16 - Numberphile

We discuss the number 16 - a perfect square - and how sitting at table 16 led to something bigger for Matt Parker.

In this video is Dr Ria Symonds from the University of Nottingham.

And stand-up mathematician Matt Parker whose website is http://standupmaths.com/

The MathsJam website is http://mathsjam.com/

Matt's section filmed at St Pancras Champagne Bar in London... Our thanks to them.

Follow Numberphile on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Numberphile/116862298423181
Numberphile tweets at https://twitter.com/#!/numberphile

Videos by Brady Haran

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 16
• sixteen
• sweet
• perfect
• square
• number
• numbers
• mathematics
• math

[andrew14566]

My favorite number is 16 because that's when MOTHERFUCKING CHARMANDER evolves to MOTHERFUCKING CHARMELEON

[ndpratas]

Ohhh she has a loop in her hair... So sweet <3

[Diosukekun]

THAT is NOT an X

[roblokzd]

16 is also a base 2 for bianary 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2046 4096

[Gytax0]

Triangle numbers please :D

[chunkyq]

"Why don't we get rid of the schoolkids and just replace them with tasty beverages?"

[Adr1anFoo21]

damn these mathematicians ,im barely passing geometry

[youfulloftube]

lol 1 will almost work for this, but x and y will already equal themselves. also im pretty sure that the reason 16 works for this is because 4 is the only number that's square can also be added to itself to equal 4. 2 x 2 = 4, and 2 + 2 = 4

[harryh111111]

It's maths

[shadowkatie2]

@andrew14566 FUCK YEAH!!!!!

[TheMuffinChef]

Well.... Shorthand version: nothing else can be x^y=y^x when x =/= y because the equation will only work if y is a power of x or vice versa, due to the fact that if the numbers are not powers of each other they will have different prime factorizations, and thus be different numbers. If you go even one number higher like 3^9 vs. 9^3, it becomes clear that the high value of the exponent of x overrides the high value of y.

[Osirus1156]

Ah man, smart and beautiful.