To explain why he's done this for people who might not understand: He wants to go from 318 to 952, and he figures 3x318 - 2 = 952. But! He doesn't have a 3 or a 2 at that point; he's just got 75, 50 and 25 left. He knows 75/25 = 3, and 50/25 = 2. But you can only use the 25 once. So in his mind he's thinking 3 x 318 - 2 = 952 (75/25) x 318 -- (50/25) = 952 So the only way to avoid using the 25 twice is to multiply & subtract first: (75x318-50)/25 = 952 And he's worked that out without ever needing to know what 75x318 actually is.

@LucasM987

3 жыл бұрын

Great explanation, thank you. Seems so much simpler now.

@chrisdevine4848

3 жыл бұрын

I saw this video years ago... And then it pops up in my feed today, just in time to see this explanation. Nice.

@pinkflipper95

3 жыл бұрын

Thankyou Jesus

@SameBasicRiff

3 жыл бұрын

Algebra. Dang.

@ashscott6068

3 жыл бұрын

It's weird that we're supposed to be more impressed that he didn't know than if he did.

While watching this as a kid i always wondered why they bothered having an entire clock if they only used half of it.

@misterbonzoid5623

4 жыл бұрын

Top comment of the week

@lordsummerisle87

4 жыл бұрын

Well they couldn't call it "count down then back up the other side" could they?

@holyravioli5795

4 жыл бұрын

@@lordsummerisle87 Well they could have at least used some other measurement instrument that didn't waste space?

@PiikachUwU_OSRS

4 жыл бұрын

Cause of the dong.

@vincitveritas3872

4 жыл бұрын

Because at first it was reset by continuing back up to the top.

Dang, all I got was “Steadings”

@mattdickie4696

3 жыл бұрын

Abdicates.

@Hockstar97

3 жыл бұрын

Tnetennba

@lukecherry5882

3 жыл бұрын

I did it a different way and ended up with "Beamrules"

@frazerguest2864

3 жыл бұрын

I got ‘news’, but there was no ‘W’.

@danielmeixner7125

3 жыл бұрын

And what have you been looking into recently?

Our 952 times table went up to 30 so I saw the division immediately.

@pentagonanimates

3 жыл бұрын

oh uh whats 952 x 31?

@michaellavery4899

3 жыл бұрын

@@pentagonanimates As we learned in school, 952 × 30 = 28,560. So simply add 952 and we get the answer of 29,512. Edit. I'll be honest, I just did 952 × 30, added 1000 and subtracted 48.

@pentagonanimates

3 жыл бұрын

@@michaellavery4899 oka

@cosettapessa6417

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaellavery4899 looool clown

@metal-gods

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaellavery4899 that's just witchcraft

THATS NUMBERWANG

@jetteraismabash4186

7 жыл бұрын

32? Yes that's Numberwang!

@AnkanBob

7 жыл бұрын

+Jettera Ismabash I'm afraid that's numberwank

@jetteraismabash4186

7 жыл бұрын

0.57?

@LewysC

7 жыл бұрын

That's the Numberwang bonus!!! Trippe Numberwang to Julie!!

@DaveDexterMusic

7 жыл бұрын

DEATHWANG

I don’t know why this is in my recommended but I’m not mad about it

@seb5689

4 жыл бұрын

Coz the algorithm is fucked coz they're trying to erase PewDiePie

@dan79600

4 жыл бұрын

Same. I was on the Graham Norton recommendation train and suddenly this pops up

@doncheadleneedle3377

4 жыл бұрын

Cuz same

@flokivilgerarson4500

4 жыл бұрын

Think it is in my recommendations due to watching '8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown'

@blueozzie4263

4 жыл бұрын

You don't watch anything to do with jimmy carr, 8 out of 10 cats or any of the other comedians that do their show do you cause that would explain it, because that's why its in my recommend, usually you have to have something vaguely slimier that you have watched for KZread to recommend.... people who just say oh it randomly went in my recommends obviously don't know anything about how html5 or coding works, it's not magic... lol

I love how the host, after the answer is like, "out of curiosity, how did you get 953," and the other contestant sounds like, "Ah, who cares..."

@dahorn100011

8 ай бұрын

That's basically true. I thought I had it. But it's pretty straight forward to get 953. 100 x (3+9) add 50 75/25 = 3 Add to 950, 953

@dominicharvey6048

11 күн бұрын

​@dahorn100011 i got that 953 in about 2 seconds but I couldn't get that 952 in 30 seconds

@85Portar

6 күн бұрын

@@dahorn100011 that's 1253, I'm guessing that first 9 is supposed to be a six right?

@dahorn100011

6 күн бұрын

@@85Portar yes

This feels so impressive and clever, every time I see it. 106 x 3 x (75/25) = 954 is close, but he needs to subtract 2 to hit the target, and he only has a 50. But wait, the "divide by 25" suddenly fits perfectly into that. If you subtract the 50 right before you divide by 25, you actually subtracts 2 from the end result. He sees that, and figures it out, all in 30 seconds. So sharp.

@bowlchamps37

11 ай бұрын

Yes, that´s why he did not know how much 318 x 75 was, cause he did not need it.

@ConfusedGeriatric

11 ай бұрын

That’s awesome… thank you for the breakdown

@AceFurryTrash

10 ай бұрын

Exactly he didn't know the answer but knew what would happen after.

@ericzubyk2329

10 ай бұрын

@@bowlchamps37well he is right on the 23,850 but & yes the rest of the equation was correct after doing some calculations myself. And that may have been far better than any of us would have had. I only got to 900 on this round.

