2025-07-25

[public] 738K views, 31.2K likes, dislikes audio only

Veritasium

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How a feud in Russia led to modern prediction algorithms.

If you’re looking for a molecular modeling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - https://ve42.co/SnatomsV

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A huge thank you to Brian Hayes, David Aldous, Geoff Engelstein, Jeffrey Rosenthal, Jimmy He, Mark Priestley, Michael Choi, Peter Norvig, Sam Power, and Thomas Haigh for their invaluable expertise and contributions to this video.

And a special thank you to Madeline Johnson for her excellent fact-checking.

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0:00 The Law of Large Numbers

4:37 What is a Markov Chain?

9:43 Ulam and Solitaire

12:21 Nuclear Fission

15:46 The Monte Carlo Method

16:32 The first search engines

19:07 Google is born

25:16 How does predictive text work?

27:10 Are Markov chains memoryless?

29:41 How to perfectly shuffle a deck of cards

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References:

https://ve42.co/RefsMarkov

Images & Video:

https://ve42.co/7Z

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:

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Writers: Kaela Albert, Casper Mebius & Derek Muller

Producer & Director: Kaela Albert

Editors: Peter Nelson & Jack Saxon

Camera Operators: Gabe Strong, Gregor Cavlovic & Derek Muller

Animator: Andrew neet, Emma Wright, Fabio Albertelli & Ivy Trello

Illustrator: Caine Esperanzo, Jakub Misiek & Maria Gustanovich

Assistant Editor: James Stuart

Researchers: Darius Garewal, Gabe Strong & Emilia Gyles

Thumbnail Designers: Ren Hurley & Ben Powell

Production Team: Rob Beasley Spence, Casper Mebius, Sulli Yost and Henry Van Dyck

Executive Producers: Derek Muller & Casper Mebius

Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5 and Storyblocks

Music from Epidemic Sound