VI HART: Yo, Brady.
It's Vi Hart, and as promised, I'm going throw you a Yahtzee.
But to make it easier, I'm going to use tetrahedral dice,
but to make it harder again-- ooh, that
was four out of five.
To make it harder again, I'm going to use six of them.
So you figure that out.
Tetrahedral dice have many survival advantages over the
cubular dice, among which is that they are very difficult
to pick up because they're pointy.
So I'm going to have to sweep them off the table.
They also don't roll as far as your cube dice because they
have sharper angles.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We are at roll number 100, as you can see by the counter
that I'm pressing with my foot, which means it's time--
time for your next tetrahedral superiority fact.
Tetrahedra are also superior to the cube in that they
always end point-up.
They don't have the faces opposite each other, unlike a
cube and, in fact, all other platonic solids.
When they land on the face, the other face is facing up.
But these have the point facing up, which means that
they are dangerous as a natural defense, which is I
guess why caltrops are designed as a tetrahedron.
They have tetrahedral points, so that when
you throw them at--
they're always going to land point-up.
And if you stepped on one of these, it would hurt.
Unlike the cube, which is weak and soft.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We've gotten past 200.
Time for your next tetrahedral survival advantage fact.
Tetrahedra don't roll as easily as cube dice, because
they have this kind of sharper angle.
They are less likely to accidentally
get lost and lonely.
Moving onward.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right.
So our 300th roll tetrahedron fact time.
As a platonic solid, Plato thought that the tetrahedron
represented the element of fire, because one, they're
pointy and they hurt you like fire hurts you, and related to
the fact that they don't roll easily, unlike the
icosahedron, which rolls so easily, with that very wide
angle, that it rolls kind of like water does.
So that's what the icosahedron was water, tetrahedron was
fire, and the cube, being stable and boring, is earth.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh!
I guess I got it.
Man, and here I was busily trying to think of more
tetrahedron facts.
I did not expect to get it this soon at all.
I'm on 382.
Here I was just thinking that I should have gotten an intern
to do this for me and that I was going to have nightmares
of tetrahedral dice attacking me.
But this actually wasn't that bad.
And yet I don't think the chances of six four-sided dice
is actually that much lower than of five cubes.
(SINGING) Brady, I got a Yahtzee, I got a Yahtzee.
Oh!
Two.
Hey, Brady, it's the number two.
Just for you.
Isn't that appropriate?
BRADY HARAN: Oh, oh, ooh.
Ah, ow!
VI HART: Sorry, 2.
But you know, you look good this way.
All right.
I guess I might as well go through some other tetrahedral
dice facts, although I don't ever want to move my Yahtzee
from being a Yahtzee ever again.
Keeping those 2s up.
Tetrahedra are also superior to the cube in that, well, as
a survival advantage, cubes pack space.
So like if you have a lot of cubes, they might pack
together nice and tightly like this.
Which you might think is a plus, because they use space
very efficiently.
But on the other hand, if you get your cube all surrounded
tightly by other cubes, the cubes might suffocate and die.
Whereas the tetrahedra, though they look almost like they
might kind of pack space, like you can fit five of them
around like this and it looks like they almost fit
perfectly, but they don't.
There's just like a tiny little gap.
And this gap enables even a super-close-huddling group of
tetrahedra to breathe and not suffocate.
I thought I was going to be in for a whole afternoon of
tetrahedron mania.