---
title: 'Meet James Grime - Numberphile Live'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=8IOaoK2MMoI'
video_id: '8IOaoK2MMoI'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 3256
---

# Meet James Grime - Numberphile Live

> Source: [Meet James Grime - Numberphile Live](https://youtube.com/watch?v=8IOaoK2MMoI)

## Summary

In this live Q&A, Brady Haran interviews Dr. James Grime, a mathematician and frequent Numberphile guest. They discuss James's background, his YouTube channel 'singingbanana', his PhD in group theory, and his work as a public maths speaker. The conversation also covers his hobbies, favorite mathematicians, and thoughts on maths education.

### Key Points

- **Introduction** [0:02] — Brady introduces James Grime as the most frequent guest on Numberphile.
- **singingbanana channel** [1:43] — James explains his channel name 'singingbanana' has been his online name since age 17.
- **PhD in group theory** [6:25] — His PhD was in group theory, the mathematics of symmetry, focusing on turning groups into matrices.
- **School subjects** [7:42] — James chose maths and physics because they were easiest; he found chemistry hardest but fascinating.
- **Mathematics and proof** [8:55] — He values proof as the creative core of mathematics.
- **IQ score** [11:47] — James scored 155 on an IQ test at age 16 but downplays its importance.
- **Favorite symbol** [12:14] — He likes the infinity symbol and dislikes some Greek letters he can't write.
- **Graham's number** [13:15] — Graham's number came from a practical graph-coloring problem.
- **Amicable numbers** [14:42] — He shows amicable number key rings (220 and 284) sold at Maths Gear.
- **Hobbies** [16:54] — Hobbies include juggling, ballroom dancing, and watching films.
- **Favorite song** [19:15] — Favorite song is 'I Want You Back' by the Jackson Five.
- **Favorite shape** [19:29] — Favorite shape is the circle.
- **Doctor Who reference** [19:52] — His students called him The Master (Doctor Who villain) due to resemblance.
- **Favorite mathematicians** [20:49] — Favorite mathematicians: Alfred Young, Tom Lehrer, Johnny Ball.
- **Juggling demonstration** [22:15] — He juggles with cricket balls and baseballs during the stream.
- **Favorite number** [23:14] — Favorite number is 1.
- **Current job** [23:58] — His day job is giving public talks about maths, especially the Enigma machine.
- **Computer games** [25:10] — He plays casual computer games like Angry Birds and Galaga.
- **Bar billiards** [26:20] — He is obsessed with bar billiards.
- **Reading comments** [27:40] — He reads comments on his own channel and checks Numberphile comments.
- **Base 12 preference** [30:08] — He prefers base 12 over decimal for everyday use.
- **Branch of mathematics** [31:33] — He is a pure mathematician specializing in algebra.
- **Maths education** [33:24] — He discusses the cultural problem of maths being seen as hard.
- **Pi vs tau** [34:43] — He prefers pi over tau, convinced by Professor Moriarty's argument.
- **Pi digits** [35:46] — He can recite pi to 3.141592654.
- **Favorites** [36:04] — Favorite food is Chinese; favorite color is yellow.
- **Rubik's Cube** [36:40] — He can solve a Rubik's Cube in about four minutes using beginner's method.
- **Favorite YouTubers** [37:23] — Favorite YouTubers include Vihart, Khan Academy, Ty Yann, and Dr. James Tanton.
- **Favorite TV show** [41:04] — He likes the TV show 'Numb3rs' for portraying mathematicians positively.
- **Even vs odd** [43:42] — He prefers even numbers.
- **Maths joke** [46:10] — He shares a maths joke: 'Why do mathematicians confuse Halloween and Christmas? Because Oct31 equals Dec25.'
- **School of Hard Sums** [46:35] — He helped the TV show 'School of Hard Sums' with Enigma machine information.
- **Creativity in maths** [48:57] — He emphasizes that mathematics is a creative subject.
- **Grime corollary** [51:06] — He mentions the Grime corollary, a small contribution to a Futurama brain-swapping problem.

## Transcript

BRADY HARAN: A pretend
conversation.
Like, you know when you watch
TV and the weather presenter
and the news presenter have
that fake chat at the end?
JAMES GRIME: Oh, OK.
[INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: Yeah, OK.
Interesting.
That's an interesting
equation you were
telling me about earlier.
JAMES GRIME: It was?
BRADY HARAN: OK.
Hello everyone.
The camera's there.
We mustn't look at ourselves.
Hello everyone.
I'm Brady from "Numberphile",
and this is Dr. James Grime.
JAMES GRIME: Hello.
BRADY HARAN: James is in loads
of "Numberphile" videos.
He's the most frequent guest.
JAMES GRIME: Can't
get rid of me.
BRADY HARAN: Can't
get rid of you.
JAMES GRIME: Bad penny.
BRADY HARAN: One of our most
popular guests as well.
And I know a lot of people
were really interested
to hear from him.
We've been filming upstairs at
"Numberphile" HQ, making about
five or six videos, we did?
JAMES GRIME: Yes,
I think we did.
BRADY HARAN: About five or six
videos that we've recorded,
which will be appearing on
"Numberphile" in the weeks and
months to come.
But while James was here, as I
told many of you yesterday, I
thought I would take advantage
of the fact he was here on
Valentine's Day.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, isn't it a
bit odd that we're spending
Valentine's Day together?
BRADY HARAN: Yeah, it was an
unfortunate scheduling.
It was the only day
you were free.
JAMES GRIME: What do you
mean unfortunate?
And what do you mean it's
the only day I'm free?
BRADY HARAN: That wasn't
[INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: This is
going downhill.
BRADY HARAN: Let's stop
that altogether.
Let's talk to James about the
things you want to talk about.
A bunch of people posted
questions yesterday.
So I'm going to ask a few of
them, so those people have a
chance to be involved, in
case they're not here.
And obviously you can post
questions yourselves now.
We'll be following it, and I'll
try and get some of them
to James as well.
The first thing I thought we
should deal with is, I know a
lot of people may be aware--
some people may not be aware--
that James has his own
YouTube channel.
He's been doing this
far longer than
"Numberphile" has existed.
It's called singingbanana.
JAMES GRIME: Course it is.
BRADY HARAN: I don't want to
talk about it too much,
because I would rather you all
watched my channels than
James' channel.
But a lot of you asked
about it, so I'm not
going to ignore it.
And it's full of excellent
stuff.
There were three things that
came up most frequently.
The first thing people want to
know is why your channel's
called singingbanana.
And then can you also tell us a
bit about the future of it?
Because obviously, with all your
commitments, it's a bit
more sporadic in
its uploading.
What's happening with it?
What's the status of it?
And lastly, a lot of people have
asked, as you do that and
I do my things on YouTube, how
did we come to meet via?
And so can you tell
people about it?
I mean, I know the answer to
that question, but if you can
tell people those
three things.
JAMES GRIME: OK.
So I do have my own YouTube
channel, singingbanana.
Of course it is.
Why wouldn't it be called
singingbanana?
No, singingbanana is my online
name, and it has been since I
was like 17.
So--
oh, by the way, if you search
singingbanana, if you find
another singingbanana online,
don't harass them, because it
might not be me.
I know there's some other people
who have decided those
two words together
would be fun.
But it's my online name.
So my channel wasn't meant to
be anything more than my
personal YouTube channel.
