11 ms·

Lessons by 3blue1brown

499 points by spallas 3y ago

jackling 3y ago
I'm likely in the minority, but I found 3blue1brown videos difficult to understand and they usually give me a worse intuition about a concept than I previously had. I wonder why that is. Seems like most people I know swear by his videos.
- dingosity 3y ago
  Well. I mean. We all have different ways we learn. Are there youtube channels that HAVE worked for you?
  - jackling 3y ago
    Tibees (https://www.youtube.com/@tibees https://www.youtube.com/@tibees) I found very helpful. Usually I buy textbooks when I want to learn something new. It could just be that I'm not a good visual learner.
- postsantum 3y ago
  Any alternatives to recommend?
  - guerrilla 3y ago
    Just do a lot of exercise and keep going over the same stuff (periodically) until you see deeper into it.
  - hwestiii 3y ago
    Numberphile is good, but more "crowd sourced".
- chrsig 3y ago
  Were there any specific things that were making it difficult for you?
- silversmith 3y ago
  For me it's the visual component, especially the animated transitions that very neatly highlight the relation between various concepts or values. I learned most of the topics in those videos well enough to pass highschool/university exams, but very often the real "aha!" moment came after seeing lines transform from one into another, planes deforming, or boxes being subdivided in 3blue1brown video.
- cloogshicer 3y ago
  I feel the same. There are often big leaps he makes in terms of understanding, where I get lost.
- C-x_C-f 3y ago
  If you're looking for more a more traditional style I've heard good things about Michael Penn at https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelPennMath https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelPennMath
- Tarrosion 3y ago
  Mostly I've been a huge fan and think I learn a lot, but occasionally his explanation doesn't click with me. One example is his Fourier series where I want to think about a change of basis and multiplying an input signal by "reference" functions, but his explanation is more about circles spinning on circles.
- mliker 3y ago
  That's the first time I've heard that. Curious what about it makes it harder for you. That's a shame, but it seems like 3b1b doesn't cater to your learning style!
  - jackling 3y ago
    After thinking about it a bit, I believe it may be 2 different things. 1) When I learn something, I like daydreaming about it and coming up with a mental model of how it is in my own head. So, having someone else's vision and animations used can screw up my own mental model and make it harder for me to forge connections between concepts. 2) I enjoy rigorous math more. I find it hard to make logical leaps and assume properties about things unless they were previously established as facts. This is why I like analysis a lot, althought I'm not great at it. I think 3B1B is more informal when explaining things, and the lack of rigour confuses me over time. Especially in a longer video.
- coreyp_1 3y ago
  Learning is all about using your current knowledge and understanding to refine and augment those mental models. Be aware that many people don't watch videos to learn, they watch to be entertained. They think that they are learning, but really they are just watching animations. In the end, they can't actually do any of the math. They haven't actually learned anything. In the same vein, that's why TED talks are so popular. It's like eating dessert... all sugar and no nutrients. I'm not saying that 3b1b videos aren't instructional, but rather that they are so well put together that they can satisfy the entertainment-seekers while still offering meaningful content. The question is, then, why don't you get anything out of the videos? That brings us back to the problem of mental models of understanding. If someone teaches a subject from a completely different perspective, it may be that it confuses you as your brain tries to harmonize the two conflicting mental models, and the video moves along too quickly for you to be able to benefit from the realignment. This is not an attack on you, btw. In fact, I believe that this realization helped me a lot as an educator to be patient when teaching. Furthermore, it does not mean that your initial understanding is wrong, but that it is a different perspective than that which is being presented by the instructor. Alternatively, it may be that the videos move through a particular concept too quickly. I find this is an issue, too. Once I understand something new, I like to almost daydream about the concept, exploring it mentally so that I understand it from a lot of different angles. I think of it in different situations and to see if my intuitions make sense, and if they don't I ask for clarifications. You can't do that when watching a video because it doesn't stop to answer your questions. I like 3b1b videos. Some of them I can binge on all day simply because they "click" and make sense. Others I have had to spend days (or weeks) thinking about in order to digest and understand the perspective that Grant is trying to convey. They are definitely high value and I greatly appreciate Grant's work, but I definitely have to work, too, in order to benefit from some of them.
  - JackFr 3y ago
