HackerTube.dev

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

Numberphile · 2.3M views · 2015-03-23 · 9:22

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

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.

On Hacker News

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

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2015–2026

Topics

Probability & game theoryRecreational & visual math
Search by tags
persi diaconisshufflingrandomnessprobabilitynumberphile

What people said

fisian · 2026-06 · Recommendation

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: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
evanb · 2018-06 · Recommendation

There's a great numberphile with Persi Diaconis all about shuffling: [VIDEO] The extra footage is fantastic, too.

Read the original HN comment ↗
shuriu · 2015-07 · Recommendation

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: [VIDEO] . Pretty cool stuff!

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Numberphile, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources