Wrong Turn on the Dragon - Numberphile

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  • čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
  • The legendary Don Knuth on the Dragon Curve and learning from his mistakes.
    More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓
    Reddit discussion: redd.it/2qt0f4
    More Dragon Curve: bit.ly/DragonList
    Don Knuth's book "Selected Papers on Fun and Games" has an excellent chapter going into this in more detail.
    Buy in US: amzn.to/149fBnL
    Buy in UK: amzn.to/1xcuTTk
    Thanks to Erik Stens for helping out on this video.
    Support us on Patreon: / numberphile
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    Videos by Brady Haran
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Komentáře • 353

  • @beauxq
    @beauxq Před 9 lety +365

    There's no wrong turn. Don is just remembering incorrectly which end is the starting point.
    His tiles are correct.

    • @misterman7684
      @misterman7684 Před 6 lety +32

      That's awesome, we should let him know

    • @samuelthecamel
      @samuelthecamel Před 4 lety +13

      Yes, the middle turn is the only turn that is not symmetrical.

    • @MikkoRantalainen
      @MikkoRantalainen Před 3 lety +20

      It seems that Don thought that he had made a mistake but it turns out the only mistake was believing that there was a mistake :D

    • @patrickbrown7438
      @patrickbrown7438 Před 3 lety +34

      I checked this using a screenshot from the video overlaid on a computer generated version. You're right, it's an exact match but just rotated 90°. I'm guessing he knew this and wanted to sneakily point out that flipping the 9th fold creates a rotation of the whole pattern. Mathematicians!

    • @Fealuinix
      @Fealuinix Před 2 lety +14

      @@patrickbrown7438 This is consistent with every legend I've heard of Don Knuth.

  • @user-zj8jn3hs6f
    @user-zj8jn3hs6f Před 9 lety +104

    That's just the cutest thing ever! him and his wife creating this giant custom built dragon curve mosaic and even putting their signatures in… I guess the two of them are one happy geeky couple :)

  • @adrianfisher3349
    @adrianfisher3349 Před 8 lety +322

    It's always nice to see great men who also seem to be just as nice in person.

    • @jamesfernance3944
      @jamesfernance3944 Před 8 lety +4

      His wiki page reveals that he is a really interesting person - having applied himself to so many fascinating projects.

    • @adrianfisher3349
      @adrianfisher3349 Před 8 lety +6

      James Fernance It's also nice he's so open about this mistake.

    • @Games-mw1wd
      @Games-mw1wd Před 7 lety +10

      Adrian Fisher He's probably not so nice if you break into his house and ask him a question about whether to use zero- or one-based indexing :)

    • @loreleihillard5078
      @loreleihillard5078 Před 7 lety +4

      Games14159 how would you know that?

    • @frechjo
      @frechjo Před 7 lety +3

      His books were kinda intimidating; rappelling down through his skylight seemed like the best option.
      Or that's what I'm assuming

  • @fleeb
    @fleeb Před 9 lety +321

    Holy moly... This is the same Donald Knuth of The Art of Computer Programming fame!
    Spot on about erring, but less. And a great object lesson on the matter.

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid Před 9 lety +21

      And of TeX fame of course. Yep, the one. I'm also fangirling out about Brady having visited him :)

    • @Niosus
      @Niosus Před 9 lety +6

      Yes this is our legend! Holy cow the world would have looked different if it wasn't for this guy.
      Brady is moving up the ranks ;) No smart person on this planet can hide from his camera!

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid Před 9 lety +13

      Niosus "Holy cow the world would have looked different if it wasn't for this guy." I shudder just to think of it! We would have _horrendous_ full justification with huge and irregular blank spaces between words .... wait.

    • @jasondoe2596
      @jasondoe2596 Před 9 lety +10

      fleeb A living legend indeed! Although I'm embarrassed to say that I'm more familiar with TeX than with TAOCP... It's mind-boggling what some guys can do _while taking a break from the "serious" stuff_ (Knuth with TeX, Torvalds with Git etc.)

    • @jasondoe2596
      @jasondoe2596 Před 9 lety +2

      Penny Lane xD

  • @gfetco
    @gfetco Před 9 lety +257

    Do you guys really understand what a freaking genius this man really is? My children and their grandchildren will read his books, and hopefully their great grandchildren will as well.

    • @belive-cb8jp
      @belive-cb8jp Před 7 lety +7

      IT's Surreal

    • @joshuarosen6242
      @joshuarosen6242 Před 7 lety +7

      He wrote one of the seminal works in the field of computing namely The Art of Computer Programming. I studied it at university in the '80s and still remember quite a lot of it.