    Professor I had for Real Analysis (the second time I took it) was probably the best math professor I've ever had. He had the most extensive mental catalog of the wrong ways people could understand and the failure modes of students. When you would ask a question he was able to help, not just because he understood the material, but because he knew why you didn't. In my evaluation of him I mentioned this, but added that he was probably wasted on 3rd and 4th year math majors, and should be teaching more intro classes where the quality of instruction was markedly worse.
- seydor 3y ago
  - big duration of videos - un-abstracting abstract concepts by creating concrete examples, which end up taking the focus away from the abstract version - serial timeline, that is like a blackboard being constanty erased instead of adding to one big construction
  - jmartrican 3y ago
    Solid points.
- jmartrican 3y ago
  I agree. Besides the Neural Network video, I watch his other ones for entertainment, because I can't follow after a few minutes. I imagine I could follow if I stopped the vid to think and rewind as necessary.
- ahmadmijot 3y ago
  Yeah me too. Some of his videos are really helps me understanding about math (particularly on linear algebra) but some of his (recent-ish) videos are way above my head. Maybe because I don't have any background on the subject.
- dkarl 3y ago
  I think 3blue1brown gives you great starting intuition. When you work more deeply with a subject, you develop intuition that is more general and precise, and you understand the relationship between the simple model you started with and the more complex and nuanced understanding you developed over time. A different starting intuition than the one you started with won't be as good as your experienced intuition, and it won't be integrated with it, either, so it would feel like a step back.
- veltas 3y ago
  No shame in that, I love his videos but I think it's well established that there are different kinds of learners out there. His content matches what works for me, and it's worth reminding people like me that one size doesn't fit all. But for those he does speak to, he is a fantastic teacher worthy of the praise he gets.
  - jameshart 3y ago
    Careful - if by ‘different styles of learners’ you mean the old Visual/auditory/reading/kinesthetic ‘learning styles’ model, that is largely debunked and discredited as far as I understand it (see eg https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/learning-styles-myth https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/learning-sty...). I think it’s absolutely the case that some lessons work for some people at some times for some topics and don’t for others - but that’s not likely down to any innate ‘learning style’ that one person has over another. The same approach on a different topic on a different day might have the exact opposite effect in terms of who gets most out of the lesson.
- password54321 3y ago
  I actually believe a lot of people feel the same way but watch anyway because of the entertainment value the animations provide. But it really has made me realise that good animations alone really aren't enough and have found dry pieces of text from wikipedia to be better at times.
- viburnum 3y ago
  What usually happens to me is 2/3rds of the way through he rushes through seem keep points and it goes from feeling like a clear explanation to feeling like a magic trick.
- MawKKe 3y ago
  When I took a "presentation skills" course at Uni, they taught us that humans are very bad at reading and listening at the same time. Something about the brain regions utilized by these two activities overlap, and cannot be simultaneously be processing two different things. For this reason the visual portion of a presentation (slides) should be kept minimal and act as immediate support for the vocal portion of the presentation. If the two are not "in sync" the audience is unable to follow the presentation fully. I think 3b1b videos constantly break this rule; there is a LOT of going on visually, while the narrator is talking non-stop about some loosely related things or trivia. More often than not I have to re-watch segments multiple times because I cannot understand what the hell am I supposed to be paying attention to.
dingosity 3y ago
2b1b does a video on how you raise e to a matrix (hint: raising something to e is converted into another function where it's not nonsensical to do such a thing.) In about 10 minutes he explains something my math methods instructor struggled with over two weeks (4 classes). I was resistant to the view that YouTube could host "decent" instructional content for a long time. That video was one of the first that was CLEARLY superior to the instruction I received at a tier 1 research institution.
- codetrotter 3y ago
  > a video on how you raise e to a matrix Video link https://youtu.be/O85OWBJ2ayo https://youtu.be/O85OWBJ2ayo
- Juicyy 3y ago
  true for most of calc and a lot of electrical. Institutions failed to discuss why you need to do things. so much of it is here is Taylor Series or integration by parts. but nobody really knew what the application for this stuff was. just follow some rules and plug in some numbers.
- pdpi 3y ago
  My "ten minutes to understand something I never quite got" moment was his video on Fourier Transforms.
  - suremarc 3y ago
    I understand Fourier transforms fairly well but his video blew my mind. He has a totally original way of distilling mathematical concepts intuitively.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    Yes. The visualisations and the narration make it so clear.
  - eimrine 3y ago
    Just listen to some music with spectrum visualization, this is a Fourier transform of what you are listening right now.
armchairhacker 3y ago