@Planetdune

10 ай бұрын

Tbh, it is not THAT impressive. Maybe it was decades ago in a game show though.

Everyone else get the obvious 953 in the first few seconds then thought "that'll fuckin do"?

@moist.teabag

7 жыл бұрын

exactly what i said to myself ha

@2013girlie

7 жыл бұрын

Ḡαღ♭ℓ℮ℳαḓм@η that'll fucking do, damn right that's what I thought😂😂😂😂😂

@nothanks4248

7 жыл бұрын

haha, hit the nail on the head with that!

@knockitoffhudson3470

6 жыл бұрын

I used all the numbers anyway, fuck it

@Ryan-ui4ju

6 жыл бұрын

bang on :D

I was happy with my 950.

@Charlienmeg

7 жыл бұрын

nocalsteve I was happy with 953 ! I could have taken a year and not got to 952.

@frazerguest2864

4 жыл бұрын

Same here mate. But being an ex Croupier and Gaming Inspector, I should have done better.

@stevethea5250

4 жыл бұрын

@@frazerguest2864 (6+3) × 100 + 50 ????? Profit

@Obliviaa

4 жыл бұрын

@@stevethea5250 but then you still have 75 and 25 left... and 75/25 is 3

@stevethea5250

4 жыл бұрын

@@Obliviaa oh yeee I'm not great at 25 timestables

At first I was like why tf is this in my feed then I remembered that I had just binged every episode of 8 out of 10 cats does countdown lol

@thefrub

4 жыл бұрын

Same here. One clip of Taskmaster gets featured on Reddit, and suddenly a bunch of us Americans get flooded with Channel 4 shows lol

@tmfabrik3877

4 жыл бұрын

Doctor Medkit or germans

@adamchughtai593

3 жыл бұрын

Yep same

@alexpotts6520

3 жыл бұрын

The thing about 8/10 Cats does Countdown is, I get really annoyed that they aren't taking the Countdown stuff more seriously. The jokes are fine, but the Countdown stuff actually prevents from enjoying them. I see letters and numbers at the bottom of the screen and I go straight into competitive mode.

@icturner23

3 жыл бұрын

Same for me too, except for the ones weirdly missing from All 4 with no explanation.

You could go even higher with the multiplication if you wanted to: 100 + 3 = 103. 103 x 75 = 7725. 7725 x 6 = 46,350. 46,350 / 50 = 927. 927 + 25 = 952.

@RNCM_Philosophy

3 жыл бұрын

Underrated comment 🙏🙏

@swaldron5558

3 жыл бұрын

Well done.

@thesuperiorman8342

3 жыл бұрын

No way you did it in 30 seconds

@brendantjeerdsma492

3 жыл бұрын

Holy fuck

@jase6709

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, with a calculator and more time.

All I got was tnetennba.

@magzire

7 жыл бұрын

klasing moss!!

@MrNomadic76

7 жыл бұрын

Your name is Morris Moss. Is it not?

@caramba10

7 жыл бұрын

Fizzy, it's very fizzy, it's fizzy, it's gone fizzy

@seanjosephhayes

7 жыл бұрын

MrNomadic76 *Maurice

@bobbidowne1527

7 жыл бұрын

It is not.

Rachel Riley could have done 318 x 75

@hobofuture

8 жыл бұрын

+I hate everyone. Yes, you too. Carol got better as she got older, with Rachel it will probably be the other way around.

@hobofuture

8 жыл бұрын

+I hate everyone. Yes, you too. What?

@hobofuture

8 жыл бұрын

Could you be any more disrespectful, wait you probably could. Don't answer that.

@SR1Records

8 жыл бұрын

+hobofuture Who cares if she would have done it! She just looks better (hotter)! lol!

@hobofuture

8 жыл бұрын

+SR1Records Vorderman was a late bloomer

If this man was born 500 years ago he would've been burned at the stake, but in the 90s his talent got him a countdown teacup

@sheridan5175

Жыл бұрын

And a plunge into a flushing toilet from Chad

@IAmTheStig32

Жыл бұрын

The real W is Carol calling you incredible

@quaid667

11 ай бұрын

the things we take for granted.

@liamgbooth

8 ай бұрын

He'd have taught Issac Newton before his demise.

That he did that in 30 seconds, on TV, is insane, credit to him, that is brilliant

@thenamen935

11 ай бұрын

It's a nice approach but not really insane. He purposely chose all 4 big numbers (25, 50, 75, 100) because they form nice ratios. He actually found the calculation "106×9=954" which is only 2 away, so he has to subtract 2. Also there is no 9 but a 3 so he can do "106×3×3-2" Now it was only a matter of how to get another 3 and a 2. Because of the nice ratios of the big numbers he got them (75/25=3 50/25=2). And because he only has one 25 he used the distributive law: 318×3-2 is the same as (318×75-50)/25. 3:55

Gerald’s delivery of his 953 answer was just so funny after all of that

@stevethea5250

4 жыл бұрын

GAMES, JAMES 0:11 RHYMES

@stephenmccormick4839

4 жыл бұрын

@@stevethea5250 woah

@stevethea5250

4 жыл бұрын

@@stephenmccormick4839 we hit a WOAH

@Llama_charmer

4 жыл бұрын

"so i multiplied the amount of atoms by pi squared divided by the cube root of infinity" "and how about you" "3 plus 9 timed 100 plus 50"

@homersimpsons1018

4 жыл бұрын

@@Llama_charmer I think the answer is 0

The Australian version of Countdown is called 'Letters and Numbers' I think, who here thinks it should be called Count-Down Under?