So that's why it's called
singingbanana.
I've been doing it for five
years now, in March.
It will be my fifth year,
measuring from
my first maths video.
What were the other questions
I was asked?
BRADY HARAN: You were asked
about your future for it.
What's the situation
about that?
Because you obviously have a
lot of things on the go.
JAMES GRIME: So I do it
in my spare time.
I don't want people thinking
that I do this for a living.
So the YouTube stuff--
BRADY HARAN: As opposed to me.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, exactly.
Exactly right.
So my YouTube stuff is
in my free time.
And the more I do public talks
and the more traveling I do,
and the more "Numberphile" I do,
unfortunately it affects
my singingbanana schedule,
which is a shame.
And I don't like that either.
And I want to do as many
as I can, as I can.
What was the other question?
There was one other.
BRADY HARAN: How you
were doing that.
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: Yeah, how did you
come to be involved with
"Numberphile"?
JAMES GRIME: Well, I know, in
the first case, I was a fan of
periodic videos.
So I saw what you were doing for
chemistry, and I wanted to
do something like
that for maths.
I tried to sort of do it
on singingbanana, in
my own small way.
And if you go back to an old
singingbanana video, there's
even on where I recommend
channels.
And I recommend "Periodic
Videos." And I actually say,
Brady's doing for chemistry what
I want to do for maths.
So that's actually there.
And so--
BRADY HARAN: Now I'm doing
for maths what you
want to do for maths.
JAMES GRIME: Right.
BRADY HARAN: With you.
JAMES GRIME: Well,
yeah, exactly.
This is brilliant.
And I was a big fan of your
"Bibledex" channel as well,
which was about each book of
the Bible, because that's
something I don't know about.
Chemistry, physics,
I kind of know.
And that's something
that I didn't know
anything about at all.
So I was fascinated
by those videos,
like an ordinary viewer.
And I sent you a couple of nice
messages, I think, saying
I'm loving this channel.
BRADY HARAN: Yeah.
JAMES GRIME: And if you ever
think of doing maths,
ask me about it.
And so that opportunity
came up, and you did.
BRADY HARAN: I did.
JAMES GRIME: You asked
me about it.
BRADY HARAN: I did.
We went to the pub, didn't we?
And I said, I'm gonna
do a maths channel.
What do you think?
And you were on board.
Worst thing you ever did.
You can't get rid of me now.
JAMES GRIME: No, or the
other way around.
BRADY HARAN: Well, no.
We're very glad to have
you in our videos.
A few other questions.
There are loads coming
in, so we'll try and
get to some of those.
Someone asked, are we both
redheads, or is there strange
lighting in the room?
JAMES GRIME: Look, this
is not ginger.
This is brown.
Look at my eyebrow.
This is brown with blonde parts
in it, that it just
comes out a little big rusty.
Yeah it's--
BRADY HARAN: Someone else
has asked where
your accent is from.
JAMES GRIME: My accent is
Nottingham, because I'm from
Nottingham originally.
BRADY HARAN: [INAUDIBLE], for
those who don't know, I'm
based in Nottingham.
That's where I work
on "Numberphile".
James actually lives
in Cambridge now.
JAMES GRIME: Yes.
BRADY HARAN: But you are in
Nottingham today [INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: I am born
and bred Nottingham.
And I left when I was 17.
But I am.
This is a midlands accent.
It's a fairly neutral accent,
maybe on the slightly northern
side of things.
BRADY HARAN: And if anyone's
really confused, because I
said I live in Nottingham, I am
from Australia originally.
I don't have a Nottingham
accent.
We had quite a few questions.
People asked a lot about
your background.
But in particular, quite a few
people have asked about what
you did for your PhD.
You obviously have a PhD.
Can you tell us a little bit
about your research, what your
hardcore math was?
JAMES GRIME: Right.
So my PhD, if I start off in
broad terms, it was about
something called group theory.
Group theory is part of maths,
which is about symmetry.
So it's the maths of symmetry.
So if you imagine a square, like
that, and if I rotate the
square a quarter-turn, you
get a square again.
So that's like ordinary
symmetry.
If you flipped the square,
you get a square again.
If I rotate the square four
quarter-turns, I get back to
where I started, so
things like that.
That's the symmetry
of a square.
But mathematically speaking,
symmetry covers a lot of sins.
Symmetry means, there's
something we care about that
we want to stay the same.
So it might be a shape.
It might be volume or
length or angle.
There's something we
care about that we
want to stay the same.
That's group theory.
And my PhD was about
group theory.
And it was about turning groups,
which is an abstract
thing, into matrices, which
is a concrete thing.
And it's about making a bridge
between those worlds.
There you go.
That's a start.
That's the start of my PhD.
And we could go much
deeper than that.
BRADY HARAN: Well, we might come
back to it depending on
what everyone asks about.
I'll ask you a couple
other things from
yesterday, and loads of--
what were your favorite
school subjects?
Were you into mathematics
at school?
JAMES GRIME: So at school,
I tell you what,
when I did my A-levels--
so that's when you do, 17 to
18 years old, you start to
pick A-levels in the UK.
I picked maths, physics,
and chemistry.
Now, maths and physics I picked
because I'm lazy.
Those are the subjects that
were easiest for me to do.
Actually, I wasn't
gonna do maths.
My maths teacher
made me do it.
He said, you are doing maths.
I said, I don't want
to do maths.
He said, you are doing maths.
So I picked maths, physics,
chemistry.
Chemistry was the one I found
hardest but fascinating.
I was absolutely fascinated
with chemistry.
90% of my time was spent
trying to keep up with
chemistry, because it was the
one I found hardest to do.
And then 10% of my time was
doing maths and physics,
because it came naturally
to me.
So the answer is, I'm
slightly lazy.
I picked the subject that came
most naturally to me.
But then I continued to do it.
And at university, that's when
I really started to see the
beauty of mathematics, because
real mathematics that I care
about is about proof.
And that's what you get
to do at university.
That's when you start to be
really creative about
mathematics.
That's why I continue
to do it.
It's the proof.
Proof is [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: Well, funny you
should say that, because a
question that's just come in
recently is, what mathematical
proof is most surprising
to you, or maybe just
interesting?
Can you talk about a proof that
is worth talking about?
We did a video about a proof
today, didn't we?
But maybe we can keep
that one a secret.
JAMES GRIME: OK, so I'm
gonna have to keep up
with the site then.
What mathematical proof?
There are some things that
are counter-intuitive.
And so those are fascinating,
the ones
that you don't expect.
Now, those are fascinating
because those are peculiar.
Maths is intuitive.
And I want people to
understand that.
Maths is an intuitive subject.
What you believe to be
true, more often than
not, actually is true.
And that's how maths work.
Mathematicians are not just
working through the steps.
They are actually
making creative
leaps, creative jumps.
This is how it should work.
This is how it should
be, so now I have to
prove that it is.
So you're using your intuition
to guide you.
So the majority of maths is
intuitive in that sense.
So when you get the
counter-intuitive ones, that's
why mathematicians like
talking about them.
I don't want to give people
the wrong idea that that's
what maths is.
But then you get problems like
the Monty Hall problem, which
is a game show where you
have three doors.
You have to pick the car, and
then the game show host
reveals one of the doors.
You've got two doors left.
And if you change your mind,
you're twice as likely to win.
