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

Numberphile · interview · Watch on YouTube

Probability & game theoryRecreational & visual math

What it is

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.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “He also has done research on the randomness of shuffling cards”

    Persi Diaconis on the research behind shuffling randomness

    shuriu, 2015-07 · Recommendation · in “The Coin Flip: A Fundamentally Unfair Proposition? (2009)”

  2. “There's a great numberphile with Persi Diaconis all about shuffling”

    Numberphile with Persi Diaconis on shuffling, with good extra footage

    evanb, 2018-06 · Recommendation · in “The Math of Card Shuffling”

  3. “It gives a lot of insight and anectdotes in addition to the central theorem”

    Diaconis on seven perfect shuffles, with anecdotes beyond the theorem

    fisian, 2026-06 · Recommendation · in “Seven Perfect Shuffles Randomize a Deck of Cards. But How Many Sloppy Ones?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: persi diaconis, shuffling, randomness, probability, numberphile

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