@DrGamez123

6 жыл бұрын

david astle is my hero

@andrewguthrie2

5 жыл бұрын

A straight translation from the original Les chiffres et les nombres.

@pomeriggio5479

5 жыл бұрын

@@andrewguthrie2 It's actually "Des Chiffres et des Lettres" :)

@Isleofskye

5 жыл бұрын

@@pomeriggio5479 Who is Des ? Does this relate to Des Lynam:The Countdown Presenter...?

@pomeriggio5479

5 жыл бұрын

@@Isleofskye No, Des does not refer to the Countdown presenter

What makes this great is that he didn't even mention how unorthodox his method was. He just came out with it casually.

@D-C1

3 жыл бұрын

There is nothing unorthodox about mathematics.

@D-C1

3 жыл бұрын

@Oliver McCall in your mind maybe.

@D-C1

3 жыл бұрын

@Oliver McCall I totally get your point. 👍

@D-C1

3 жыл бұрын

@Oliver McCall so addition, division, multiplication and subtraction are not normal😂😂😂😂

@D-C1

3 жыл бұрын

@Oliver McCall lol. That's true. Ya gotta miss Richard.

What I like about this is Vorderman wasn't pretending to have worked out the answers. Which she could have done, but like the rest of us she was so surprised by the turn of events.

@canny_linguist

Жыл бұрын

Her reaction makes this all the more comical

@testtubeaccident7805

Жыл бұрын

Mrs Vorderman to you.

@lotuseater7247

Жыл бұрын

@@testtubeaccident7805 She's divorced

@AlcatrazHR

Жыл бұрын

@@lotuseater7247 Who isn't divorced these days?

@lotuseater7247

Жыл бұрын

@@AlcatrazHR me. The point was they said Mrs. Apparently she stated that she has a friend with benefits. Lucky guy.

This is how uk men in the 90's stated their dominance, 4 from the top is just madness hahaha.

@Pirosbor

4 жыл бұрын

#MadLad

@tonyfranklin8306

4 жыл бұрын

Deffo passive aggressive if you ask me

@leeball4585

4 жыл бұрын

6 small ones is the equivalent of ordering a phall at an Indian restaurant...

@beeble2003

3 жыл бұрын

Four from the top guarantees that you get 100, 75, 50, 25. So he'd probably spent a lot of time practising those combinations.

@nope110

3 жыл бұрын

To be fair it gives you a 2 or 3 and 100 everytime, those are very useful numbers, im still a 2 from the top fan though

I can see how he did it without knowing what 318 * 75 was. What he essentially did was ((318 * 75) - 50)/25 which, simplified, is the same as 318 * (75/25) - (50/25) which is 318 * 3 - 2. which is 952. Very clever.

@snapsnapdik

7 жыл бұрын

Still don't get it.

@WalterKingstone

7 жыл бұрын

***** Absolutely

@amazed66

7 жыл бұрын

Are you allowed to use a number twice though, as in use the 25 twice?

@WalterKingstone

7 жыл бұрын

amazed66 No, he's not using 25 twice. It's just saying you're dividing both numbers by the 25, since it's all in brackets.

@JosephHaig

7 жыл бұрын

My reading of this is that he saw that he could get another 3 from 75/25 to multiply by the 318 and get 954, two over the target. He then saw that by counting in 25s, 50 was the two he needed to subtract and that is how he got to the "multiply by 75, subtract 50 and then divide by 25" as the solution. This is essentially what you said but I don't believe that he actually formulated the calculation as you wrote it, which is why he was unsure. It shows that there is a lot more to these puzzles than just trying a few calculations on the numbers.

This is like John Carpenter ringing his Dad, not to ask for his help (phone a friend in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) but telling him he IS going to be a millionaire, brilliant!

@alexf7377

5 ай бұрын

Except he won a teapot and not a million dollars. (Britain in a nutshell)

01:50 "And then dividing by something": pure definition of anxious waiting.

Rumour has it, he's still getting noshed off by all the grannies in the audience that day

@dylanjakins4411

6 жыл бұрын

John Cooper think they're dead mate

@renhoek3851

5 жыл бұрын

@Chris Landry fucking hell mate

@totallybored5526

4 жыл бұрын

There is a false teeth joke to be made but I’m in to much of a gross mood to make it myself.

@stevethea5250

4 жыл бұрын

@Chris Landry THESE 2 ARE SOAKING WET 3:55

@RideBikes_Walkplaces

4 жыл бұрын

Hahahahaha

His strategy is very clever. He asks Carol for the 4 biggest numbers 100 75 50 and 25. He then uses those numbers as ratios of 25 so (100/25 = 4) (75/25 = 3) and (50/25 = 2). Essentially guaranteeing himself 2 picks of 4, 3 and 2 and a large number (100 in this case) every numbers round. Crazy.

@Smellmipoo4932

Жыл бұрын

Not only that, he made himself some cheese on toast just before the show which helped him concentrate.

@lachlanhines7644

11 ай бұрын

@@Smellmipoo4932 don't forget how good he was at words either. TNETENNBA was such a good word!

@DemonetisedZone

11 ай бұрын

Yes👍 And i think he has done a lot of practice before going on as well I'm not too shabby at arithmetic but this is the level of a savant

@beeble2003

10 ай бұрын

@@DemonetisedZone Yes, always choosing four big numbers means the games often go in very similar ways, so it's possible to practice. This case looks spectacular because of the large numbers but, as he says in the video, he didn't actually work out those big numbers. He wants to multiply by 3 and subtract 2, which would look pretty ordinary. But he doesn't have a 3 and a 2, so he uses 75/25 and 50/25 instead. Except that would use the 25 twice, which isn't allowed. So he multiplies by 75, subtracts 50 and then divides the answer by 25 to get the same effect, legally. That's why he was able to get the answer without knowing what 318*75 is.

@andy16005343

9 ай бұрын

Could you use that in a sentence?@@lachlanhines7644

I knew I shouldn't have skipped class that day when they were covering the 952 times table.

@adeelm9028

2 жыл бұрын

I knew I should stayed for the 30 times table, but it only went up to 951...

@immortalsofar5314

2 жыл бұрын

I learned how to cheat at tables tests as soon as it reached 7 so I guess I never reached 952.

Cant believe he worked this out in thirty seconds. Amazing.

I just love how much Carol is laughing and enjoying this

@INeedANewHandle

4 жыл бұрын

she was drunk

@Busdriver10122

4 жыл бұрын

@@INeedANewHandle Seems like it huh

@neilhartley5372

4 жыл бұрын

Sounded false to me ,think she was pissed off cos she didn't get there first

@oktfg

4 жыл бұрын

Buying time so the producers in the gallery could work out the answer on their calculator and feed her the answer on her ear piece.

@Busdriver10122

4 жыл бұрын

@@neilhartley5372 Think you might be right there

Yeah but can he do it on a cold tuesday night in Stoke?!

@Stokie09123

9 жыл бұрын

Jamonga100 Few can!

@jasonprice719

8 жыл бұрын

+Jamonga100 im from stoke too, weird init

@SCFCSTOKE1

7 жыл бұрын

Up the Potters..

@MyselfTheThird

6 жыл бұрын

Top bantz m8

@krackajackz

6 жыл бұрын

Jamonga100 can he do it in front of 50000 at wembley

For those who are confused, he just can’t used the 25 twice that’s why he puts both parts inside the brackets and divides the whole thing with 25. Gets the same answer as dividing each individual number by 25. A pretty common strategy done on this game actually. This just uses bigger numbers than usual so gives the illusion it’s more complicated

@craigchristian344

5 ай бұрын

It's not an illusion mate

@reasontolive6287

4 ай бұрын

Well done.

Even I gave that guy a round of applause 25 years later.

@Bydey

10 ай бұрын

Me too

@FlowHD

5 ай бұрын

divide that by 25

Legend has it that Jon Richardson keeps a copy of this video in his home in case he needs an emergency adrenaline shot.

@markmeade2937

Жыл бұрын

He uses cocaine instead, and I think it shows

Carol's laugh is more funny than the outrageous sum, she has a good sense of humour.

@glynwigley1581

4 жыл бұрын

She has the dirtiest laugh since Sid James

@nonamesinspace1291

2 жыл бұрын

I agree she brings a good energy to the show

@JD-re3cj

9 ай бұрын

Numbers are hysterical I agree

@petermgruhn

9 ай бұрын

To me she comes across as a giggling fool. What humour is she sensing? I'm betting it's an act for telly.

That's numberwang!

@beatbasher

2 жыл бұрын

That was a classic sketch

@immortalsofar5314

2 жыл бұрын

LATCHCOMB!

i love how when carol was asked to divide that she was just like "yea... ill take your word for it..."

@MindstormXL

3 жыл бұрын

I actually did the sequence on the calculator and it was correct.

@Mitjitsu

3 жыл бұрын

You only need to times the 238 bit by 4, which will give you 952.

the american version of this game was cancelled in 17 minutes due to mass inability to think.

@G.Aaron.Fisher

7 жыл бұрын

Why is there so much unprovoked xenophobia on these British TV clips? Is that part of what they teach you on your little island?

@haunter4708

7 жыл бұрын

Why is there so much unprovoked bombing the shit out of things on everywhere?

@nothanks1239

7 жыл бұрын

Aaron Fisher We can only assume jealousy plays a part. I can assure you that it only seems to be on the Internet; I've not met many in person who randomly spouts this crap.

@MegaUnfunny

7 жыл бұрын

+Aaron Fisher Hahahaa oh dear speak for yourselves

@jordanturner163

7 жыл бұрын

Moonspell67 haha

"Yes, same way Richard. Yup.". [eats evidence to the contrary]

her face when he says.... "I'd like to multiply by 75" is priceless

Now THAT is the epitome of ‘method in the madness’. Brilliant 😁

That was an incredible thing to work out in the 30 seconds he had. I think that what he realised fairly quickly was that if he adds the 100 to the 6 and multiplies it by three twice he gets 954 - just 2 away, One 3 is there directly so how to get the other 3? Well 75/25 = 3. The only trouble is that we need to subtract another 2 from that total to bring it down to 952 and we only have the number 50 left. But, 50/25 = 2 so, rather than just taking 318 X (75/25), we could do it as (318 X 75 - 50)/25. That way the 25 serves to reduce the 75 to 3 and the 50 to 2 all in one go :) The give away was that he didn't realised what 318 X 75 made. He didn't need to know this intermediate figure with the method above.

@lfcmonkeyyyman6229

Жыл бұрын

Correct

There is always someone out there cleverer than yourself.

@mikefuller6959

7 жыл бұрын

Hi neilswann80! Thanks for the reply! Lol! Now, is that 1 person supposed to be me?! Actually there always is the 1 cleverest person himself who is the cleverest. Good Point! With Best Wishes! Cheers - Mike.

@mikefuller6959

7 жыл бұрын

Lol! Delusional mate!

@mikefuller6959

7 жыл бұрын

***** OK?!

@Ryan-mh8xu

7 жыл бұрын

more clever

@TheGodParticle

7 жыл бұрын

Probably not me but I'm content.

