When the verses in the Bhagavatam are counted, why do they turn out to be less than 18,000?

(I am grateful to H G Hari Parshad Prabhu for sharing the below answer with me which i have elaborated in the audio)

According to the Bengal born commentator, Sri Ganga Nath Sahay, in his commentary, Anvitartha Prakashika, it can be proved that Srimad Bhagavatam has 18000 “Slokas”. Sloka here means anuṣṭup chhanda. Anushtup chhanda means that which has 32 syllables. So if all the syllables of the bhagavatam were added (along with all the variant readings) and the sum total would be divided by 32, we would land up on a figure close to 18000.