And that's very
counter-intuitive, very bizarre.
And then you can prove
that that is true.
Mathematicians like to talk
about those strange ones.
BRADY HARAN: I do want to do
that for "Numberphile", but
it's one of those things
that's been
done so many times.
I want to do it in a new way,
and I haven't decided how
we're gonna do it yet.
JAMES GRIME: It's famous, and
it's famous for a reason,
because it's good.
And you actually learn
something.
When you start to see the proof,
you actually learn
something from that.
BRADY HARAN: You talked before
about A-levels in school.
Someone's asked here what grades
you got in A-levels.
Where were your high
school maths like?
JAMES GRIME: Well, you know
what it's going to be.
You know it's gonna be A's.
Yes, I got A's at A-level.
In my day-- where's my pipe?
In my day, we didn't have
A-stars or A-levels, so I had
A's for A-levels.
BRADY HARAN: OK, and
a few people have
asked about your IQ.
Have you ever had an IQ test?
JAMES GRIME: I have, yes.
BRADY HARAN: What'd you get?
What's your number?
JAMES GRIME: So IQ, OK,
I will do this.
However, IQ is not a good
measure of intelligence.
And I'm--
BRADY HARAN: Oh, you bombed.
Yeah, you bombed out.
JAMES GRIME: I'm not
a big fan of it.
My IQ, when I was 16, when
I had it tested, was 155.
BRADY HARAN: That's really
high, isn't it?
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
It would put me in the
top something, yes.
BRADY HARAN: 155.
JAMES GRIME: And I don't care,
because I'm still an idiot.
BRADY HARAN: If my IQ was 155,
I'd have it tattooed on my
forehead, but anyway.
JAMES GRIME: I never want
to mention that again.
BRADY HARAN: OK.
I'll ask you a few random ones,
just because I like
questions like this.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, go on.
BRADY HARAN: Someone asked,
do you have a favorite
mathematical symbol?
And is there a mathematical
symbol you'd like to change
for some reason?
I don't know what the reason
would be, but maybe because
it's hard to wrote, or it's
a pain in the backside
[INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: OK, infinity's
a cool symbol.
I mean, I might just
leave it at that.
And it has an implication
of going forever, like a
[INAUDIBLE].
So there's an intuitive sense
of what it means.
It's a well-chosen symbol.
I like that one.
Ones I don't like?
Because, in mathematics, we use
Greek letters a lot, lots
of Greek letters that
I can't write--
all the Greek viewers now will
mock me, but there are some
Greek letters I just don't
know how to write them.
BRADY HARAN: On "Sixty Symbols,"
we have a lot of
Greek letters come up, and
that's a real pain, trying to
find them and work with them.
So I feel your pain.
JAMES GRIME: I apologize
to Greek viewers.
BRADY HARAN: Wow.
And you've got a 155 IQ.
So if you can't do them, what
chance do the rest of us got?
Is there a practical use
for Graham's number?
JAMES GRIME: Oh, right.
So Graham's number, this famous
massively number, it
came out of a practical
problem.
It was a mathematical
problem, but it did
come out of a problem.
So I guess it is born
of a problem.
And the problem was about
taking a graph.
A graph is a network
of dots and lines
that you join together.
You take a graph, and how many
ways can you color a graph?
And it was born out of
a problem like that.
And networks and graphs have
very practical uses, in things
like on the internet and how
you join things together,
networks together.
So I guess it does have a
practical use, very much so.
BRADY HARAN: It's not like some
guy just made up this
crazy number and then said,
now what can I use it for?
JAMES GRIME: Exactly right,
exactly right.
I mean, of course you could do
that by just adding one,
adding two.
Yeah.
No, it's famous because
it has a real use.
And at that point, it was the
biggest number that had ever
been used in a genuine
mathematical proof.
BRADY HARAN: At this point,
because I'm gonna have a quick
read of some of the questions,
and because it is Valentine's
Day, you brought something
along with you.
We have made a video about these
numbers in this before,
featuring James.
It was one of our earlier
videos, so go and have a look.
And I'll put it in the video
description later.
But these are really nice.
Maybe you should show these.
Hold them up to the camera,
and you have
a chat about them.
JAMES GRIME: OK, so what I've
got here, these are my
amicable number.
Can you see that?
Let's see if I can get
that to focus.
There we go.
These are my amicable number
broken-heart chains.
So that's 220 on that one.
Can we get a focus?
284 on that one.
And so the factors of 220 add
up to 284, while the factors
of 284 add up to 220.
So they come as a pair.
And in the past, these would
symbolize mutual friendship,
perfect harmony, and love.
And so for Valentine's Day,
they are really sweet.
It's a kind of a nerdy thing.
But it's a really sweet thing.
So we had these made, 220 and
284 key rings that join up.
So you can keep one and give
the other half to your true
love, I guess.
BRADY HARAN: Can one
obtain these?
JAMES GRIME: Shall I, shall I?
Yes, you can obtain these.
BRADY HARAN: I have no
commercial interest in this
whatsoever.
But if people would want to
know if they can get them.
JAMES GRIME: And I'm
shy doing it.
But Matt Parker and myself--
now, Matt Parker is another
"Numberphile" speaker.
Matt Parker and myself, we're
friends in real life as well.
So we set up a little company,
little business thing, where
we were sending these "Amicable
Number" key rings,
and other things as well, a
couple of maths things that we
came up with that we thought
would be fun and other nerdy
people might like.
And it's called Maths Gear.
If I hold this up,
there you go.
BRADY HARAN: You brought that
just because that's
what that was in.
You didn't bring it to--
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, that's
the packaging.
So Math Gear and
mathsgear.com.
And yeah, we sell little bits.
We're not trying to--
BRADY HARAN: [INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: We're not trying
to be rich by this.
BRADY HARAN: If we were trying
to sell those for Valentine's
Day, this is probably the worst
possible time to do it,
because it's too late.
You've got a year to get in your
hearts for next year's
Valentine's Day.
How's that for poorly
timed advertising?
Cool.
We got loads of questions
coming in.
What do you enjoy doing apart
from mathematics?
JAMES GRIME: OK, so my hobbies,
These days, of course
I spend so much time traveling
and giving talks, it's
difficult to do my
hobbies now.
If you follow my Twitter, I
often talk about films and
things, because I'm just
sitting around in train
stations watching films.
So I'm a big film fan.
I used to do a lot of dancing.
I used to do ballroom dancing,
jive dancing, so I can dance a
little bit.
I used to do that.
But it's difficult to
do it these days.
And juggling is my big hobby.
I'm a juggler.
So I juggle clubs and balls
and knives and fire
and rings and uni--
I ride a unicycle.
And it's one of my things.
BRADY HARAN: Fair enough.
Obviously someone knew that,
because one of the questions I
was asked to ask you was, is
there a theoretical limit to
the maximum number of balls
one can juggle?
So they obviously knew you were
a juggler, or that's an
amazing coincidence.
JAMES GRIME: So theoretical
limit, there should be really
no theoretical limit if, say,
we had a program of a stick
man juggling balls.
And his hands can be
as fast as light.
And I think there are
programs like that.
And so there'd be no theoretical
limit, because
he'd throw them higher.
But there is a physical limit.
So the record for juggling
balls, I think it's 13.
It might be 11.
Clubs, then, is a little
bit lower.
So that would be 11,
or maybe it's nine.