    • @Games-mw1wd
      @Games-mw1wd Před 7 lety +1

      Enlightenment Aren't your children's grandchildren the same as your great-grandchildren?

    • @user-ol2gx6of4g
      @user-ol2gx6of4g Před 6 lety

      Almost no one outside of computer science would read this guy's TAOCP.

    •  Před 5 lety

      Joshua, he didn't. At least he's not finished yet… ;-)

  • @Kaepsele337
    @Kaepsele337 Před 9 lety +128

    Fun Fact: YOU DID NOT ERR!
    It is a valid dragon curve but 90 degrees turned. That's the same figure as if you'd do the last fold in the wrong direction.

  • @DrSpecialful
    @DrSpecialful Před 7 lety +24

    I love the way the poem is mentioned and discussed at the start like a warm up, but then comes back to wrap the video up. Great work numberphile, lovely video.

  • @wroth
    @wroth Před 9 lety +58

    I discovered this as a kid when I stole a whole roll of bus ticket paper and started messing around with it. When I realised it started to make a more complex pattern the more I folded it I then cheated and did the next few steps in MS Paint.I had no idea it was a mathematical thing that had a name until I got to university.

  • @Moregano
    @Moregano Před 8 lety +51

    Wow beautiful ending

  • @OvyGr
    @OvyGr Před 9 lety +173

    So basically his artwall and that writing on the wall say the same thing. Maybe it wasn't an error after all.

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid Před 9 lety +55

      But if it was intentional, then it wasn't an error which means that the intentional meaning is lost and both artworks promptly vanish in a puff of logic. ↯

    • @unvergebeneid
      @unvergebeneid Před 9 lety +2

      Aryan Arora You are starting to way overdiscuss this joke ;)

    • @OvyGr
      @OvyGr Před 9 lety +9

      Party over

  • @RinoaL
    @RinoaL Před 9 lety +4

    that was a very nice story, i like how in the end you realize both of those pieces of art work together, as apposed to in the begining you think one conveys our process for figuring things out and the other conveying the precision of mathematics.

  • @deepspace
    @deepspace Před 9 lety +148

    Respect, this guy is the K in the KMP algorithm.

  • @ZomB1986
    @ZomB1986 Před 8 lety +51

    I can't believe this, my idol made a mistake. Don didn't make a wrong turn, so his conclusion about it is wrong! Take the image at 6:10, rotate the dragon 90 deg CW, and it will be exactly the red appearing curve. If Don had mistaken anything at all, it's swapping the begin and end of the curve.

    • @joncarlisle559
      @joncarlisle559 Před 8 lety +4

      +ZomB1986 wow... youre right

    • @MathHacker42
      @MathHacker42 Před 8 lety +10

      +ZomB1986 Ya, I noticed that; it would mean that the start and end would be switched, but the one on his wall doesn't say which is the start or end, so I don't really feel like that matters.

    • @raykent3211
      @raykent3211 Před 8 lety +30

      +Ella Jameson amusingly, a work is normally signed at the end, so he got it more "right" than he intended!

    • @AlderDragon
      @AlderDragon Před 7 lety

      Wow! I didn't even notice.

    • @PLF...
      @PLF... Před 4 lety +2

      You could say that it's their journey together and where the signatures are is not the starting point but where they are now...

  • @brianpso
    @brianpso Před 9 lety +4

    That ending was brilliant! I love when I hear a story and the end hits me like a punch in the chest.

  • @AndersKaseorg
    @AndersKaseorg Před 9 lety +9

    Hey Brady, you should ask Don Knuth about 0⁰! He wrote an article “Two notes on notation” explaining (among other things) why 0⁰ is defined as 1, rather than undefined like your “Problems with Zero” video claims.

  • @KindlyRequested
    @KindlyRequested Před 9 lety +3

    If the world was made a bigger deal of people like him, there probably wouldn't be wars. This man is so peaceful and calm and intelligent, that it's a shame that i've come to met him only through youtube.

  • @tombrannan9314
    @tombrannan9314 Před 9 lety +1

    Don Knuth is an absolute genius, I'm so happy you got a chance to speak with him. I can't wait to see more videos with him.

  • @stefanf922
    @stefanf922 Před 9 lety +15

    Great story! The mistake gives it a great character.

  • @frederikwulff411
    @frederikwulff411 Před 9 lety +2

    Thanks for everything Don Knuth. Wrote all my ten University semester assignments using TeX and LaTeX. Brilliant!!!

