Why is TV 29.97 frames per second?

Matt Parker explains the history and mathematics behind the NTSC television standard running at 29.97 frames per second.

I look at the historical quirks which gave us TV at 29.97 frames per second. In North America at least. It's a comfortable 25 fps in Europe. More on that thing I mentioned at the end of the video here: patreon.com/standupmaths Here is the spherical video I was making with Henry Segerman which made me research NTSC frame rates in the first place: youtube.com/watch?v=Yp12c3-IL-I Yes, technically, if you divide 4,500,000 by 286 you get a horizontal frequency of 15,734.26573 lines per second. That matches a frame rate of 29.97002997002997… and so old TVs used 30/1.001 = 29.97002997002997… CORRECTIONS: - A lot of people pointing out that increasing the number of horizontal lines without increasing the bandwidth would be a loss of resolution. Which is a good point. Music by Howard Carter Design by Simon Wright MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician Website: standupmaths.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/standupmaths Nerdy maths toys: mathsgear.co.uk/