BRADY HARAN: I thought it might
be higher than that.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, clubs, I
think, so it's a little bit--
BRADY HARAN: But the balls, I
thought, might be higher.
JAMES GRIME: Oh, yeah,
you thought the
balls might up higher.
Yeah, I think it might be 13.
I could be wrong about that.
But it's not as high as you
think it would be, because of
the physical problem of it.
And then, as a friend
of mine said--
I have to credit my friend here,
a friend of mine called
Colin Wright.
He's a mathematician and
a juggler as well.
And he says that the world
record for juggling chainsaws
is three, because, yeah, given
chainsaws, you're gonna juggle
three of them.
BRADY HARAN: OK.
While we're quickly doing a few
personal things about you,
because people obviously have
an interest, I was asked to
ask you your favorite song.
JAMES GRIME: Favorite song is
"I Want You Back" by the
Jackson Five.
I'm a little bit camp.
Sometimes I'm a little
bit camp.
BRADY HARAN: You said
it, you said it.
JAMES GRIME: Sometimes I am.
BRADY HARAN: Do you have
a favorite shape?
JAMES GRIME: Favorite shape.
Not really, not really.
For the sake of an answer,
let's say the circle.
Because it's the limit,
isn't it, of your
triangles and your squares?
BRADY HARAN: Do you have a
favorite "Doctor Who" alien?
I'm not asking these
questions.
This is you guys.
JAMES GRIME: I can tell you that
my students used to call
me The Master.
And The Master is Doctor
Who's enemy.
The Master is a time lord in
"Doctor Who." And he's Doctor
Who's enemy.
And they used to call me The
Master because when my hair is
short and I'm wearing my black
suit, as I like to wear a
black suit, I look like-- or
they thought I look like--
John Simm from "Doctor Who,"
who plays The Master.
So when I discovered that they
were doing this, I was quite
amused by that.
And I came in the next lecture,
and I tested my
microphone by tapping it--
[RAPS ON TABLE]
JAMES GRIME: And the "Doctor
Who" fans will
know what that means.
I got someone to squeal.
I got a squeal from
my students.
Tick.
BRADY HARAN: And you got a
completely blank look from me.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, you don't
know [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: I don't know what
you're talking about.
Do you have a favorite
mathematician?
JAMES GRIME: A favorite
mathematician?
OK, all right.
On my office wall, there are
three photographs of
mathematicians.
There's a picture of a man
called Alfred Young, who was
the father of what I study
in particular.
And many people won't
have heard of him.
He lived about 100 years ago.
There's a picture
of Tom Lehrer.
Tom Lehrer was a mathematician
and a satirist in
the 1960s, a comedian.
He used to do satirical songs.
And I love him.
I think he's great.
The fact that he's a
mathematician is just a bonus.
He's brilliant.
And I've got a picture of
him, because I love him.
And the third picture is a
picture of Johnny Ball.
And Johnny Ball was a-- he
had a TV show about maths
when I was a kid.
So he was enthusiastic, and he
was a maths communicator.
And he loved maths, and he
jumped up and down, and he
wanted to show you maths.
And he inspired me to continue
to do maths and show an
interest in maths when I would
not have had exposure to that
sort of thing before.
And you may be able to see that
he's my inspiration and
why I do what I do now.
And you may even be
able to see that.
BRADY HARAN: So many people have
asked to see you juggle
that we're going to
have to do it.
I've only got some cricket
balls and baseballs here.
So what do you want?
Two baseballs and
a cricket ball?
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, sure.
Have to keep them low as well.
BRADY HARAN: You will.
There you go.
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
Right.
So I'll get my excuses in now.
BRADY HARAN: If you do
it, I will do it.
JAMES GRIME: Oh,
can you do it?
So that's your simple stuff.
But you know, you can go--
BRADY HARAN: Oh yeah.
JAMES GRIME: And stuff
like that.
[INAUDIBLE].
You're up.
Get off to it.
BRADY HARAN: I'm impressed.
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
There you go.
BRADY HARAN: All right,
here I go.
JAMES GRIME: Hey.
BRADY HARAN: There we go.
You want to see one
on the outside?
JAMES GRIME: Whoa, whoa.
Yeah, I'm nervous when
you throw the
cricket ball in my direction.
BRADY HARAN: It's completely
under control.
We'll have to get you doing some
more of your elaborate
juggling for a video.
We'll find an excuse sometime.
JAMES GRIME: We'll
see about that.
BRADY HARAN: Let's get
back in our position
after that little interlude.
Favorite number?
JAMES GRIME: Favorite number.
Of course everyone asks your
favorite number, and I don't
really have a favorite number.
BRADY HARAN: What if I said,
choose a number or I will
throw this cricket
ball at you?
JAMES GRIME: OK, in that case,
I will choose the number one.
Where would we be without
the number one?
BRADY HARAN: Fair enough.
The next question was, do you
have a favorite number
between 1 and 100?
So you've also covered
that, so well done.
JAMES GRIME: Tick.
BRADY HARAN: I'll cross
that off the list.
Do you want to quickly
just tell people what
your current job is?
A lot of people will have seen
me made a "Numberphile" video
with you in which you were
showcasing the Enigma machine.
And that is a big part of your
job as well, your real job.
So maybe you want to tell people
what your real-life job
is these days.
I'll get you to come in.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah,
a bit closer.
BRADY HARAN: Go ahead.
JAMES GRIME: So my real job.
So my day job is, I travel the
UK and I travel the world, and
I give public talks
about maths.
And I'm trying to inspire, I'm
trying to motivate people.
And I might talk to children,
and I might talk to adults.
And it might be in schools,
and it might be in
universities.
It might be in festivals.
Enigma is the one I like
to talk about most.
So we have that machine
on loan to us.
And it's one of the most
inspiring and fascinating and
brilliant stories that
I love to tell.
And that's the majority
of my time.
I do that a lot.
BRADY HARAN: You have am Enigma
machine that's been
lent to you or to the--
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, the
machine I show off
belongs to Simon Singh.
And Simon Singh is an author
of popular science books.
And he lent it to Cambridge
University, who lent it, in
turn, to me so that I can
show it off and tell
people about it.
BRADY HARAN: Do you
like games?
Do you play games?
JAMES GRIME: I'm guessing
you mean, like,
online computer games.
BRADY HARAN: I don't know.
Let's open it to everything.
First of all, do you play
computer games?
JAMES GRIME: Computer games, I
play occasionally something.
I'm a casual gamer.
I play the 10 minutes of games,
so, like, your "Angry
Birds." And I've got an Atari
that you plug into your TV.
And I play "Space Invaders."
BRADY HARAN: A proper
old-school Atari?
JAMES GRIME: Well, it's
one of those, they
put it inside a joystick.
So you plug it straight
to the TV.
BRADY HARAN: Cool.
JAMES GRIME: And it's got "Super
Mario" on it and "Space
Invaders" and "Galaga." I like
"Galaga." I'm a demon on
"Galaga." You can't beat
me at "Galaga."
BRADY HARAN: And do
you play any--
what I call them,
real-life games?
JAMES GRIME: Real-life games.
Real-life games.
BRADY HARAN: I don't know
what you call those.
I don't know.
JAMES GRIME: What?
What are you saying, tag?
BRADY HARAN: Non-electrical
games?
Do you play--
you know what I'm asking.
Answer the question.