  • @Aefire1
    @Aefire1 Před 9 lety +2

    Awesome to finally see this guy speak after putting dozens of hours into an essay on him. Keep up the great work Brady!

  • @sionatube
    @sionatube Před 8 lety +4

    It comes often in human history that 'mistakes' often turn out prettier than the right thing.

  • @jacderida
    @jacderida Před 9 lety +1

    Yes! Great to see all these legends appearing on the channel. Can't wait for the next videos :).

  • @soren81
    @soren81 Před 9 lety

    I love Don Knuth! Can't wait for more. You should all watch as many of his christmas lectures as possible. They are amazing!

  • @philipjohansson3949
    @philipjohansson3949 Před 9 lety +12

    Oh yeah, this is the video with the toothpaste streak!

  • @razielhamalakh9813
    @razielhamalakh9813 Před 9 lety +6

    Omigod Don Knuth. Omigodomigodomigod. I'm gonna go re-read "Concrete Mathematics" all over again.
    What, did you expect "The Art of Computer Programming" joke? It's Numberphile!

  • @lordofduct
    @lordofduct Před 9 lety

    YAY, so excited you're going to have Knuth in your videos now! So freaking excited!

  • @MrJaMaJoGu
    @MrJaMaJoGu Před 9 lety +17

    There is no error!! If You rotate the whole "correct" structure by 90 degrees counterclockwise you'll end up with the "incorrect" structere. Then you just have to switch the startpoint with the endpoint

  • @abdullahalmosalami2801

    ART OF PROGRAMMING!! OMG! THIS IS SO AWESOME THAT YOU HAVE HIM ON! THIS MAN IS TRULY LEGENDARY!

  • @Flyfunner
    @Flyfunner Před 9 lety +106

    How is this wrong? Yes he made 1 wrong turn but making this turn "correct" actually just flips the entire thing by 90 degrees. If you compare the 2 versions, the "wrong" one and the "right" one, and just rotate the right one counterclockwise by 90 degrees its identical to the wrong one.

    • @JorgetePanete
      @JorgetePanete Před 6 lety

      Flyfunner it's*

    • @bscutajar
      @bscutajar Před 5 lety +5

      The wrong turn is in the middle of the curve so only half of it is flipped.

    • @gamerdio2503
      @gamerdio2503 Před 2 lety

      @@bscutajar It's still a correct dragon curve. Use an editing software to rotate the curve and you'll see its a perfect match

  • @jcims
    @jcims Před 9 lety +1

    Wow, what a treasure. Beautiful gesture by the folks at Heath Ceramics as well.

  • @JeanLescure
    @JeanLescure Před 9 lety

    I clapped at the end of this video... wonderful delivery, both narratively and visually!

  • @Finalounet
    @Finalounet Před 9 lety +1

    Wow I wasn't expecting this living legend here, what a nice surprise ! Can't wait to see what comes up next featuring this code divinity

  • @sallowsandy
    @sallowsandy Před 6 lety

    Really brightened a dreary morning :) Wisdom reaches me with numberphile as much as knowledge.

  • @tiger10guy
    @tiger10guy Před 9 lety

    Geeze Brady. Thanks for having Don Knuth on!

  • @richardsonthony
    @richardsonthony Před 9 lety

    My most enthusiastic laudations to Brady and long time daunting inspiration Don!

  • @DarthTwilight
    @DarthTwilight Před 3 lety

    Golly, I could sit down for a decade and pick his brain, never getting tired.

  • @SquirrelASMR
    @SquirrelASMR Před 2 lety +1

    The way those two pieces of art are linked is awesome. It's better having the error.

  • @seijurouhiko
    @seijurouhiko Před 9 lety

    Knuth is a legend! Love this guy!

  • @tom7
    @tom7 Před 9 lety +2

    Love it.

  • @andrescolon
    @andrescolon Před 9 lety

    Great video. Would love to see more like these.

  • @kerajit
    @kerajit Před 9 lety +5

    I had to check if this "Don" is Donald Knuth, that Donald Knuth. Boy he's a living legend, I have 2 books that he (co wrote) and that guy had huge impact on my education. A living legend.

  • @blackshirtsquad7883
    @blackshirtsquad7883 Před 5 lety

    Legend indeed. Love this man.

  • @Falcrist
    @Falcrist Před 9 lety

    Brady, the mathematicians you show are always interesting!

  • @snyredbaron21
    @snyredbaron21 Před 6 lety

    Donald Knuth is A BIG GENIUS and A BIGGER HUMAN BEING!

