Skip to content
HHackerTube.videoSurprise me

The Best (and Worst) Ways to Shuffle Cards - Numberphile

The Best (and Worst) Ways to Shuffle Cards - Numberphile on HackerTube: recommended by 3 Hacker News commenters across 3 separate months, 2015–2026.

Numberphile

interview · evergreen

Open on YouTube

Persi Diaconis explains on Numberphile the mathematics of card shuffling, including why seven riffle shuffles are needed to randomize a deck and how different shuffles compare.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN points to it as a good, anecdote-filled introduction to the math of shuffling from the expert himself.

people recommended it
3
separate months
3
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2015–2026
“It gives a lot of insight and anectdotes in addition to the central theorem”
— fisian, Jun 2026, in “Seven Perfect Shuffles Randomize a Deck of Cards. But How Many Sloppy Ones?”

What HN commenters said

4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

fisianJun 2026Recommends

Numberphile has a video with Persi Diaconis about the seven perfect shuffles. It gives a lot of insight and anectdotes in addition to the central theorem: ▶ this video

in “Seven Perfect Shuffles Randomize a Deck of Cards. But How Many Sloppy Ones?” · View on HN

evanbJun 2018Recommends

There's a great numberphile with Persi Diaconis all about shuffling: ▶ this video The extra footage is fantastic, too.

in “The Math of Card Shuffling” · View on HN

shuriuJul 2015Recommends

This video from Numberphile goes in depth about this: [link] . The guy talking, is Persi Diaconis, is the main author of the paper this article is based upon. He also has done research on the randomness of shuffling cards: ▶ this video . Pretty cool stuff!

in “The Coin Flip: A Fundamentally Unfair Proposition? (2009)” · View on HN

trcollinsonFeb 2021Cites it

One of my absolute favorite mathematicians is Persi Diaconis who is mentioned in this paper and was the original basis for this area of research. Well worth learning about. He was a runaway. Then a magician, trained by Dai Vernon and worked along side people like the late Ricky Jay and Richard Turner. He went on to get PhD from Harvard and got a MacArthur Fellowship. He is a legend. Ricky Jay talking about his childhood friend Persi: [link] Persi on Numberphile: ▶ this video A great lecture: [link]

in “The mathematics of shuffling” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Probability & game theoryRecreational & visual mathpersi diaconisshufflingrandomnessprobabilitynumberphile