I sometimes just return to this video because I really enjoy everyone's amazement at this guy's skills.

I love how Carol laughs in disbelief! 😀

I'm an intellectual because this was in my recommended. *updates CV

@namanarora5168

3 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/lJyakrqLnKjTk9o.html

@MasterJammer

3 жыл бұрын

LMAO

funny seeing people posting easier solutions, they had all the time needed to come up with their solution, on the show you get 30 seconds.

@dominicholland9591

9 жыл бұрын

***** and no calculators.

@kevinabalo

9 жыл бұрын

Yeah and with that irritating music going on.

@colinjava8447

4 жыл бұрын

In this case, that is the optimal solution, its not about knowing how to quickly multiply big numbers, its understanding how you can make use of the factor of 25. If carol wrote the solution out in one go, it would all have cancelled down to 952 without having to do that big multiplication.

@Slimmeyy

4 жыл бұрын

Well I got my 953 in 15 seconds without a calculator :P

@error.418

4 жыл бұрын

@@Slimmeyy Too bad that's not the goal number

carols reactions were hilarious. i was in stitches!! brilliant

@pentagonanimates

3 жыл бұрын

how does this comment not say “12 years ago” because HOW DOES THIS COMMENT NOT SAY “12 YEARS AGO-

@goranmilic442

2 жыл бұрын

English are so polite. When she say "multiply this", he just says "yes, please". I my country it would be like "bitch, do your job".

@AD-cc7bj

2 жыл бұрын

@@goranmilic442 jeez. where are you from?

Nice to see old Twice Nightly's smiley face once more. A legend, taken far too soon.

Obviously he mastered those manipulations of the big numbers, that's why he asks for all of them. So there are 3 variables instead of 7. It's a great strategy. I wish my brain could wrap around that logic more intuitively. It was clear he made an equation so he didn't have to do all the multiplication and division, but I would have no idea how to do that.

@kroppyer

8 жыл бұрын

I think this is what went though his mind: quickly find the easy (3+6)*100+50+75/25=953, only one away, let's take some time to try and get an exact answer maybe something with 100*3*75/25 = 100*9 = 900, having 6 and 50 left. won't get you any closer.. maybe multiply the 6 by 9 as well to get 54 so: (100+6)*3*75/25 =900+54 = 954, having 50 left. Now when you've written that down as a fraction: (100+6)*3*75 --------------------- 25 and you know you're 2 off, it's easy to see that you can add/subtract 2 by adding/subtracting 50 from the numerator. Then you arrive at 952. No need to calculate 318*75

@Jonny0W

8 жыл бұрын

+kroppyer Yes! Nicely explained

@paul-petertheulings1276

6 жыл бұрын

He quickly found out 318*3= 954. (106*3*75/25). Needs 2 to subtract. That is the minus 50 devided by 25. He did not need to know the intermediate high number, he knew the final result is 954-2.

@isabellax9219

6 жыл бұрын

😶

@a1974h

6 жыл бұрын

Tracie Irene you done well to explain it

Just watched the middle section from " 318 " 6 times now and it's still hilarious because of it's uniqueness and his audacity but also because he stopped her taking the mathematical shortcut by telling her to wait for the large division which would have saved her having to work it out and also what was great was after the " 23,850" Carol is awaiting the large subtraction to get the amount down and he, merely, subtracts just " 50"...Brilliant !

@RJSRdg

Жыл бұрын

There would never have been a large subtraction as the most he could have subtracted is 125. Carol actually asked him "Are you going to divide by something else?"

@petermgruhn

9 ай бұрын

It's to be expected to fuss around up there. Why doesn't she expect the option? Are the answers usually like (12+3)/5 or some shit I could do?

3:30 please have a minute of silence for a fallen soldier

The way some people can think always amazes me. 30 seconds to work that out. Incredible!

Carol was pushed beyond her design specs and started to break up.

Rest in peace Richard whiteley, what a Gent

@grahamlive

3 жыл бұрын

I met him once. He was an absolute bastard. I asked him how he was and he told me to fuck off and then he kicked my pet ferret.

This is so legendary that I do just return to it now and again. :)

I loved watching Countdown after school back in the late 90’s

Carol "you want to multiply by 75?" Maths genius" yes, that's exactly what we're doing" Carol: *throffing intensifies*

@ColinRichardson

3 жыл бұрын

Don't worry Carol, Rachel Riley is here to rescue you from doing your job.

@FahadAyaz

2 жыл бұрын

@@ColinRichardson Oof, too soon!

@apnewens

2 жыл бұрын

What’s throffing?

While this is impressive there's actually another way to get it without venturing into such big numbers. This is how I got it, I can't imagine I'm the only one. 75 x 6 = 450 450 / 50 = 9 100 + 3 = 103 103 x 9 = 927 927 + 25 = 952 To me this was easier to see than the way he got it.

@harryrambler

8 жыл бұрын

+BrettMKW Yes impressive. Did you do that in 30 seconds?

@BrettMKW

8 жыл бұрын

***** Yeah, just how my mind works. I see that 927 can be factored into 103 x 9 pretty intuitively, and that adding the 25 gives the 952. That was the easy part for me, the tough part was getting to the 9 but taking a number and multiplying by 75 then dividing by 50 is the same as multiplying by 1.5, and 6 x 1.5 = 9. There's been a lot of complex solutions that I can't solve with an easy way but this was one I figured out quite nicely.

@harryrambler

8 жыл бұрын

Very impressive! My friend Steve is like that. A human calculator.

@BrettMKW

8 жыл бұрын

***** Thanks, I've always been good at mathematics up to calculus level (calculus wasn't so easy for me) but I struggled with english and history throughout school. By the way this guy didn't multiply 318 by 75 in his head or even on paper in 30 seconds. He knew that multiplying by 75 then dividing by 25 is the same as multiplying by 3, and 318 x 3 = 954. By subtracting the 50 inbetween he knows it subtracts 2 from the final answer. It's really a brilliant solution. If you want more you should search the name George Ford, he does solutions like this all the time like nothing.

@harryrambler

8 жыл бұрын

+BrettMKW Mathematics is in my opinion the purest form of science. I'm generally good at science but average at math. One of my hobbies is Astronomy. Possibly the oldest branch of science. Thanks for the breakdown on the number crunching!

👏 that was (without A shadow of a doubt ) the most amazing numbers game I have ever seen in countdown

I spilt my tea slightly watching this when it first aired. It really was that thrilling

Been avoiding this video on my recommended for weeks, Finally decided to click on it and I'm not disappointed!! 😮

@avitechandgaming8028

3 жыл бұрын

Same mate!

That's Numbawang!!

@jimmysaville360

7 жыл бұрын

lol

@ErwinPommel

6 жыл бұрын

Jimmy Saville, you should be ashamed of yourself, and the things you've done.

@isaacbrown1594

6 жыл бұрын

Forcing Google+ Makes Me Feel Better About the Spying lets rotate the board

@samcoburn9527

6 жыл бұрын

Number wank!

@AnAverageArceus

4 жыл бұрын

@@samcoburn9527 it's NumberWANG!

Wow! That was out of the box thinking. Awesome.

I don't know how old is that man now but ı am sure he still remembers this moment sometimes and smiles.

Nice work James, Carol is now damp!

@perudahudson7481

6 жыл бұрын

lol quality lol

@kumquatmagoo

4 жыл бұрын

@Shaun Brennan still would

@lichade2008

4 жыл бұрын

She needed tampons that day

@gatecrasherkz7

4 жыл бұрын

*moist

@zombi2896

4 жыл бұрын

@@gatecrasherkz7 damp

When I was younger, I used to watch the show that inspired this. It was a French show called "Des chiffres et des lettres". It wasn't an exciting show by any means, but I was fascinated by how people could solve the problems.

@NathanielHarari

4 жыл бұрын

I used to watch it as well when I lived in Belgium as a kid.

@toptenguy1

7 ай бұрын

Same! It aired in Eastern Canada!

This clip lives in my head rent free 😩

I love it how the guy doesn't seem confident in answering but actually has the correct answer. lol

...incredible! I'm good at some math, but this was quite a challenge! This really could be the most amazing Number Game that Countdown has ever had to offer! Wow!

Ha,remember watching this when it first broadcast. One of Countdown's more memorable moments to be sure -a seriously impressive bit of lightning mental calculation/algebraic insight. Going by memory the contestant was an actual mathematician ,with a degree from Oxford(edit: current Oxford mathematics professor) Consequently, this sort of thing would've been more or less a day at the office for him.

@alexpotts6520

3 жыл бұрын

Sort of; but prof mathematicians at that level don't actually do as much with numbers as you might think. They work on more abstract stuff and get computers to do their arithmetic for them.

@davidraveh5966

Жыл бұрын

Lol most mathematicians can't add up a dartboard to save their life

@putinsgaytwin4272

Жыл бұрын

I study maths. I doubt anyone in my course can add 5+8 in less than 10 seconds. I haven't rly dealt with numbers since linear Algebra in first year. Even then, I had a calculator and haven't practiced pure multiplication since I was 12.

@xx765

11 ай бұрын

Nah, for a math professor at Oxford it is certain that this sort of thing was NOT part of his daily routine. He probably trained specifically for this, while being very smart about it (picking all 4 big numbers so he dealt with familiar patterns). While quick mental arithmetics isn't most mathematicians' main task, a lot of them would easily add up a dartboard or work out 5+8 quick enough... To get to an advanced level one would have gone through enough training and shown enough talent in math in general.

@beeble2003

10 ай бұрын

@@alexpotts6520 Right, but being a mathematician helped him quickly see that "multiply by 75, subtract 50, divide by 25" is the same thing as "multiply by 3 and subtract 2". He wasn't a professor at the time this was filmed -- I'm not sure how old he is, but I think it would have been around the time he was an undergraduate.

Ah !! Those halcyon days when Carol Vorderman wasn’t made of silicone and plastic 😂😂

Carol: That is 318 James: Now multiply that by 75 Carol: and then you're going to divide that right? James: Yes, but not right away Carol: ... Carol: What will you divide it by? James: 25, but before that I want to subtract 50 Carol: You mean we have to actually work out this value? Pretty epic answer.

pretty good. Im quite good myself i can multiply any two numbers. for example.. 3 multiplied by 4 is 12. And i can do that in real life pretty quick. not quite as good as this guy.. but still good.

@Slimmeyy

4 жыл бұрын

@RonnyDonny13 Dude, same! And I know 0.5*0.5 is 1! Wait a minute...

@SS-nx2xx

4 жыл бұрын

Let me tell you gentlemen it's such an honour to be amongst such superior intellect

@huntersmoon7201

3 жыл бұрын

Hope to see you all winning the Math Olympiad gold medal one day. Don't tell me to not get my hopes up.

Got recommended this is 2021. Still cool to watch.

Excellent! Lovely 50 subtraction in the middle is absolutely hilarious!

that's how you get Vorderman into bed

@motorbikemike99

9 жыл бұрын

It would take more than that to get Rachel Riley into bed.

