.

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Před 3 lety

      If I were the ghost of Kushim, I would wear that proudly.

  • @DanksterPaws
    @DanksterPaws Před 3 lety

    The style, theme and artstyle of the video really added to the experience and vibe 🥰🥰🥰

  • @JonBck
    @JonBck Před 3 lety

    Amazing! Such a nice social connection between then and now!

  • @numbersdontlie5954
    @numbersdontlie5954 Před 3 lety +42

    What if the front of the tablet was a "delivery ticket " that states how much was to be delivered (measured before delivery) and the back was what was actually received.

    • @snafu2350
      @snafu2350 Před 3 lety +18

      Could also be actual accounted losses due to spoilage, spillage, vermin etc..

    • @AdamEspinosa
      @AdamEspinosa Před 3 lety +8

      That would be incredibly precise then. It was an enormous amount of grain with a very tiny error.

    • @snafu2350
      @snafu2350 Před 3 lety +8

      @@AdamEspinosa Agreed, but the system as demonstrated already provides for such precision..

    • @allanreilly5827
      @allanreilly5827 Před 3 lety +2

      Wouldn’t both sides of the tablet have to be written at roughly the same time before it dried and could no longer be written on?

    • @numbersdontlie5954
      @numbersdontlie5954 Před 3 lety

      Some stones are softer and cam be carved without a chisel