3b1b is doing everyone a huge favor with these lessons. Teaching is certainly a lot different today. Decreased attention spans, underfunded schools, and ChatGPT make it a lot harder, but online modules and tutorials like these make it a lot easier.
- Silverback_VII 3y ago
  The problem is that you can learn many things, but time is limited. Learning and understanding abstract concepts won't make you more successful, increase your SMV and give you access to better mating opportunities. What's the use of arcane knowledge about prime numbers if you are not mathematician, and even then, one should question its importance? Time is often better spent learning about crucial factors of success such as goal-setting and self-discipline. Additionally I would say that learning about social skills like human interaction, power dynamics, and body language is a more productive use of time. And what about focusing on the tasks that you really need to or want to do? Note: I often watch those kinds of videos, but I feel bad about it because I know it's procrastination. In my daily life, I almost never use this kind of knowledge.
  - qumpis 3y ago
    All of this conditions on having a single goal: career success, or any other singular goal. Feeling the need to hustle non-stop might not be the 'best', whatever that means :)
  - LordDragonfang 3y ago
    As a counterpoint to what you've said, doing things to increase your understanding of the language of the universe can lead to a more fulfilling life than a myopic focus on your... "sexual market value".
    - Silverback_VII 3y ago
      This is the language of the universe. To clarify, I am not opposed to marveling at the patterns of fractals or questioning our reality after seeing a mountain composed of polygons and normal maps, wondering whether we live in a simulation. However, let's consider who truly apprecates a better version of the universe: the individual captivated by the curves of a strange prime number arrangement on his computer screen, or the one in the company of three attractive women in a bubbling jacuzzi, also admiring curves.
mkw5053 3y ago
Just came here to say I love 3blue1brown
- djcooley 3y ago
  I second that. 3b1b is fantastic for developing a more intuitive understanding of mathematics. In my experience, having that intuition makes all the difference.
  - FredPret 3y ago
    Mathematics teaching should start with this and end with the actual computation. In high school I thought algebraic calculations was all there is to math.
  - vecter 3y ago
    Math should really about understanding concepts and developing intuition, not about equations. The equations and formalisms are there to precisely codify our intuition and ensure (through proof) that our ideas are in fact correct, but they are less important than the intuition. It’s a shame that so much of our math education is focused on the former as opposed to the latter.
RichieAHB 3y ago
I feel like the Manim[1] library Grant created to make these videos is becoming some sort of "video matplotlib". I've seen it used in so many maths videos up to this point. There seems like a good amount of value in creating a simple, structured and clear way to represent these concepts in videos. [1] https://www.manim.community/ https://www.manim.community/
- seanw444 3y ago
  I never knew he made a whole open source project for it, nor that it was even a library doing the animation. I thought he hand-animated his videos. Brilliant.
  - Thoreandan 3y ago
    What made his videos catch my eye was the plotting of the vector text fonts, I love that effect. I'm pretty sure he used the Hershey fonts in early videos.
  - gowld 3y ago
    If you want to see the power of PowerPoint math animation, see Mathologer.
adamc 3y ago
Love this series; have been watching for a few years now. I wish we put more resources into educational materials of this level (and with this kind of universal access) as a country.
- phkahler 3y ago
  >> I wish we put more resources into educational materials of this level (and with this kind of universal access) as a country. I'm not sure that's possible. He is free to create videos on his own time, when he has a compelling idea how to present a topic. "put more resources" on a project sounds like funding with a specific agenda and plan - a committee-determined set of topics to cover and then push on creators with a timeline. You can certainly get good results doing that with the right approach and people, but I don't think it will turn out as good as this. For example, 3B1B gut used to work at Khan academy. Not saying Khan is bad, just that 3B1B is better if less prolific.
  - adamc 3y ago
    You might be right, but I tend to think more people have ideas than can afford to follow them up.
jmartrican 3y ago
His Neural Network vid is my favorite video on the topic.
haberman 3y ago
I would love it if some of these educational YouTube videos came with exercises. I watch a lot of educational YouTube videos. But I've come to see them as more entertainment than education. Not in terms of the quality of the videos (which is often excellent), but in terms of what I retain. Sometimes I come across YouTube videos that YouTube claims I have watched, and I don't remember the first thing about them. I think it's difficult to learn while being just a passive listener. You have to get your hands dirty playing around with the concepts. It would be so cool if these high-quality "lecture" videos were accompanied with high quality exercises.
- AprilPhoenix 3y ago
  It would be awesome, but there’s a surfeit of material out there and these guys are doing it pro bono. Better to look at it as an entry point. One thing I do is try to connect the concepts into textbooks I do have. Say I have an elementary proof about a cross product: try and tie that into the stuff about wedge products and exterior calculus I just learned about. Line integrals? Perfect opportunity to practice working with one-forms. Another option for the mathematically inclined is to pause and prove everything if you feel you aren’t getting it good enough, or to build up your own visual picture from first principles as much as possible rather than memorizing the video’s presentation.
- TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
  I've heard it described as "sit back" vs "sit forward" learning.
- eru 3y ago
  Michael Penn's math lectures on YouTube typically come with exercises.
- jmartrican 3y ago
  There might be a market for this.
- GrqP 3y ago
  I'm in the same boat. Although I find instructional videos helpful in understanding concepts, the knowledge is fleeting. Exercises would be helpful, but IMHO, sometimes you need the support of a cohort or TA to solve problems in a different way. MOOCs are pretty good. They have instructional videos, exercises and a cohort. Still, they seem to be missing something. AI will push online learning to 2.0.
ylhert 3y ago
3blue1brown gives me hope that there are a few Michael Jordan level teachers out there, and youtube/the internet will allow us to find those people and reward them appropriately
- xpe 3y ago
  > 3blue1brown gives me hope that there are a few Michael Jordan level teachers out there… The basketball player (Michael Jeffrey Jordan) or machine learning professor (Michael Irwin Jordan at Cal Berkeley)? If the former, surely we have better role models for teaching than a basketball player. Apologies for the prodding, but cross-domain idolatry gets me riled up. For me and thousands of others, Grant Sanderson, creator of 3b1b, is the archetype of an internet-era world class educator. Thanks Grant. > … and youtube/the internet will allow us to find those people and reward them appropriately Yes, there are many others across various fields. While profits can be a useful motivator, we don’t want that to be the only mechanism. Education isn’t only about the most profitable topics or the students already best situated to learn.
liorben-david 3y ago
Let me preface what I'm saying by just expressing gratitude to 3b1b for making an amazing math animation library, getting tons of people excited about math(Including me), and producing some really great videos to give people intuition. All that being said, I've found that 3b1b videos tend to bound the intiution you can get on a topic. Most of his videos tend to reframe an idea in some sort of interesting way that can be easier to grasp without rigirous definitions and theorems. If your goal is to just understand the ground level of the idea, then this intutition is really great. I've found that this "visual" intuition becomes unhelpful as soon as you try to grapple with a more advanced version of the topic. Your understanding of the topic is often completely limited to the way he frames it, and becomes quite useless when you leave that limited framing. He doesn't teach you "fourier transform", he teaches you a very specific context of the fourier transform which doesn't generalize well. Again, this is still super valuable if you just want a broad understanding, but not particularly helpful for a comprehensive education of a topic.
- xpe 3y ago
  > I've found that this "visual" intuition becomes unhelpful as soon as you try to grapple with a more advanced version of the topic. Your understanding of the topic is often completely limited to the way he frames it, and becomes quite useless when you leave that limited framing. Can you give a specific example?
- xpe 3y ago
  > Your understanding of the topic is often completely limited to the way he frames it, and becomes quite useless when you leave that limited framing. Completely limited? My framing of human learning goes roughly like this: 1. When we are motivated to solve a particular problem, we can draw upon a multitude of “frames” (one example being metaphor, another being an equation, another being a visualization) to help us. 2. People sometimes cannot shift frames of reference effectively (i.e. perhaps fixating on only an few approaches). This is not the fault of the particular frame(s); this is a limitation in how people use them. 3. To our brains, almost everything is a “model” … a way of conceptualizing, deciding what to pay attention, what to ignore, what questions to ask, and when to recognize we aren’t getting anywhere. 4. Some models / metaphors are better than others for certain people and contexts. - Some are better connected to other models, allowing more fluid thinking. - Some are more rigorous. - Some are simpler. It depends on so many things.
hwestiii 3y ago
I really love that guy. Half the time I get completely lost, but when I can follow him, he's as good as it gets.
29athrowaway 3y ago
Has anyone tried to generate manim animations using ChatGPT?
aaur0 3y ago
3Blue1Brown videos really transformed my view on math. If only I had something like this while learning the basics! I've been supporting him on Patreon because I believe he's making a big difference for students all over the world.
luxuryballs 3y ago
This guy has one of the best bitcoin explanation videos, maybe the best ever: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4

499 points by spallas 3y ago

I'm likely in the minority, but I found 3blue1brown videos difficult to understand and they usually give me a worse intuition about a concept than I previously had. I wonder why that is. Seems like most people I know swear by his videos.

dingosity 3y ago
Well. I mean. We all have different ways we learn. Are there youtube channels that HAVE worked for you?
- jackling 3y ago
  Tibees (https://www.youtube.com/@tibees https://www.youtube.com/@tibees) I found very helpful. Usually I buy textbooks when I want to learn something new. It could just be that I'm not a good visual learner.
postsantum 3y ago
Any alternatives to recommend?
- guerrilla 3y ago
  Just do a lot of exercise and keep going over the same stuff (periodically) until you see deeper into it.
- hwestiii 3y ago
  Numberphile is good, but more "crowd sourced".
chrsig 3y ago
Were there any specific things that were making it difficult for you?
silversmith 3y ago
For me it's the visual component, especially the animated transitions that very neatly highlight the relation between various concepts or values. I learned most of the topics in those videos well enough to pass highschool/university exams, but very often the real "aha!" moment came after seeing lines transform from one into another, planes deforming, or boxes being subdivided in 3blue1brown video.
cloogshicer 3y ago
I feel the same. There are often big leaps he makes in terms of understanding, where I get lost.
C-x_C-f 3y ago
If you're looking for more a more traditional style I've heard good things about Michael Penn at https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelPennMath https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelPennMath
Tarrosion 3y ago
Mostly I've been a huge fan and think I learn a lot, but occasionally his explanation doesn't click with me. One example is his Fourier series where I want to think about a change of basis and multiplying an input signal by "reference" functions, but his explanation is more about circles spinning on circles.
mliker 3y ago
That's the first time I've heard that. Curious what about it makes it harder for you. That's a shame, but it seems like 3b1b doesn't cater to your learning style!
- jackling 3y ago
  After thinking about it a bit, I believe it may be 2 different things. 1) When I learn something, I like daydreaming about it and coming up with a mental model of how it is in my own head. So, having someone else's vision and animations used can screw up my own mental model and make it harder for me to forge connections between concepts. 2) I enjoy rigorous math more. I find it hard to make logical leaps and assume properties about things unless they were previously established as facts. This is why I like analysis a lot, althought I'm not great at it. I think 3B1B is more informal when explaining things, and the lack of rigour confuses me over time. Especially in a longer video.
coreyp_1 3y ago
Learning is all about using your current knowledge and understanding to refine and augment those mental models. Be aware that many people don't watch videos to learn, they watch to be entertained. They think that they are learning, but really they are just watching animations. In the end, they can't actually do any of the math. They haven't actually learned anything. In the same vein, that's why TED talks are so popular. It's like eating dessert... all sugar and no nutrients. I'm not saying that 3b1b videos aren't instructional, but rather that they are so well put together that they can satisfy the entertainment-seekers while still offering meaningful content. The question is, then, why don't you get anything out of the videos? That brings us back to the problem of mental models of understanding. If someone teaches a subject from a completely different perspective, it may be that it confuses you as your brain tries to harmonize the two conflicting mental models, and the video moves along too quickly for you to be able to benefit from the realignment. This is not an attack on you, btw. In fact, I believe that this realization helped me a lot as an educator to be patient when teaching. Furthermore, it does not mean that your initial understanding is wrong, but that it is a different perspective than that which is being presented by the instructor. Alternatively, it may be that the videos move through a particular concept too quickly. I find this is an issue, too. Once I understand something new, I like to almost daydream about the concept, exploring it mentally so that I understand it from a lot of different angles. I think of it in different situations and to see if my intuitions make sense, and if they don't I ask for clarifications. You can't do that when watching a video because it doesn't stop to answer your questions. I like 3b1b videos. Some of them I can binge on all day simply because they "click" and make sense. Others I have had to spend days (or weeks) thinking about in order to digest and understand the perspective that Grant is trying to convey. They are definitely high value and I greatly appreciate Grant's work, but I definitely have to work, too, in order to benefit from some of them.
- JackFr 3y ago
  Professor I had for Real Analysis (the second time I took it) was probably the best math professor I've ever had. He had the most extensive mental catalog of the wrong ways people could understand and the failure modes of students. When you would ask a question he was able to help, not just because he understood the material, but because he knew why you didn't. In my evaluation of him I mentioned this, but added that he was probably wasted on 3rd and 4th year math majors, and should be teaching more intro classes where the quality of instruction was markedly worse.
seydor 3y ago
- big duration of videos - un-abstracting abstract concepts by creating concrete examples, which end up taking the focus away from the abstract version - serial timeline, that is like a blackboard being constanty erased instead of adding to one big construction
- jmartrican 3y ago
  Solid points.
jmartrican 3y ago
I agree. Besides the Neural Network video, I watch his other ones for entertainment, because I can't follow after a few minutes. I imagine I could follow if I stopped the vid to think and rewind as necessary.
ahmadmijot 3y ago
Yeah me too. Some of his videos are really helps me understanding about math (particularly on linear algebra) but some of his (recent-ish) videos are way above my head. Maybe because I don't have any background on the subject.
dkarl 3y ago
I think 3blue1brown gives you great starting intuition. When you work more deeply with a subject, you develop intuition that is more general and precise, and you understand the relationship between the simple model you started with and the more complex and nuanced understanding you developed over time. A different starting intuition than the one you started with won't be as good as your experienced intuition, and it won't be integrated with it, either, so it would feel like a step back.
veltas 3y ago
No shame in that, I love his videos but I think it's well established that there are different kinds of learners out there. His content matches what works for me, and it's worth reminding people like me that one size doesn't fit all. But for those he does speak to, he is a fantastic teacher worthy of the praise he gets.
- jameshart 3y ago
  Careful - if by ‘different styles of learners’ you mean the old Visual/auditory/reading/kinesthetic ‘learning styles’ model, that is largely debunked and discredited as far as I understand it (see eg https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/learning-styles-myth https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/learning-sty...). I think it’s absolutely the case that some lessons work for some people at some times for some topics and don’t for others - but that’s not likely down to any innate ‘learning style’ that one person has over another. The same approach on a different topic on a different day might have the exact opposite effect in terms of who gets most out of the lesson.
password54321 3y ago
I actually believe a lot of people feel the same way but watch anyway because of the entertainment value the animations provide. But it really has made me realise that good animations alone really aren't enough and have found dry pieces of text from wikipedia to be better at times.
viburnum 3y ago
What usually happens to me is 2/3rds of the way through he rushes through seem keep points and it goes from feeling like a clear explanation to feeling like a magic trick.
MawKKe 3y ago
When I took a "presentation skills" course at Uni, they taught us that humans are very bad at reading and listening at the same time. Something about the brain regions utilized by these two activities overlap, and cannot be simultaneously be processing two different things. For this reason the visual portion of a presentation (slides) should be kept minimal and act as immediate support for the vocal portion of the presentation. If the two are not "in sync" the audience is unable to follow the presentation fully. I think 3b1b videos constantly break this rule; there is a LOT of going on visually, while the narrator is talking non-stop about some loosely related things or trivia. More often than not I have to re-watch segments multiple times because I cannot understand what the hell am I supposed to be paying attention to.

dingosity 3y ago

2b1b does a video on how you raise e to a matrix (hint: raising something to e is converted into another function where it's not nonsensical to do such a thing.) In about 10 minutes he explains something my math methods instructor struggled with over two weeks (4 classes). I was resistant to the view that YouTube could host "decent" instructional content for a long time. That video was one of the first that was CLEARLY superior to the instruction I received at a tier 1 research institution.

codetrotter 3y ago
> a video on how you raise e to a matrix Video link https://youtu.be/O85OWBJ2ayo https://youtu.be/O85OWBJ2ayo
Juicyy 3y ago
true for most of calc and a lot of electrical. Institutions failed to discuss why you need to do things. so much of it is here is Taylor Series or integration by parts. but nobody really knew what the application for this stuff was. just follow some rules and plug in some numbers.
pdpi 3y ago
My "ten minutes to understand something I never quite got" moment was his video on Fourier Transforms.
- suremarc 3y ago
  I understand Fourier transforms fairly well but his video blew my mind. He has a totally original way of distilling mathematical concepts intuitively.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  Yes. The visualisations and the narration make it so clear.
- eimrine 3y ago
  Just listen to some music with spectrum visualization, this is a Fourier transform of what you are listening right now.

armchairhacker 3y ago

3b1b is doing everyone a huge favor with these lessons. Teaching is certainly a lot different today. Decreased attention spans, underfunded schools, and ChatGPT make it a lot harder, but online modules and tutorials like these make it a lot easier.

