More or Less - Is every card shuffle unique? - BBC Sounds Homepage Accessibility links * Skip to content * Accessibility Help BBC Account Notifications * Home * News * Sport * Weather * iPlayer * Sounds * Bitesize * CBeebies * CBBC * Food * Home * News * Sport * Business * Technology * Health * Culture * Arts * Travel * Earth * Audio * Video * Live More menu Search Sounds * Home * News * Sport * Weather * iPlayer * Sounds * Bitesize * CBeebies * CBBC * Food * Home * News * Sport * Business * Technology * Health * Culture * Arts * Travel * Earth * Audio * Video * Live Close menu BBC Sounds Sounds home page Menu * Home * Music * Podcasts * My Sounds * Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK. Find out how to listen to other BBC stations Episode details Radio 4 , · 05 Sep 2026 , · 9 mins Is every card shuffle unique? More or Less Play Bookmark Bookmark Subscribe Subscribe Available for over a year Can it really be true that every shuffle of a deck of cards is unique? Mathematician and stand-up comedian Matt Parker claims that every time you do a shuffle, the cards have never been in that order before. But how can he be so confident? Matt came into the studio armed with a deck of cards and some very big calculations to back up his big assertion, and introduced us to the mind-splitting mathematical world of factorials and combinatorics. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nathan Gower Series producer: Tom Colls Sound engineer: James Beard Programme co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Website Show less More episodes * Cymraeg * Gaeilge * Gàidhlig * BBC Sounds Help * Contacts, Privacy and Information * Help with Signing In * Newsletter Explore the BBC * Home * News * Sport * Weather * iPlayer * Sounds * Bitesize * CBeebies * CBBC * Food * Home * News * Sport * Business * Technology * Health * Culture * Arts * Travel * Earth * Audio * Video * Live * Terms of Use * About the BBC * Privacy Policy * Privacy Policy * Cookies * Cookies * Accessibility Help * Parental Guidance * Contact the BBC * Make an editorial complaint * Careers * BBC emails for you * Advertise with us Copyright (c) 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.