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Hi there everyone.
You probably noticed over the past few weeks, I haven't been
producing any videos either here on Numberphile or my
other channels.
That's not some bad omen relating to the fact that our
last film was about the number 6-6-6.
In fact, I've just been on holiday.
I actually went and saw something I've always wanted
to see, and that's Mount Everest.
So before we get back into the usual swing of things here on
Numberphile, I thought I'd share a few numbery facts
about the biggest mountain in the world.
So Mount Everest probably nudged its way to become the
world's highest mountain about 200,000 years ago.
But of course, it wasn't recognized as such until about
the mid 1800s during the Great Trigonometric Survey of India.
Peering into the forbidden lands of Nepal and Tibet from
nearly 200 miles away, I should say, surveryors
calculated what they called Peak B, or Peak 15, to be
exactly 29,000 feet high.
Now they didn't think anyone would believe it was exactly
29,000 feet high, so they published a
height of 29,002 feet.
That's 8,840 meters.
Now, the British weren't really too clear on what the
local names were for the mountain.
And that's still a reasonably complicated debate today.
So they decided they'd name it after the foremost survey
boss, a guy called George Everest, or Everest as we call
it these days.
Now in the mid 1950s, not long after the mountain had been
climbed for the first time, it was remeasured and the more
accurate height of 8,848 meters was adopted.
That's the familiar number many of us know today.
More precise measurements were made in the 1990s, and things
didn't change very much, still about 8,848 meters.
But in 1999, some Americans came along using GPS.
And they put a spinner in the works, publishing a new
height, 8,850 meters.
For many people, that still stands.
Then in 2005, the Chinese came along and published a lower
figure, 8,844 meters.
They said the snow cap on top of the mountain
shouldn't be counted.
And they were using the rocky summit instead.
Now Nepal doesn't accept this argument.
They're sticking with 8,848.
Now more measurements are planned at the moment.
These things are always going on.
And it's also worth noting that Mount Everest is actually
growing by about half a centimeter, one centimeter
every year as the Indian continental plate smashes into
China forcing the Himalayas up.
In fact, in about a million years, Everest would
theoretically be twice as tall as it is now.
But gravity and earthquakes, things like that are unlikely
to allow that to happen.
And of course, Everest is only the king of the mountains when
measuring above sea level.
The highest mountain measured from its base to its summit is
actually Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Most of this mountain, of course, is below the sea.
And the furthest point from the center of the Earth is
actually the peak of this mountain in Ecuador, which
benefits from the Earth's bulging waistline.
But whatever the numbers say, whatever definitions you like,
it's always going to be Mount Everest that captures the
imagination of people like me.
Now there's a few numbers and figures about Mount Everest.
But that's enough of my holiday photos.
Our next Numberphile video will be back
to business as usual.