Silverback_VII 3y ago
The problem is that you can learn many things, but time is limited. Learning and understanding abstract concepts won't make you more successful, increase your SMV and give you access to better mating opportunities. What's the use of arcane knowledge about prime numbers if you are not mathematician, and even then, one should question its importance? Time is often better spent learning about crucial factors of success such as goal-setting and self-discipline. Additionally I would say that learning about social skills like human interaction, power dynamics, and body language is a more productive use of time. And what about focusing on the tasks that you really need to or want to do? Note: I often watch those kinds of videos, but I feel bad about it because I know it's procrastination. In my daily life, I almost never use this kind of knowledge.
- qumpis 3y ago
  All of this conditions on having a single goal: career success, or any other singular goal. Feeling the need to hustle non-stop might not be the 'best', whatever that means :)
- LordDragonfang 3y ago
  As a counterpoint to what you've said, doing things to increase your understanding of the language of the universe can lead to a more fulfilling life than a myopic focus on your... "sexual market value".
  - Silverback_VII 3y ago
    This is the language of the universe. To clarify, I am not opposed to marveling at the patterns of fractals or questioning our reality after seeing a mountain composed of polygons and normal maps, wondering whether we live in a simulation. However, let's consider who truly apprecates a better version of the universe: the individual captivated by the curves of a strange prime number arrangement on his computer screen, or the one in the company of three attractive women in a bubbling jacuzzi, also admiring curves.

mkw5053 3y ago

Just came here to say I love 3blue1brown

djcooley 3y ago
I second that. 3b1b is fantastic for developing a more intuitive understanding of mathematics. In my experience, having that intuition makes all the difference.
- FredPret 3y ago
  Mathematics teaching should start with this and end with the actual computation. In high school I thought algebraic calculations was all there is to math.
- vecter 3y ago
  Math should really about understanding concepts and developing intuition, not about equations. The equations and formalisms are there to precisely codify our intuition and ensure (through proof) that our ideas are in fact correct, but they are less important than the intuition. It’s a shame that so much of our math education is focused on the former as opposed to the latter.

RichieAHB 3y ago

I feel like the Manim[1] library Grant created to make these videos is becoming some sort of "video matplotlib". I've seen it used in so many maths videos up to this point. There seems like a good amount of value in creating a simple, structured and clear way to represent these concepts in videos. [1] https://www.manim.community/ https://www.manim.community/

seanw444 3y ago
I never knew he made a whole open source project for it, nor that it was even a library doing the animation. I thought he hand-animated his videos. Brilliant.
- Thoreandan 3y ago
  What made his videos catch my eye was the plotting of the vector text fonts, I love that effect. I'm pretty sure he used the Hershey fonts in early videos.
- gowld 3y ago
  If you want to see the power of PowerPoint math animation, see Mathologer.

adamc 3y ago

Love this series; have been watching for a few years now. I wish we put more resources into educational materials of this level (and with this kind of universal access) as a country.

phkahler 3y ago
>> I wish we put more resources into educational materials of this level (and with this kind of universal access) as a country. I'm not sure that's possible. He is free to create videos on his own time, when he has a compelling idea how to present a topic. "put more resources" on a project sounds like funding with a specific agenda and plan - a committee-determined set of topics to cover and then push on creators with a timeline. You can certainly get good results doing that with the right approach and people, but I don't think it will turn out as good as this. For example, 3B1B gut used to work at Khan academy. Not saying Khan is bad, just that 3B1B is better if less prolific.
- adamc 3y ago
  You might be right, but I tend to think more people have ideas than can afford to follow them up.

jmartrican 3y ago

His Neural Network vid is my favorite video on the topic.

haberman 3y ago

I would love it if some of these educational YouTube videos came with exercises. I watch a lot of educational YouTube videos. But I've come to see them as more entertainment than education. Not in terms of the quality of the videos (which is often excellent), but in terms of what I retain. Sometimes I come across YouTube videos that YouTube claims I have watched, and I don't remember the first thing about them. I think it's difficult to learn while being just a passive listener. You have to get your hands dirty playing around with the concepts. It would be so cool if these high-quality "lecture" videos were accompanied with high quality exercises.