JAMES GRIME: Oh, like,
"Monopoly." There we go.
That's all I can think
of board games.
Oh, role-playing games,
things like that.
OK, so I'm not really
in that world.
So I guess not.
Role-playing, board games, I
have friends that do that.
I'm not really into it.
BRADY HARAN: Any sports
or anything you like?
JAMES GRIME: Any sports?
Nah.
BRADY HARAN: There's a
game you told me you
play all the time.
JAMES GRIME: If you
count, yeah.
I play sport if you count bar
billiards as a sport.
BRADY HARAN: You're obsessed
with bar billiards.
You always talk to
me about it.
JAMES GRIME: I am obsessed.
BRADY HARAN: You want to
make a video about it.
JAMES GRIME: I do.
I would love to make a video
about bar billiards.
Bar billiards is an
awesome game.
BRADY HARAN: What is
bar billiards, for
those who don't know?
JAMES GRIME: Bar billiards, so
billiards, you know, so you've
got cues and a table
and billiard balls.
And so snooker is a sort of
billiards game, and pool.
But bar billiards is, you
got a couple of balls.
You have to get them
into the holes.
The holes are in the table.
They're not pockets
at the sides.
They're in the table.
You get points.
So you score as many
points as you can.
And you have to score
as many points as
you can in 30 minutes.
And it's awesome.
It's brilliant.
BRADY HARAN: People have asked
if you play chess, and if you
have a preference for
chess or draughts.
JAMES GRIME: Oh, I guess
chess, really.
But I do play chess.
Not that brilliant at it.
I used to play chess
with my dad a lot.
It was a nice thing
we used to do.
We used to have a chess board
in the living room.
And we had a counter that
was white on one side,
black on the other.
So you'd play a move
and then walk away.
Then the next, we'd come in
and go, oh, I see, oh, OK.
We rigged it up.
I really enjoyed doing that.
BRADY HARAN: People have asked
whether or not you read the
comments and the chats and
things underneath videos.
You're obviously in lots
of video, your own and
"Numberphile".
Do you read comments?
JAMES GRIME: I read all the
comments on my own channel,
the comments and the
messages I get.
And I'm not always able
to answer them all.
Even if I did, I mean, I
just don't have time
to answer them all.
I'm sorry.
And then on the "Numberphile"
ones, I check, yes.
So yes.
I was considering denying
it, because it kind of
makes me less cool.
But no, I check.
I don't check them
obsessively.
Yeah, what are you pointing
out, Brady?
BRADY HARAN: There is someone
commenting, using your face
and the name James
Grime on YouTube.
And we should point out,
that is not James.
That is just some--
well, I won't use unsuitable
words.
But that's someone who is--
JAMES GRIME: It's not me.
BRADY HARAN: --who is
being creative.
And that's not James.
And I personally don't think
people should be doing that.
But who am I?
I'm just some guy,
so there you go.
Someone asked a question a bit
earlier that I did like.
And that is, when your life is
so much mathematics, do you
find yourself just doing,
without even meaning to, like,
counting the number of times you
chewed that sandwich, and
looking at a shape or a house
and thinking about dimensions
and equations?
JAMES GRIME: No, not really.
I mean, we talked about
those-- vampires and
arithmomania and things like
that, and counting
the number of steps.
And that's a real condition.
There are people who do that.
I don't think mathematicians, as
a rule, have arithmomania.
I certainly do not.
But maybe you're asking, maybe
in broader terms, do I look at
the world and see
it as equations
and things like that?
And do you know, no,
I probably do not.
BRADY HARAN: I mean, I'm not
going so much for the personal
questions, because you know,
away from "Numberphile",
you're your own man, but I do
have to ask, what pajamas do
you wear to bed?
JAMES GRIME: OK.
BRADY HARAN: Just because I
didn't expect that question.
Most of the questions
I can expect, but--
JAMES GRIME: Oh, right.
OK, well, I guess--
I'm considering lying.
But I'll just tell you
the real answer.
Shall I?
BRADY HARAN: Because they're,
like, Spider-Man or something.
That would be so cool.
JAMES GRIME: No.
I just wear the t-shirt that
I'm wearing during the day.
And then--
BRADY HARAN: I've never
seen you in a t-shirt.
You're always wearing a shirt.
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: Oh yeah, OK.
Fair enough.
A lot of people have asked, do
you have a preference for base
12, base 16, or decimal?
JAMES GRIME: Base 12,
base 16, or decimal?
Do you know what?
Preference, I'm quite convinced
by the base 12 people.
I like their arguments.
They're not grand--
you know, it doesn't change
mathematics in a grand way or
in a fundamental way.
But the day-to-day use of it, I
do actually agree with them.
I wish we did have base 12.
Time would still be the same,
but weights and measures
should go back to
being base 12.
And it'd be brilliant.
BRADY HARAN: If you're
quite new to
"Numberphile", we did a--
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, we did.
BRADY HARAN: --base 12 video
with James, talking about the
pros and cons of
using base 12.
And again, well worth
a look after this.
And I'll put a link in the
video subscription.
JAMES GRIME: Sure.
Because I like them, I'm going
to give those guys a plug.
That was the-- was
it [INAUDIBLE]
society of America?
And they have a Twitter
account as well.
Now you have to watch
them on Twitter.
And every day, they give you
a little base 12 fact.
And I really enjoy those.
BRADY HARAN: Well, they do one
every day, don't they?
JAMES GRIME: Yeah,
pretty much.
BRADY HARAN: They should
do one every,
like, 12th day or something.
JAMES GRIME: Every 12 hours?
BRADY HARAN: Oh yeah, that's
a better idea.
Yeah.
OK, do you have a favorite
branch of mathematics?
And maybe you could quickly
run through it, because I
think it's really interesting.
And it's not something we've
talked about in "Numberphile".
How is mathematics broken into
groups at that academic level?
Like, in chemistry, we have
organic and inorganic, and
physical and things like that.
How do you break maths up?
And then what do you like?
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
So maths is broken up in the
same way as chemistry is.
So maths is broken up into--
well, we've got pure maths.
Let's start with pure maths.
And that's what I do.
I'm a pure mathematician,
pure maths.
And then that's broken up into
algebra and analysis.
Now, I do algebra.
And from my point, I think
algebra is about looking at
the big picture.
It's about large mathematical
objects, whereas analysis is
about the details.
So it looks at the real number,
and it looks at those
in details.
And I'm more about algebra
than analysis.
There's statistics, which I'm
a big fan of statistics,
probability statistics.
And then there's mathematical
physics, and things of that
nature, which I don't really
do mathematical physics.
BRADY HARAN: OK, I'm
cool with that.
There's been a bit asked.
And you probably are a good
person to ask about this,
because you spend so
much time going to
schools and meeting students.
And we've done a few videos-- on
"Sixty Symbols," I think it
was, that I did some videos,
about education and how
mathematics has this reputation
that sort of
permeates society,
of maths is hard.
It's almost a joke, isn't it?
That, oh no, I've got maths,
maths is hard?
And it puts people off.
There's a real stigma
attached to it.
What do you think about the
state of maths education and
the reputation of mathematics
at that level of people who
are just kind of at crucial
parts of their lives.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
So this idea about maths is
hard, that's certainly a
cultural problem.
So it's not true in other places
and in other countries.