@steve24822

9 жыл бұрын

Mike Halcomb Both of you are 1005 correct and in both cases, very unfortunate...

@ErwinPommel

6 жыл бұрын

It's important to always aim to be 1005 correct.

@krashd

4 жыл бұрын

Today you need to use a Stena stairlift.

@AFMakers

4 жыл бұрын

Mike Halcomb would rather get Carol though

We used to do these in math at school near the end of the lesson. At the end we would see a list of all possible solutions which were computer generated, for some of them, depending on what numbers you had to work with, there would be hundreds of solutions, most of us here struggle to find one.

Others have already addressed how he did it, but to summarise, he essentially used mental algebra and factorisation rather than straight mental arithmetic, which is why he didn't know what the intermediate value of 318 * 75 equalled, only that [(318 * 75) - 50] / 25 was 952, due to 318 * 3 = 954 and 954 - 2 = 952. From (318 * 3) - 2 comes (318 * 75/25) - 50/25, and then he essentially factored out the 25 so he could reuse it. (As for how he worked out that 318 * 3 = 954, it's essentially a rearrangement of 106 * 9 = 954; adding small numbers to the large ones is a common strategy to 'adjust' the total and essentially 'reuse' a multiplier)

I kinda wished for a moment that he’d get Carol to multiply all of the numbers and after Carol finishes then say that he forgot, Now that would be a good laugh

He just divided 50 and 75 by 25 in his head to get 2 and 3, and then used order of operations to use 25 "twice". Essentially, all he did was (100+6) * 3=318. 318 * (75/25)-(50/25)=318 * 3-2=954-2=952. He just multiplied by 75 before subtracting so he could "reuse" the 25(this is even clearer when the contestant starts calculating 318 * 75 along with the expert, implying he didn't already). Still neat, but doesn't look as clever without the heavy lifting...

@deloford

9 жыл бұрын

Absolutely correct, I got that when I was watching it.. he didn't know what 318*75 was. I was surprised Carol didn't call him out on that. Effectively you can turn any simple commutative operation like this into something really impressive by changing the order. Everyone including posters here has fallen for it.

He probably started with 106*9=954, which is close, but you cannot use the 6 twice, so the you need to find another 3 or a 6. Well, 75/25 gives you 3, so if you go (100+6)*3*75/25 you get 954. I expect this was what Carol was thinking - if he is going to divide by 25 then she only needs to multiply by 3. But he also noticed that if you are 2 out, then before you divide by 25 you are 50 out (2x25). So subtract the 50 before you divide by 25 and you are spot on. Of course, he has to do this in 30 seconds, and I could only get as far as the 954. Even the other guy had 953. Generally, though, a good tactic is to look for combinations that give you the same number, such as 3 = 75/25, then you can scale up and back down.

2:10 is where he is revealed to be the absolute genius. he doesn’t know what 318 x 75 is, no one would, but he knows how to scale his answer correctly

Legend has it this man is now an overseer of illegal street countdown games across the country. Known only as...Number

@Winasaurus

5 ай бұрын

Numberwang?

The glory years of countdown rip richard you were the best xx

@Musicienne-DAB1995

10 ай бұрын

Yes, I have never watched the new ones.

@bushmonster1702

10 ай бұрын

@@Musicienne-DAB1995they are crap. 30 minutes Richard Whitely era was far better.

Even Carol was shocked at the answer he gave! I was astounded!

So he got to the answer without actually working out each step....I can't even begin to imagine how

@unitc87

3 жыл бұрын

Algebra

@Nullifidian

3 жыл бұрын

It's because he applied a formula that four-large players know. (75 x 50 +/- 100) / 25 = 146/154, (100 x 50 +/- 75) / 25 = 197/203, and (100 x 75 +/- 50) = 298/302. James used the last of these, employing the two small numbers to alter the formula until it reached the target. First he added 6 to the 100, and then by multiplying 106 by 3 and then 75, he effectively multiplied it by another 3 (because 75 / 25 = 3). 106 x 3 x 3 = 954. But since he's intending to divide by 25 already, that means that 50 is equivalent to 2. So ((100 + 6) x 3 x 75 - 50) / 25 is equivalent to (100 + 6) x 3 x 3 - 2 = 952

I stand by my belief that Carol wasn't laughing because she found it funny, but laughing because she was trying to mask her nervousness at not knowing the calculations and was essentially stalling for time

@eggymayo3271

11 ай бұрын

Yes she's stalling for the production crew to help, you hear someone shout out the 23850 number

@Subsbench

11 ай бұрын

​@eggymayo3271 well spotted...hadn't heard that before but is clear when listening back with volume up

@Musicienne-DAB1995

10 ай бұрын

That was exactly the impression I got when watching this clip.

@simonsimon325

8 ай бұрын

I think she was being a bit condescending. Haven't you ever had someone who hasn't a clue what you're doing smirking in a 'what's this lunatic doing' tyep way, until the moment it dawns on them you were just doing something they just didn't understand, then the smirk disappears quick to be replaced by surprise. That's what happened here except Carol was hamming it up because it's telly.

WOW, I don't think I have ever seen Carol flumoxed. She is a walking calculator. I miss the duo :)

@Rikk303

10 жыл бұрын

flummoxed I think

@RebelRadius

9 жыл бұрын

Rikk303 LOL, nicely spotted :)

@beniteztheconman

4 жыл бұрын

she can only do basic arithmetic in her head.... nothing special.

