HDTutorial
EN

Playback starts YouTube’s embedded player (privacy-enhanced mode).

How To Count Past Infinity

29,610,532 views October 27, 2016 23:46

Watch on YouTube
ChannelVsauce

In brief

This video explores how mathematicians extend counting beyond finite numbers into the realm of infinity, introducing concepts like ordinals and large cardinals. Vsauce breaks down abstract ideas with help from Harvard mathematician Hugh Woodin, making it accessible for curious minds interested in advanced math. You’ll gain insight into the structure of infinite sets and why some infinities are 'larger' than others.

Description from the creator

Support Vsauce, your brain, Alzheimer's research, and other YouTube educators by joining THE CURIOSITY BOX: a seasonal delivery of viral science toys made by Vsauce! A portion of all proceeds goes to Alzheimer's research and our Inquisitive Fellowship, a program that gives money and resources directly to growing science channels here on YouTube! curiositybox.com

my twitter: @tweetsauce
my instagram: electricpants

Sources and links to learn more below!

I’m very grateful to mathematician Hugh Woodin, Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at Harvard, for taking the time on multiple occasions to discuss this topic with me and help me wrap my (finite) head around it.

I’m also grateful to David Eisenbud, the Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) and professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, for his help and for connecting me with Hugh Woodin.

And of course, big thanks to Brady Haran who created the “mile of pi” seen in this video and connected me with all these mathematicians in the first place. His channel, Numberphile, is superb: youtube.com/user/numberphile

BOOKS related to these topics that I used:

“The Outer Limits of Reason” by Noson S. Yanofsky: amzn.com/0262019353
“Infinity and The Mind” by Rudy Rucker: amzn.com/0691121273
“Roads to Infinity” by John C. Stilwell: amzn.com/1568814666
“More Precisely: The Math You Need to Do Philosophy” by Eric Steinhart: amzn.com/1551119099
“Satan, Cantor and Infinity: Mind-Boggling Puzzles” by Raymond M. Smullyan: amzn.com/0486470369

classic book that helps introduce concept of axioms: “Introduction to the Foundations of Mathematics” by Raymond L. Wilder: amzn.com/0486488209

Hugh Woodin speaking about infinity at the World Science Festival: youtu.be/KDCJZ81PwVM?t=29m45s

Names of large (finite) numbers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers

Geoglyphs:

The biggest number: goo.gl/maps/7GWcpnzo7iG2

Fovant badges: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fovant_Badges

Battalion Park: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_Park

A mile of pi [VIDEO]: youtube.com/watch?v=0r3cEKZiLmg

Wikipedia’s great visualization of ordinals out to omega^omega: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Omega-exp-omega-labe…

as seen on: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_number

this is also a good page about ordinals: math.wikia.com/wiki/Ordinal_Number

also: cut-the-knot.org/WhatIs/Infinity/Ordinals.shtml

and: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_type and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-order

Axioms:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom
reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/30xokb/have_th…
philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/5922/wha…
cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/belaxioms1.pdf
cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/belaxioms2.pdf

THE UNREASONABLE EFFECTIVENSS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES
[PDF]: maths.ed.ac.uk/~aar/papers/wigner.pdf
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unreasonable_Effectiv…

Large Cardinal game based on 2048: cantorontheshore.blogspot.it/2014/10/one-reinha…

Other good resources:

quibb.blogspot.com/2012/01/infinity-first-trans…
plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory/
cantorsattic.info/Cantor%27s_Attic
cantorontheshore.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/artemis…
isomorphism.es/post/10782081422/what-comes-afte…
lukepalmer.wordpress.com/2007/06/14/the-lesser-…

MUSIC BY:
youtube.com/JakeChudnow
audionetwork.com

About this tutorial

Vsauce published this 23:46 video tutorial on October 27, 2016. It has been watched 29,610,532 times on YouTube.

Channel
Vsauce
Duration
23:46
Published
October 27, 2016
Views
29,610,532
Likes
646,059

Share

This tutorial in other languages