  • @keycapslapper7080
    @keycapslapper7080 Před 8 lety +2

    that ending was perfect

  • @tobortine
    @tobortine Před 9 lety

    This is such a lesson in humility. If a genius like Don Knuth can make mistakes and admit to them then I have no right to hubris of any kind.

  • @thevfxwizard7758
    @thevfxwizard7758 Před 3 lety +1

    I was taught AP Calculus AB by his son, John Knuth. Needless to say, he was a great teacher.

  • @paulgandola9926
    @paulgandola9926 Před rokem

    I am fortunate to have been friends with Bill Harter and the late Jack Heighway for over 40 or 50 years. They share the same genius and the love of science and math as D. Knuth. I was happy to accompany Bill Harter to a lunch with Martin Gardner (equally charming, btw) at which this, and other fun effects and phenomena were discussed. Episodes in my lucky live.

  • @gausiano3121
    @gausiano3121 Před 4 lety

    Great Donald Knuth! Thank you for creating the powerful LaTeX. I have written my academic life with it!

  • @TWPO
    @TWPO Před 9 lety +4

    Great ending!

  • @carolinfardal
    @carolinfardal Před 9 lety +11

    Gotta love the fact that my phone alerts me to random videos, it lets me be in the under 301+ club and be one of the first to comment! XD

    • @carolinfardal
      @carolinfardal Před 9 lety +1

      Also my comment has the first like and first reply if by me!

    • @JamieDenAdel
      @JamieDenAdel Před 9 lety +2

      Good day! Tell your friends!

    • @henk6172
      @henk6172 Před 9 lety

      You can configure these notifications, but not in the mobile app. You can on the main CZcams site

    • @carolinfardal
      @carolinfardal Před 9 lety +1

      +Jamie Den Adel I probably will after Christmas break is over I'm a seventh grader with only a few real friends that live a couple of miles away from me.
      +Harm Prins Hmm, I didn't know that, I will definitely check that out, thanks!

    • @carolinfardal
      @carolinfardal Před 9 lety +1

      Also I can't believe I'm top comment after an hour and 60 comments! This is one of the first times I've ever commented other than to reply to other comments so this is very cool!

  • @fake1hotmailcom
    @fake1hotmailcom Před 6 lety

    Wonderful story.

  • @jkid1134
    @jkid1134 Před 8 lety

    Knuth has an obsession with dragon curves too? I had no idea! I have a folder of them I drew in high school. Incredible.

  • @AdamZehavi
    @AdamZehavi Před 9 lety

    Great video... Thank you!

  • @normrubio
    @normrubio Před 9 lety

    That was great! Thanks for that.

  • @jaredhee4194
    @jaredhee4194 Před 9 lety

    The ending was perfect :)

  • @naturenstuff4389
    @naturenstuff4389 Před 9 lety

    This was such a lovely video

  • @KurtSchwind
    @KurtSchwind Před 9 lety

    The Legend: Don Knuth. He is one of the people that got me interested in doing software engineering. I owe a lot to him.

  • @BlueMelon555
    @BlueMelon555 Před 5 lety +2

    After he noticed his mistake I wonder if he sent himself $2.56

  • @johnvonhorn2942
    @johnvonhorn2942 Před 8 lety +34

    Imagine if Bruce Lee came around for dinner and, as he walked through the door, Don said, "Enter the dragon!"

  • @PwnySlaystation01
    @PwnySlaystation01 Před 9 lety

    What a great story. Don Knuth is a giant.

  • @popazo8556
    @popazo8556 Před 4 lety

    I love this man

  • @leobarlach
    @leobarlach Před 9 lety

    That was very cool.

  • @kokopelli314
    @kokopelli314 Před 9 lety

    I was expecting a presentation on fractals, but this was way better!

  • @treyquattro
    @treyquattro Před 4 lety

    what a great story; what a great man!

  • @theheadshot45
    @theheadshot45 Před 9 lety

    Excellent.

  • @meramera8590
    @meramera8590 Před rokem

    Genial! Can I replicate with or without mistake, maybe only three or four iterations at most!

  • @paulofalca0
    @paulofalca0 Před 9 lety

    Having the error makes it unique, and more human, definitely adds value :)

  • @silvariuscoyote
    @silvariuscoyote Před 9 lety +2

    Finally I understand the chapter heading pictures in Ian Malcolm's Jurassic Park...