AprilPhoenix 3y ago
It would be awesome, but there’s a surfeit of material out there and these guys are doing it pro bono. Better to look at it as an entry point. One thing I do is try to connect the concepts into textbooks I do have. Say I have an elementary proof about a cross product: try and tie that into the stuff about wedge products and exterior calculus I just learned about. Line integrals? Perfect opportunity to practice working with one-forms. Another option for the mathematically inclined is to pause and prove everything if you feel you aren’t getting it good enough, or to build up your own visual picture from first principles as much as possible rather than memorizing the video’s presentation.
TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
I've heard it described as "sit back" vs "sit forward" learning.
eru 3y ago
Michael Penn's math lectures on YouTube typically come with exercises.
jmartrican 3y ago
There might be a market for this.
GrqP 3y ago
I'm in the same boat. Although I find instructional videos helpful in understanding concepts, the knowledge is fleeting. Exercises would be helpful, but IMHO, sometimes you need the support of a cohort or TA to solve problems in a different way. MOOCs are pretty good. They have instructional videos, exercises and a cohort. Still, they seem to be missing something. AI will push online learning to 2.0.

ylhert 3y ago

3blue1brown gives me hope that there are a few Michael Jordan level teachers out there, and youtube/the internet will allow us to find those people and reward them appropriately

xpe 3y ago
> 3blue1brown gives me hope that there are a few Michael Jordan level teachers out there… The basketball player (Michael Jeffrey Jordan) or machine learning professor (Michael Irwin Jordan at Cal Berkeley)? If the former, surely we have better role models for teaching than a basketball player. Apologies for the prodding, but cross-domain idolatry gets me riled up. For me and thousands of others, Grant Sanderson, creator of 3b1b, is the archetype of an internet-era world class educator. Thanks Grant. > … and youtube/the internet will allow us to find those people and reward them appropriately Yes, there are many others across various fields. While profits can be a useful motivator, we don’t want that to be the only mechanism. Education isn’t only about the most profitable topics or the students already best situated to learn.

liorben-david 3y ago

Let me preface what I'm saying by just expressing gratitude to 3b1b for making an amazing math animation library, getting tons of people excited about math(Including me), and producing some really great videos to give people intuition. All that being said, I've found that 3b1b videos tend to bound the intiution you can get on a topic. Most of his videos tend to reframe an idea in some sort of interesting way that can be easier to grasp without rigirous definitions and theorems. If your goal is to just understand the ground level of the idea, then this intutition is really great. I've found that this "visual" intuition becomes unhelpful as soon as you try to grapple with a more advanced version of the topic. Your understanding of the topic is often completely limited to the way he frames it, and becomes quite useless when you leave that limited framing. He doesn't teach you "fourier transform", he teaches you a very specific context of the fourier transform which doesn't generalize well. Again, this is still super valuable if you just want a broad understanding, but not particularly helpful for a comprehensive education of a topic.

xpe 3y ago
> I've found that this "visual" intuition becomes unhelpful as soon as you try to grapple with a more advanced version of the topic. Your understanding of the topic is often completely limited to the way he frames it, and becomes quite useless when you leave that limited framing. Can you give a specific example?
xpe 3y ago
> Your understanding of the topic is often completely limited to the way he frames it, and becomes quite useless when you leave that limited framing. Completely limited? My framing of human learning goes roughly like this: 1. When we are motivated to solve a particular problem, we can draw upon a multitude of “frames” (one example being metaphor, another being an equation, another being a visualization) to help us. 2. People sometimes cannot shift frames of reference effectively (i.e. perhaps fixating on only an few approaches). This is not the fault of the particular frame(s); this is a limitation in how people use them. 3. To our brains, almost everything is a “model” … a way of conceptualizing, deciding what to pay attention, what to ignore, what questions to ask, and when to recognize we aren’t getting anywhere. 4. Some models / metaphors are better than others for certain people and contexts. - Some are better connected to other models, allowing more fluid thinking. - Some are more rigorous. - Some are simpler. It depends on so many things.

hwestiii 3y ago

I really love that guy. Half the time I get completely lost, but when I can follow him, he's as good as it gets.

29athrowaway 3y ago

Has anyone tried to generate manim animations using ChatGPT?

aaur0 3y ago

3Blue1Brown videos really transformed my view on math. If only I had something like this while learning the basics! I've been supporting him on Patreon because I believe he's making a big difference for students all over the world.

luxuryballs 3y ago

This guy has one of the best bitcoin explanation videos, maybe the best ever: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4