And things like, you know, it's
a boys' subjects or it's
a girls' subject, this
is a cultural thing.
And there's absolutely
no reason for that.
But there is that reputation.
I don't want to speak
out of turn.
I'm not a maths teacher.
I'm not a teacher.
I don't want to speak
for those.
I am what I am.
I'm an academic who, sometimes
I work with children.
And I enjoy doing so.
So I don't want to speak
out of turn.
But there are things that can
be done, and I know there a
lot of people who care about
maths education, who know that
there are things that
can be done.
They know what could be
done, and they are
trying to do that.
And in a small part, I'm trying
to do that, too, by
showing how maths can
be inspiration
and motivate people.
I have my part as well.
But there are better people who
understand the problems
better than I do.
And I don't want to
speak out of turn.
BRADY HARAN: A few quick ones.
Pi or tau?
JAMES GRIME: Do you know what?
"Numberphile" has slightly
convinced me, because before
your "Numberphile" pi and tau
one, the one with Professor
Moriarty in it--
BRADY HARAN: Yes,
Phil Moriarty.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
I was gonna say, I
was thinking pi.
Pi's fine.
I mean, there is absolutely no
reason to change to tau.
It makes sense as it is.
And Professor Moriarty said one
thing that convinced me.
It was, tau is a full turn, and
then you get a quarter of
a turn, a half-turn, three
fourths of a turn.
Tau is a turn that--
yeah, that convinced me-- for
the first time, really.
I was pretty ambivalent
about it.
But we'll give that to
Professor Moriarty.
BRADY HARAN: What a great
advertisement for the video.
I hope you'll all go and
watch it afterwards.
And I'll put the link below.
And Professor Moriarty would
be over the moon with your
endorsement.
How many digits can
you recite pi to?
I'm not putting you
on the spot.
Someone just--
JAMES GRIME: Oh, to the
calculator length, I guess.
3.141592654.
Something like that.
BRADY HARAN: Oh, I don't know.
I don't know, so [INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: Something
along those lines.
BRADY HARAN: I'm sure we'll hear
about it if you got any
of those wrong.
Favorite food?
JAMES GRIME: Favorite food?
I like Chinese.
BRADY HARAN: Oh yeah,
I like Chinese.
There's a really good Chinese
on the corner.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah?
BRADY HARAN: There is.
Oh, but you're going back to
Cambridge, aren't you?
But if you want to stay for a
Chinese with-- you know, we'll
sort you out.
It's up to you.
Favorite color?
JAMES GRIME: Nothing in
particular, nothing.
Yellow.
I like yellow.
BRADY HARAN: Why?
JAMES GRIME: It's a bright,
colorful color.
And I like the bright.
I have a short attention
span, and I like
bright shiny things.
Yellow sunshine yes.
BRADY HARAN: OK.
Can you solve a Rubik's Cube?
JAMES GRIME: Yes.
BRADY HARAN: And how quickly?
JAMES GRIME: Yes, but badly.
BRADY HARAN: You know,
I've got one.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, I can
solve one in about four
minutes, I'm afraid.
I'm not clever.
BRADY HARAN: We're not gonna
make you do it on the spot.
JAMES GRIME: No, no.
I know the beginner's method.
And it takes me a long time.
But I learned to solve the
Rubik's Cube not as a kid.
I learned to solve it because
I use it as a prop, as a
visual aid to teach group
theory, which
is my area of maths.
And the Rubik's Cube is an
application of group theory.
So I'm learned it as a prop.
And I'm not very good at it.
BRADY HARAN: This is an
interesting question.
Answer carefully.
Favorite YouTube?
What YouTube channels
do you watch?
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: That's interesting
to hear about, yeah.
JAMES GRIME: Do you want me to
do the science ones or the
non-science ones?
BRADY HARAN: Go.
The question just says,
favorite YouTuber.
So you go ahead.
JAMES GRIME: All right,
let's see.
So Brady aside then.
BRADY HARAN: No, no, no.
No no no.
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE]
videos.
BRADY HARAN: You can just say
all my channels as one and
forget about it.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
And "Bibledex" and things
that I loved.
The maths channels--
and I hope they'll like this.
Of course we know Vihart
is a brilliant channel.
BRADY HARAN: Yes.
JAMES GRIME: And then there's
things like Khan Academy.
A couple of my favorites
that are less
well-known is Ty Yann.
He's a maths teacher
in Seoul, in Korea.
And he does mathematical
prisms and things.
Ty Yann, T-Y Y-A-N-N, Ty Yann.
And then Dr. James Stan--
Tanton sorry.
I always get his S mixed up.
Dr. James Tanton, I think he
lives in Australia now.
And he has some fascinating,
brilliant videos.
I love him.
And people will be less
aware of him.
And then if you talk about
non-science and maths, I have
lots of favorite ones, some of
them that are less well-known.
BRADY HARAN: We're about
to run [INAUDIBLE]
JAMES GRIME: I'm gonna say
hello to my friends.
BRADY HARAN: Hang on.
I've got a power cable.
We're about to run
out of power.
JAMES GRIME: I've been
talking too much.
BRADY HARAN: No, no, no.
Do you know what?
It was my fault.
When we started, I said
oh, I must make sure I
plug the power in.
And then I didn't.
We just got the [INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: All right,
we'll change angle.
BRADY HARAN: This is putting
a little bit
more prominence on--
JAMES GRIME: Hello.
BRADY HARAN: --me.
Yeah.
JAMES GRIME: A couple
of friends I want to
say hello to at You--
I am a YouTuber, so
I do have friends.
Mismag822, the magician,
hello.
Ericsurf6 hello.
And other favorite
channels I have--
CommunityChannel Natalie.
Nat right?
I am absolutely in
love with Nat.
OK.
BRADY HARAN: Well, now
you brought it up.
I wasn't gonna bring it up.
But you say you're in
love with someone.
There have been loads of
questions about your
availability or otherwise.
I'm just saying, there's been
loads of questions.
You can say what you want.
JAMES GRIME: Are they offers?
Or are they just questions?
BRADY HARAN: I wouldn't
say they'd be offers.
I don't know if it's just a kind
of a curiosity with other
intent or not.
But I'm just saying, there's
been lots of questions.
And I'm not saying anything.
JAMES GRIME: Well,
then I'll just--
yeah, here I am.
This is me.
BRADY HARAN: Have you ever
been to the Eiffel Tower?
I guess that they're asking
that because of the Eiffel
Tower picture behind.
This is actually my
office, of course.
So that would have
nothing to do--
JAMES GRIME: So yeah, you
should ask Brady that.
And I haven't been to
the Eiffel Tower.
BRADY HARAN: You've never been
to the Eiffel Tower?
JAMES GRIME: No, I haven't
been to Paris.
Look at this case.
BRADY HARAN: It's very close.
JAMES GRIME: Look at his face.
BRADY HARAN: It's very
close to here.
I mean, I grew up in Australia
and I went
to the Eiffel Tower.
Well, that's a good question
to ask you next then.
Favorite country to visit?
Because obviously you have
been to other countries.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
BRADY HARAN: Even if you haven't
been to France, which
is like a stone's throw away.
JAMES GRIME: Favorite country.
Two of my favorite countries,
I like Austria, and I like
Scandinavia Sweden Denmark.
I lived in Denmark for
about eight months.
BRADY HARAN: I didn't
know that.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
[INAUDIBLE].
That's for the Danish viewers.
BRADY HARAN: Same from me.
A lot of people, actually--
I know these
what's-your-favorite things
are a little bit boring.
But we get asked them a lot, so
I should ask them, I guess.
A lot of people have asked about
your favorite TV show.
JAMES GRIME: Ooh, favorite
TV show.
BRADY HARAN: And they've also
asked what you think about
some TV shows that involve
numbers, like things like
"Numb3rs."
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, like
"Numb3rs." I've actually got
"Numb3rs" on DVD.
I've got the box set, because
I travel a lot.
So I get box sets and
I watch a lot of
programs as I'm traveling.
And I've got "Numb3rs."
I've actually seen the
first couple of series.
I'm told the first couple of
series is the best, and it
goes downhill.
So I've got that to
look forward to.
And I liked what they did.
So they were showing
mathematicians not as these
people who can't communicate,
who are anti-social, and all
those horrible cliches
for mathematicians.
They were showing a
mathematician who was
brilliant and perfectly
sociable, and how his maths
could help--
in the shows-- help
them solve crimes.
And the maths was good maths.
It's all genuine maths.
And it had mathematicians help
them come up with ideas and
check it's good.
BRADY HARAN: So it's got a
bit of a thumbs up then?
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, I like
"Numb3rs." Well, what I've
seen so far.
BRADY HARAN: If I can
interrupt slightly.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
BRADY HARAN: Someone has asked,
while I'm with you,
possibly having a Chinese and
not with Mrs. "Numberphile" on
Valentine's Day--
and this is a fair point.
And you have mentioned some of
your favorite YouTubers, so
this is a chance for me
to get a message out.
If you would like to subscribe
to a channel and make Mrs.
"Numberphile" very happy,
subscribe to Kylie Caravan.
Kylie K-Y-L-I-E Caravan,
C-A-R-A--
you know how to spell
"caravan."
Go and subscribe to her, and
then there'll be this big--
it's a brand-new channel.
And I'm helping the video,
so it's got that touch
of class about it.
But if there's a sudden spike
in subscribers on there
because of all you guys, that
will be Valentine's present
taken care of.
Kylie Caravan.
Getting back to the man.
By the way, James has been
ridiculously sick for the last
week and a half.
That's the reason he wasn't
able to take part in our--
JAMES GRIME: This is a
good point to cough.
BRADY HARAN: --biggest prime--
OK.
JAMES GRIME: [COUGHS]
BRADY HARAN: That's why he
didn't take part in our
biggest prime number video.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
I was really annoyed.
BRADY HARAN: And it's amazing
that he's even come here today
to help out [INAUDIBLE].
You've been really struggling
during filming, and this is--
obviously the web cam has just
brought you to life.
So kudos to you for
doing this.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, that's
Dr. Theater, isn't it?
But I was ill.
And I was really disappointed
not to be in the prime number
video last week, because
I really did want
to be in that one.
BRADY HARAN: Oh, I like that.
Do you prefer even
or odd numbers?
JAMES GRIME: That's
a good question.
Even the fact that I said
that was a good
question is a bit nerdy.
Do you know what?
Off instinct, even numbers.
What does that say about me?
BRADY HARAN: You like
even numbers.
JAMES GRIME: I like order.
That's what it says about
me, isn't it?
BRADY HARAN: Yeah, I probably
would've thought you'd say
even, because your favorite
color was yellow.
You're more the kind of the
happy, nice-- you're not an
edgy odd-number kind of guy.
JAMES GRIME: Off-kilter
sort of person, no.
BRADY HARAN: Yeah.
Someone has asked, do you
have your own channel?
For those who didn't see the
very start, and for those who
don't already watch James' other
channel, it's called
singingbanana.
And he's been doing that for
about five years now.
And it's an ex--
watch my videos first, but if
you want to see James' own
channel and him doing a few of
his own things, you can go on
to singingbanana.
JAMES GRIME: It's home-made.
BRADY HARAN: As long as you've
also subscribed to Kylie
Caravan, of course, because
it's Valentine's Day.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, reduce your
expectations, because it's a
home-made channel.
BRADY HARAN: Yours is more,
yeah-- it's more, yeah
[INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: And it's
like, old-school
YouTube, I like to think.
I'm just a YouTuber.
I am one of you.
BRADY HARAN: There's another
question that's come up a
couple of times.
And it's a question for you, but
it's also maybe the birth
of a future video I've been
thinking about anyway, and
I've been waning to talk
to people about anyway.
Some people have asked what math
or mathematics jokes or
one-liners and that you
like and don't like.
And I know you love
corny jokes.
But I was thinking we should do
a mathematics joke video.
So if you've got any maths jokes
that you like or don't
like, put them in
the description.
JAMES GRIME: Send
them to Brady.
BRADY HARAN: Put them
in the description.
JAMES GRIME: He loves them.
BRADY HARAN: No, but I think
they'd make a good video.
But I know you like
a corny joke.
And you must know a few.
Are there any?
JAMES GRIME: Take epsilon
less than zero.
There you go, that's one for
the math [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: What did you say?
JAMES GRIME: Take epsilon
less than zero.
That is killing.
In all the maths departments
across the world, that is
slaying them.
BRADY HARAN: Really, really?
JAMES GRIME: They
are loving that.
That is going down a storm.
BRADY HARAN: Let's have
a look at the current.
James, are you really
singingbanana?
Is that--
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
BRADY HARAN: [INAUDIBLE].
JAMES GRIME: Well, yeah.
I am the singingbanana
channel.
I am singingbanana.
You see a comment by
singingbanana, that's me.
I'm not a singing
banana myself.
I'm just his agent.
BRADY HARAN: Why do
mathematicians always confuse
Halloween and Christmas?
Is that a maths joke?
JAMES GRIME: Yes, because
Oct31 equals Dec25.
BRADY HARAN: That's good.
That's the kind of
stuff I like.
JAMES GRIME: That's the level
you're working at.
BRADY HARAN: That's actually
good, thought.
I also don't mind the, you know,
because seven ate nine
type jokes.
I like those corny ones, too.
But that I quite liked.
Do you watch Dara O'Brien's
"School of Hard Sums?" Which
I've never seen.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah, I've seen
a couple of those shows.
I've not seen them all.
I've seen a couple
of those shows.
Dara O Briain is a comedian
in the UK.
He's Irish and South.
And he actually did a maths
degree in [INAUDIBLE]
mathematical physics.
So he's from a mathematical
background.
He's got a TV show in the UK
called "School of Hard Sums."
It's mixing maths with comedy.
It's also with Marcus du Sautoy,
who's a mathematician.
He's great as well.
I've actually helped them out,
a couple of weeks ago.
They wanted to do something
about Enigma
machines and codes.
So I went down and
helped them out.
I'm not on tele.
They didn't want me on tele.
They didn't want
this on the TV.
BRADY HARAN: No.
I phoned them up and actually
sabotaged you, because I'm
trying to get you on an
exclusivity deal for
"Numberphile".
JAMES GRIME: I'll shake
my fist at you.
But I did help them out.
The Enigma machine, when that
is aired-- and I don't know
when that's gonna be.
The Enigma machine is the one I
look after, which belongs to
Simon Singh.
And the stuff that Marcus says
is the kind of stuff that I
fed him as well.
So hello to Marcus and Dara.
