Why is this number everywhere?

The number 37 is on your mind more than you think. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-day trial and get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

Huge thanks to Tom Magliery for sharing his 37 collection with us. Support http://thirty-seven.org by sharing your own 37 sightings to tom@thirty-seven.org!

Thanks to Dr. Todd Landman, the Academic Magician, for sharing his footage of the 37 Force. - https://www.todd-landman.com/

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters! Join the community to help us keep our videos free, forever: https://ve42.co/PatreonDE

Sam Lutfi, Lee Redden, Juan Benet, Richard Sundvall, Paul Peijzel, Gnare, Michael Krugman, Meekay, Ubiquity Ventures, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Bill Linder, Evgeny Skvortsov, Burt Humburg, Dave Kircher, Diffbot, john kiehl, Blake Byers, Stephen Wilcox, John H. Austin, Jr., Josh Hibschman, TTST, Orlando Bassotto, Anton Ragin, David Johnston, KeyWestr, Tj Steyn, meg noah, Chris Harper, Adam Foreman, Max Paladino, Balkrishna Heroor, I. H., Garrett Mueller, Bertrand Serlet, Kyi, wolfee, Matthias Wrobel

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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References:

Simon, W. E. (1972). “Blue Seven Phenomenon” in Elementary and Jr. High Children. Psychological Reports - https://ve42.co/Simon1972

Trueman, J. (1979). Existence & Robustness of Blue Seven Phenomena. The Journal of General Psychology - https://ve42.co/Trueman1979

Saito, M. (1999). “Blue and Seven Phenomena” in Japanese Students. Perceptual & Motor Skills - https://ve42.co/Saito1999

Philbrick, J. L. (1976). Blue seven in East Africa: Preliminary report. Perceptual & Motor Skills - https://ve42.co/Philbrick1976

Hargreaves, S. (2009). The psychology of randomness. - https://ve42.co/Hargreaves2009

The 37 Force via The Magician’s Forum - https://ve42.co/37Force1

Fulves, K. (1979) Self-Working Mental Magic. Dover Publications, Inc. - https://ve42.co/Fulves1979

Random numbers via The Jargon File at catb.org - https://ve42.co/Jargon

Random Number Survey by MahoganyForest via Reddit - https://ve42.co/RedditRndm

Prime number theorem via Wikipedia - https://ve42.co/WikiPNT

Grossack, C. (2023). A truly incredible fact about the number 37. Grossack.site - https://ve42.co/Grossack2023

Least prime factor of n via oeis.org - https://ve42.co/LeastPrime

Fry, H. (2017). When should you settle down? ideas.ted.com - https://ve42.co/Fry2017

Choosing Toilets by Numberphile - • Choosing Toilets (mathematical extend...

Seaton, R. (2014). The Secretary Problem Explained: Dating Mathematically. rs.io - https://ve42.co/Seaton2014

Images & Video:

Just 37 by Tom Magliery - https://ve42.co/Just37

R4000 Processor via Molecular Expressions - https://ve42.co/micro37

The “37” Cluster by Noel Carboni - https://ve42.co/NGC2169

Charles Fleischer via Wikimedia - https://ve42.co/Fleischer

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Directed by Emily Zhang

Written by Emily Zhang and Derek Muller

Edited by Peter Nelson

Asst edited by Luke Molloy

Animated by Fabio Albertelli, Ivy Tello, and Leigh Williamson

Illustrated by Jakub Misiek

Filmed by Emily Zhang, Casper Mebius, Derek Muller, Michael Cimpher, and David Szasz

Additional research by Gregor Čavlović

Produced by Emily Zhang, Giovanna Utichi, Han Evans, and Emily Taylor

Thumbnail contributions by Ignat Berbeci, Ren Hurley, and Peter Sheppard

Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Storyblocks

Music from Epidemic Sound