I love this so funny makes me rewind it lol

This guy would be great at Street Countdown

My God Susie looks so young! I mean she's still lively in 2020, but... So young! 🥰

@stellaartois303

3 жыл бұрын

That’s not susie....

add all the numbers together and reverse the order

@CoffeePoints

8 жыл бұрын

+JYC422 I assume you can only use each number once

@Sonfil

8 жыл бұрын

+JYC422 and ?

@moniammouri7667

8 жыл бұрын

+TheMightyWill 25+50+75+100+6+3 = 259, this number backwards is 952, that's what he meant

@CoffeePoints

8 жыл бұрын

Mone Ammouri ooh right. Okay thanks for clearing that up!

@mrsparkaru6887

8 жыл бұрын

That's actually quite impressive!

Ah who could ever forget the great Karen Venderman.

@jayzee9149

11 ай бұрын

or even Carol Vorderman ?....

These long multifications are now quite common on Countdown.

Anyone notice, no whooping from the audience. Ah, those were the days.

@hadawaco

6 жыл бұрын

I agree whooping should be banned in live audiences.

@icedbannanas

6 жыл бұрын

one step further, just ban live audiences. awful things.

@lancemannly

6 жыл бұрын

Y'all some fun hating miserable bastards

@icedbannanas

6 жыл бұрын

Don't talk too loudly or CountryHouseGent will ban you too!

@davidoftheglen3447

6 жыл бұрын

All the whooping is just another example of England being Americanised .

My high school maths teacher 'Mad Dog' had a game similar to this. He'd pick a year and then a calendar month and you had to try to use the numbers in the year (in order) to make the numbers 1 - 31. I remember one in particular when he was explaining his choice of year. I was bored, spinning a ruler on my pen. Suddenly my head was yanked back by my hair and I was staring into the eyes of Mad Dog; the sun gleaming off his long mane of frizzy hair that covered a tattoo of a naked woman on the back of his neck that was deemed to risque to expose to the eyes of minors. 'When was the American war of Independence'?! he bellowed. The answer to this is not really well known in Australia but for some reason I knew the answer and so responded in a feeble tremble '1776?'. 'Lucky' he growled in reply and continued on with his lesson as if nothing had happened. Ahh school days. But I'll give Mad Dog this, it was him that got me interested in the broader picture of maths. Escher, the history of maths, the oddities. And who could hate the guy that introduced them to the movie Stand and Deliver.

"Roisin, did you get it?"

Gossshhh, this is incredible! I settled for the 953 I found while playing along, but I never would've thought 952 was possible ;u;

This passes as a game show in Britain what an odd amazing bunch

@tehf00n

8 жыл бұрын

+logical fruit well it's hard to find people with skills where you come from in

@HighPitchWOT

8 жыл бұрын

+logical fruit Agreed, it's better just to guess the price of random shit; that takes far more brain power.

@JackHundley

8 жыл бұрын

+logical fruit Be fair to us Brits, there's two rounds of letters for each numbers round! We British have loads of other great shows you might like. There's 'Just A Minute' Where contestants have to talk about a given topic for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Perhaps 'The News Quiz' will take your fancy, where contestants answer questions relating to the news of the past week. Finally there's 'Pointless' where contestants have to guess things about a subject that nobody else did. You can ridicule any gameshow really, but all of these sound much more appealing then spinning a big wheel or playing around with some oversized cards.

@RAMSEY1987

8 жыл бұрын

I am not complaining I think its great

@johnlewis9158

8 жыл бұрын

i think he was giving the program a complement a backhanded one but a complement nevertheless

I was pleased with getting to 953 quickly for one away and stopped there. Putting it on paper now, I believe his "method" relied on phrasing the problem in terms of order of operations such that actually knowing the product of the large multiplication step wasn't needed. He knew it would be offset by the ratio of the remaining numbers to get him there. It's just a simple subtraction from there.

@zacmumblethunder7466

4 жыл бұрын

Why didn't you teach maths at my school? Much more practical and impressive than the weird stuff I had to spend the final year of O Levels doing.

@puirYorick

4 жыл бұрын

@@zacmumblethunder7466 Thanks. The gentleman who taught me maths was an older soft spoken African expatriate who often told us some little random fact about whatever concept he was going to introduce in the lesson. Perhaps it helped to make the *method* of solution stand apart from the "spade work" of actually crunching the numbers. In fact, years later, my Calculus instructor for the first two years of Uni also brought *his* sample problems through a method only up to what he called spade work (his term) and stopped. It was assumed that we could all crunch the numbers by then. He just literally helped us with making sense of the Greek.

@zacmumblethunder7466

4 жыл бұрын

@@puirYorick Somehow I got grade A maths but I never understood what we were doing or why in the final year. I just did what we were told to do. I used to play with numbers away from school and came up with most of my mental calculation techniques myself, checking my answers on a calculator, as we just didn't seem to cover that sort of thing in school. I hate how it's almost seen as a badge of honour to be able to say "I don't understand maths, I can't add two and two". I'd say the two subjects most poorly served by modern education are maths and history.

@puirYorick

4 жыл бұрын

@@zacmumblethunder7466 Certainly a lot of the maths whiz types have a special gift for manipulating numbers in their headspace. I'm okay but nothing special that way. The concept of left brain & right brain function and the degree of cooperation between the two likely is a huge factor. There are resource books giving some simple tricks and techniques for "doing maths" but I can't think of any titles myself.

@zacmumblethunder7466

4 жыл бұрын

@@puirYorick I might track one or two down. I'm at that age where I need to do a bit of brain exercise. I got involved in an event where we were asked to do physical exercises that cross the right/left brain a d body divide and I did feel more mentally alert after.