BRADY HARAN: I don't think
they watch "Numberphile",
personally.
JAMES GRIME: You might
be surprised.
BRADY HARAN: Really?
I know their producers
do, to steal ideas.
But I don't think their--
JAMES GRIME: You may
be surprised.
Yeah, their producers do.
Marcus said, get James
in because he
has an Enigma machine.
And the producer contacted me.
They said, hello.
Marcus told us to say hello.
And she knew who I was.
I said, I do this thing
called "Numberphile".
And she watches.
She didn't quite connect my
name to me, but yeah, she
watches too.
So hi.
BRADY HARAN: A question.
Just because this has been
asked so many times, I
probably should ask it.
A lot of people wanna know
if you play "Minecraft."
JAMES GRIME: I think
I've heard of it.
So obviously I don't play
"Minecraft." Sorry, I don't.
BRADY HARAN: It's all right.
We're all friends here.
Someone says-- this is
a good question.
Are you creative?
JAMES GRIME: Right, I see.
Do you know what?
That's kind of leading me down
a road where there's a speech
down this road, about maths
being creative.
BRADY HARAN: Go on then.
JAMES GRIME: No.
Maybe I'll just [INAUDIBLE].
Maybe I'll make it simple
and just say--
BRADY HARAN: Yeah, go on.
JAMES GRIME: From my point
of view, maths
is a creative subject.
I mean, creating new
mathematics, mathematics
that's never been done before,
original, new mathematics, is
a creative process.
You don't do that
by just being a
robot, by being a machine.
I truly believe that.
And that's something I want
to show people as well.
BRADY HARAN: Tell
me about how a
mathematician is creative then.
JAMES GRIME: Right.
So when I discover something,
yeah, I
discover something new.
So let's say I want to
prove something.
First of all, I have to come
up with a conjecture.
And that's a leap
of intuition.
BRADY HARAN: Is that
like a hypothesis?
JAMES GRIME: Yes, a hypothesis,
exactly.
So that's a leap of intuition.
That's somewhere I
want to get to.
And that's a creative,
intuitive thing.
But then to prove it, I'm
assuming that other people
have not yet been able
to solve it.
So you're solving problems
that other
people could not solve.
And that's amazing.
That's brilliant.
And to solve it, you might take
something from over here,
you take an idea from over
there, and then you put these
things together.
You put them together in a new
way, in a way that's never
been done before.
And you create something.
You create something new,
something that's never been
done before.
BRADY HARAN: Cool.
JAMES GRIME: Yeah.
And then that's true forever.
And that's one of the amazing
things about it as well.
BRADY HARAN: Someone wants to
know how long this stream is
going to be.
They could watch it all day.
JAMES GRIME: That's
up to you, Brady.
BRADY HARAN: Well,
I don't know.
You do have a train to catch.
JAMES GRIME: I do
have a train.
BRADY HARAN: Unless
you're gonna stay
around for that Chinese.
But we won't be able to go
for too much longer.
JAMES GRIME: No, not too
much longer, maybe
five minutes longer.
BRADY HARAN: Yeah.
Let's have a look.
Do you prefer hot
or cold weather?
JAMES GRIME: Cold weather.
There you go.
BRADY HARAN: I prefer
cold weather, too.
JAMES GRIME: There's a
surprise; I had an
answer for that one.
Cold weather.
BRADY HARAN: Do you
like sushi?
JAMES GRIME: I don't think
I've ever tried it.
I'm sorry.
BRADY HARAN: You've
never had sushi?
JAMES GRIME: Don't
think I have.
BRADY HARAN: You've never had
sushi, and you've never been
to the Eiffel Tower.
JAMES GRIME: I've never
had sushi at the
Eiffel Tower either.
BRADY HARAN: That's what
you should, though.
That would be awesome.
Is there going to be
a Grime conjecture?
JAMES GRIME: Grime conjecture.
There's a Grime corollary.
BRADY HARAN: Is that another
Grime, or is that yours?
JAMES GRIME: No, that's me.
BRADY HARAN: What's
the Grime corr--
what is it?
JAMES GRIME: It's only
a little bit of fun.
It's only a little thing.
But there was a episode of
"Futurama" where they were
swapping brains.
Have you seen it?
BRADY HARAN: I haven't, no.
JAMES GRIME: All right, so they
had this brain-swapping
machine, so they could swap
brains, swap minds.
But they couldn't
swap them back.
Once they're swapped, couldn't
be swapped back.
BRADY HARAN: One-time deal.
JAMES GRIME: So they were
all swapping brains.
And they were all mixed up.
And they go, oh, no, how
are we going to get
back to where we were?
Because you can't just
reverse the steps.
And so--
and this is brilliant.
The guy who wrote the
episode was a maths
graduate himself, Keeler.
He was called Keeler.
And he actually wrote a theorem
so that you could do
this in general.
And it's in the episode.
Someone shot on a blackboard
in the cartoon how to
do it in real life.
And I made a little-- and
it's true, and it works.
And I made a little conjecture
about it.
Well, in that example that was
in "Futurama," you could have
actually done it
in fewer moves.
BRADY HARAN: It sounds like
a "Numberphile" video.
JAMES GRIME: It's a
little fun thing.
BRADY HARAN: That sounds
like it could be a
"Numberphile" video.
Tell you what, we better
things wrap things.
JAMES GRIME: All right.
BRADY HARAN: But we'll read
through all the comments and
things that you've
written later on.
And I'll certainly go
in and have a chat
when I get the chance.
It's not always easy to reply to
comments in these different
comment sections.
But I think we'll find
a way to do it.
And James may or may
not as well.
His username is singingbanana.
And don't forget this, this
other idiot, who's using
James' picture and calling
himself James Grime and
writing here.
And if you see him, do
whatever you can.
What do you call it?
Flame him, or thumb him down.
JAMES GRIME: Thumbs down.
BRADY HARAN: Make sure everyone
knows that that guy
is a bit of an impostor.
Yeah, I don't know.
JAMES GRIME: Hang on, don't
set the angry mob on him.
BRADY HARAN: No, no, no.
Yeah sorry.
Don't be angry.
But don't let other people think
it's James, because--
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: Because it's not.
James is singingbanana,
as you know.
And don't forget to subscribe
to Kylie Caravan and make my
Valentine's Day much easier.
Thank you.
JAMES GRIME: Glad to help.
BRADY HARAN: Thank you, James,
for coming along.
And as I said, we filmed a bunch
of "Numberphile" videos
earlier as well.
So you're gonna be seeing
plenty of James.
Even though I'm not going to be
seeing much of James over
the next month or two--
JAMES GRIME: [INAUDIBLE].
BRADY HARAN: --you will
still be seeing him on
"Numberphile".
I'm not seeing him
because he's just
really busy with work.
But we'll catch him again in
the middle of the year.
But you will keep seeing
him on "Numberphile".
And it was good fun.
I actually really enj--
did you enjoy it?
JAMES GRIME: Yeah,
it was good fun.
You know, I'm my own favorite
subject, so I could have done
that till the cows come home.
But I think now's a good
time to wrap it up.
BRADY HARAN: Cool.
And we'll hope to more of these
kind of things, both
with James and with others,
and with multiple people,
because it's good fun.
It's really good fun talking
to you guys in real time.
So cheers, everyone.
JAMES GRIME: Thanks
for watching.
BRADY HARAN: See you later.