    • @silvariuscoyote
      @silvariuscoyote Před 9 lety

      Oops, I meant Michael Crichton, not Ian Malcom. Still, it's a pretty cool design

    • @PLF...
      @PLF... Před 4 lety

      @@silvariuscoyote > Freudian slip! That pose (in the movie at least) is the most iconic thing perhaps from the entire decade of the 90s

  • @whiteraven2k
    @whiteraven2k Před 9 lety

    The legend himself!

  • @explosiveegg3920
    @explosiveegg3920 Před 9 lety

    Very interesting video.

  • @kevin_m_smith
    @kevin_m_smith Před 9 lety

    Truly inspirational!

  • @awwkaw9996
    @awwkaw9996 Před 7 lety

    awesome point

  • @shruggzdastr8-facedclown

    True art is rarely found in absolute perfection but usually where happy accidents happen.

  • @Onserio.
    @Onserio. Před rokem

    Wow, that was beautiful

  • @everburningblue
    @everburningblue Před 9 lety

    I don't know why, but this almost made me cry.

  • @Jjsssssss
    @Jjsssssss Před 9 lety

    Cool video, that's very interesting!

  • @nicholaswilliams4507
    @nicholaswilliams4507 Před 3 lety

    That dude freakin' loves life.

  • @SeanRhoadesChristopher

    That's wonderful when someone admits a mistake.

  • @VikingPickles
    @VikingPickles Před 8 lety +3

    Wow, just wow.

  • @Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time

    Nice video!!!

    • @tedchirvasiu
      @tedchirvasiu Před 9 lety +2

      quite the username you have there, buddy

  • @katiekawaii
    @katiekawaii Před 9 lety

    Wonderful.

  • @lydiawhite5811
    @lydiawhite5811 Před 9 lety +2

    The 'wrong' curve and the 'right' curve look the same to me, just rotated to the right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they're the same. You'd just have to say the other end was your starting point.

    • @Darkblitz9
      @Darkblitz9 Před 9 lety

      They are the same. Either the graphic is wrong or they're literally Hitler when it comes to which angle the Dragon Curve must be seen.

  • @mazza420
    @mazza420 Před 9 lety +2

    the real guy, the best guy,
    don knuth, booyah

  • @Nlenov
    @Nlenov Před 6 lety

    I'd like to comment on this. But I can't. There is nothing I could write that would feel right on a video featuring Don Knuth. You are so privileged to have met him. Regarding the dragon, if there was an error (which is not certain according to some comments), it would make this even more a work of art.

  • @PLF...
    @PLF... Před 4 lety

    This is going on the list of things I'm definitely going to make, but will never get around to

  • @TheImaginaererfreund
    @TheImaginaererfreund Před 9 lety

    Brady, I love, how you ask mr. Knuth about his feeling about an error, while having toothpaste all over your face :)

  • @michaelsnowden2037
    @michaelsnowden2037 Před 8 lety +1

    such a great ending

  • @Mixa_Lv
    @Mixa_Lv Před 8 lety

    Well, those wall decorations will stay ewually awesome as long as they stay together. That's a pretty great coincidense afterall.

  • @alexanderdreisler9042
    @alexanderdreisler9042 Před 9 lety

    Fun fact: Grook, or Gruk in danish, is a word invented by Piet Hein. The word is a contraction between the danish word for ugly (grim) and beautiful (smuk). Grim + Smuk = Gruk or Grook in english.

  • @kevidle
    @kevidle Před 7 lety

    I think Don Knuth has an extremely relaxing voice.

  • @AlderDragon
    @AlderDragon Před 7 lety +5

    At the end of the video it shows Don playing his organ and adjusting a monitor. I'd love to see this extra footage but I can't find it! Does anyone know where I can watch it?

  • @AdlerMow
    @AdlerMow Před 4 lety +1

    Because of the title, I thought for a second this was about the maths of D&D!

  • @PinkChucky15
    @PinkChucky15 Před 9 lety

    Very nice video :-)

  • @123must
    @123must Před 9 lety

    Thanks !

  • @MathHacker42
    @MathHacker42 Před 9 lety +1

    The curve on the wall is still the correct shape, just turned 90° so that the piece with their names is actually the end and the other one is the start, so it doesn't really seem like that big of a deal.

  • @kentrel2
    @kentrel2 Před 9 lety

    This is really similar to how I used to doodle in college. I had pages of these kinds of diagrams. If only I had Don's knack for science!

  • @Zetto129
    @Zetto129 Před 9 lety

    Still lovely, geeky art to have in a home :)

  • @Khazeous
    @Khazeous Před 9 lety

    Great story. :)

  • @Niclmaki
    @Niclmaki Před 9 lety

    Don Knuth seems like a pretty awesome guy.