Ain't No Twin Primes
Added 2024-04-18 03:34:51 +0000 UTCHey folks,
First, I want to say a very warm hello and thanks to those of you who recently joined this Patreon after the first LLM videos. I'm grateful to have you here and look forward to hearing your input on new early releases. More of that series will be coming soon!
In the meantime, here's something completely different. This weekend I joined Matt Parker in New York for an event he calls "An Evening of Unnecessary Detail", a kind of nerd entertainment night. I invited my friend Tim Blais, of the YouTube channel Acapella Science, to come down and join for a parody of Bill Withers's Ain't No Sunshine about the twin prime conjecture. We truly had way too much fun writing it.
Cheers,
Grant
Comments
computerphile
John T. Draper
2024-07-03 23:07:36 +0000 UTCYay! Super happy it's available on YouTube now :)
Edan Maor
2024-04-25 10:45:22 +0000 UTCHere are the lyrics. Well, the intended lyrics, I think we deviated a bit. GRANT: Ain’t no twin prime solution It ain’t know how they behave TIM: Are there twin primes on and on? GRANT: It's been open so damn long Many tried but no one could say how many primes are just two away TIM: Well firstly are primes ever done? GRANT: Euclid said there’s just no way Multiply them and add one Every factor of that sum Is a prime not in the array TIM: So they never end, well okay But when are primes just two away? Is there some algori-thum To sift the primes some simple way? I know the first one, that’s the two GRANT: To find the rest here’s what you do Reduce the naturals modulo two TIM: Oh I get it. Oh, no, no I don't get it actually. Can you spell it out? GRANT It goes 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 GRANT: Tim. Tim! TIM: What? GRANT: There is more to the algorithm TIM: Ah that makes sense actually. Please continue GRANT: You knock off the zeros reduce 'em mod three like 10 21 02 10 21 02 10 21 02 10 21 02 10 21 02 10 TIM: Oh, okay I get it. Knock off the zeros reduce em mod five now 10 21 32 43 04 10 21 32 43 04 10 21 32 43 04 10 GRANT: Knock off the zeros reduce em mod seven... TIM: Heeeeyy that’s a neat little thing you’ve shown But what of twin primes on and on GRANT: As the new primes do go on TIM: What's that prime theorem? GRANT: The gaps between them grow this way TIM: Something about Riemann GRANT: For a big prime, call it “p” The gap that follows tends to be On the mean, its logarithm base e TIM: But will they stop coming just two away? GRANT: No one knows quite what to say TIM: Well okay. GRANT: Yet I get crank proofs every day!k TIM: “Dear sir, I have proven the twin prime conjecture” GRANT: They always start the same damn way TIM: “I study an elegant proof of prime generation” TOGETHER: To count the twin primes all you do, is list the numbers all the way through, Reducing all of them modulo two TIM: It’s so simple! It goes 10 10 10 10 10... GRANT: No, stop. Huge red flag if you're starting this way TIM: Knock off the zeros reduce it mod 3 like 10 21 02 10 GRANT: All you're doing is applying a sive The search term you're looking for is "Parity problem" TIM: Knock off the zeros reduce 'em mod 5 like GRANT: Hey you oughta leave that proof alone! There ain’t no chance that’s how it’s shown GRANT: When you start so trivially TIM: 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 GRANT: Like with the sieve of Eratosthenes TIM: 10 21 02 10 21 02 10 GRANT: Chances are high you went wrong TIM: I am the greatest math wizard alive now GRANT: It’s been open so damn long TIM: Knock off the zeros reduce em mod five now GRANT: Someone else would have found such a way TIM: 10 21 32 43 04 10 TOGETHER: You wanna prove twin primes go on You wanna be the next Yitang Zhang Maybe read what researchers say ‘Bout when the primes are just two away When are primes just two away? When are primes just two away?
3blue1brown
2024-04-23 19:16:17 +0000 UTCAwesome! I'll be sharing it with my math circle :)
Jason Bowen
2024-04-22 15:24:03 +0000 UTCI just posted it to the second channel: https://youtu.be/djzKCZHeVjY
3blue1brown
2024-04-21 18:10:32 +0000 UTCBtw, any chance you can write the lyrics here? I feel like I'm missing a joke or two.
Edan Maor
2024-04-20 20:20:08 +0000 UTCI work with a bunch of mathematicians (satellite orbit and attitude control) I think they will *love* this :-)
Frank Leake
2024-04-20 09:06:10 +0000 UTCI loved your Hallelujah version and I love this one too! But I *really* want to share it with people. Hallelujah took years to get to YouTube cause you wanted to upload a clean version or something, I suggest you upload this one right now. Worst case you can upload a clean version later. The world deserves to see this genius! (Btw, like probably everyone else here, I *looove* Matt and was part of his last Kickstarter to record one of his shows. It was a blast. Everyone should check it out!)
Edan Maor
2024-04-20 08:35:26 +0000 UTCMatt was amazing on slides!
Arne Tobias Malkenes Ødegaard
2024-04-20 05:50:52 +0000 UTCReally really loved this one!
Jimbo
2024-04-20 01:16:11 +0000 UTCThat is brilliant and hilarious! 🤣🤣 genius
Alon Ashkenazi
2024-04-19 23:13:09 +0000 UTCIf Tim and I get together again to record a clean version, I'll post it here and let you know.
3blue1brown
2024-04-19 16:09:16 +0000 UTClove it!
Sophia Wood (Fractal Kitty)
2024-04-19 03:46:13 +0000 UTCLOL
David Terr
2024-04-19 00:55:11 +0000 UTC👏 I need this on my playlist! Can we please have it on Spotify?
Rad Antonov
2024-04-18 21:31:00 +0000 UTCThanks for coming, I hope you enjoy your visit!
3blue1brown
2024-04-18 20:55:23 +0000 UTCI guess I've never thought before about how many crank proofs you must get in the mail. RIP your inbox.
Clay
2024-04-18 18:31:59 +0000 UTCBro's too busy poisoning pigeons in the park
Jesse Thompson
2024-04-18 17:23:19 +0000 UTCThat doesn't sound bad, perhaps you should do one? 😎
Jesse Thompson
2024-04-18 17:22:41 +0000 UTCI will very likely publish it more publically soon at some point. Feel free to share it with a few friends, but for anything broader than that, it might be best to hold off.
3blue1brown
2024-04-18 16:16:28 +0000 UTCWould you mind if I shared this with some of my math friends? It feels like when we first heard "Finite Simple Group" by The Klein Four :)
Jason Bowen
2024-04-18 14:43:29 +0000 UTCGreat commentary on crank proofs, by the way! I see lots of them myself, as well as amateur mathematicians obsessed with trying to prove the Collatz conjecture. Very sad IMO.
David Terr
2024-04-18 13:50:59 +0000 UTCWow, that was excellent! I think even Tom Lehrer would be impressed!
David Terr
2024-04-18 13:48:47 +0000 UTCPerfect!
Brian Clarkson
2024-04-18 13:39:14 +0000 UTCDoes an unlisted YT link work? https://youtu.be/VRI4tk5pn78?si=a-M5iKlauJ4GwOH3
3blue1brown
2024-04-18 13:33:52 +0000 UTCHow can I experience this with my teenage math-loving guitar-playing son on the living room TV? 😭😁
Brian Clarkson
2024-04-18 12:06:24 +0000 UTCWhen I saw the title, I assumed this was going to be a parody of Talking Heads' Life During Wartime: "This ain't no twin prime, this ain't no Riemann, this is just fooling around. This ain't no Goldbach, or P and NP, I ain't got time for this now."
Rob Brewer
2024-04-18 07:07:27 +0000 UTCSerious Flight of the Conchords vibes with the jokes! Always happy to see Tim too - hope he's doing well, whether making videos or not.
tapksa
2024-04-18 06:23:17 +0000 UTCGenius has many faces :-)
Frank Leake
2024-04-18 05:16:06 +0000 UTCBrilliant! Now that you've done Hallelujah and Ain't No Sunshine, you're obligated to keep going. I suggest Both Sides Now (surely not a coincidence that it rhymes with Terry Tao).
Rick Rubenstein
2024-04-18 04:48:42 +0000 UTCI love nerdy math songs in general, but this took the genre to a whole 'nother level! I guffawed out loud when you began the "one-oh, one-oh, one-oh, ..." Brilliant! 🤣
Phil Stubblefield
2024-04-18 04:11:41 +0000 UTCBinary solo!
Steve Chantry-Taylor
2024-04-18 03:49:34 +0000 UTCTalking about prime theory definitely is made easy when it's from you guys!
Glenn Jahnke
2024-04-18 03:45:09 +0000 UTCMy wife and I were there in the audience all the way from Australia. Thanks for making our night!
Matthew Boyens
2024-04-18 03:38:59 +0000 UTC
