3blue1brown

Final live lecture in ~1.75 hours

Some problem-solving tips in the context of some geometry, trigonometry and probability puzzles.

Intuition for i to the power i | Lockdown math ep. 9

Second to last lecture for the series, live in ~1 hour.

(Draft) Contact tracing and privacy protection, with Nicky Case

Hey Everyone,

A friend of mine, Nicky Case, recently put out several excellent posts about COVID-19, including one about how digital contact tracing apps work.  Or more specifically, how they can work without tracking people's locations.  This is right in the intersection of "very counterintuitive" and "very important", so I wanted to do what I can to help amplify the message, and made this video adaptation of Nicky's post.  If all looks good, I plan to put it out tomorro...

Lecture 8: The power tower puzzle

I'm planning to end this series after ten episodes, making this the third to last.  It involves several fun puzzles about a fun (and weird!) operation, really forcing you to think things through.

What makes the natural log "natural"?

Live in ~1.5 hours.

Logarithm Fundamentals

Next live lesson in ~1.5 hours.

Imaginary interest rates

Next live lesson in ~2.5 hours.

Next live lesson + Tagging along with Matt Parker

Hey everyone.  The next live lesson will be at noon PDT today at this link.

In other news, back in the days of travel, Matt Parker came to the Bay Area and filmed a video about the origins of punchcard computing, which I tagged along for (linked above).  If you're not already familiar with Standup Maths, you're in for a treat.  It's a wonderful channel, and coming to you in the not-too-distant future is ...

Next lockdown math lecture in ~2.25 hours

Thanks you all for the support during this rather different experiment.  So far it's been fun, if mildly nerve-racking.  This upcoming lecture will be on the basics of complex numbers.

Also, I recently hopped on the Numberphile podcast to chat with Brady about why I'm doing these live streamed lessons: https://www.numberphile.com/podcast/grant-sanderson-2

Next live high school class in ~2 hours

This lesson will be on the fundamentals of trigonometry.  I hope to see you there!

The simpler quadratic formula | Lockdown math ep. 1

For those who weren't able to make it live, here is the first episode of this experiment went.

Livestream lessons

Hi Everyone,

For the next few weeks, in parallel with other projects, I will be doing some live streamed lectures aimed at serving the function of a high school class.  The first one will be tomorrow, 12pm PDT.  If you can, see if you can show up for the stream itself since there will be an interactive element with quiz questions asked during the stream.

You will be able to tune in here: https://youtu.be/MH...

Updated probability density function video

Edit: Bizarrely, Patreon replaced the video above with a static image.  Here is the final video, with edits based on your feedback: https://youtu.be/ZA4JkHKZM50 

---

Hey Everyone,

Thanks again for the helpful feedback on the last probability video.   After looking through the comments, and talking...

London performance

When I was in the UK last month, Matt Parker invited me to join a monthly show that he (along with Helen Arney and Steve Mould) put on called "An Evening of Unnecessary Detail".  It's a sort of a comedy night for nerds, but they emphasized to me that when they have on guest speakers, especially academics, any kind of entertaining talk will do, and that the audience would often prefers something thought-provoking to someone trying to force jokes.

I started  to get a feel for wh...

Simulating an Epidemic (early view)

Hey Everyone,

This is a video (draft) using SIR models to simulate an epidemic and tweak various parameters controlling the small society of wandering dots it applies to.

I'll be doing a properly focused comb through to check for errors tonight, with the plan to publish tomorrow if all looks well.  If you spot anything do let me know!

Once it's live, I'd, of course, be grateful if you found it valuable enough to share.  In the meantime, I'll jump right back into f...

Bayesian updating and probability density functions

Hey everyone,

Here's the next installment of the three-part sequence leading to the beta distribution.  It introduces Bayes' rule in a context beyond the usual binary outcome introductory examples, together with a primer on probability density functions.

As to feedback, one question I have right now where you could be helpful is whether or not the script is too redundant.  I think sometimes it can be helpful to hear one thing said a couple of times in different ways when...

Which rating is better, mathematically speaking?

Hey everyone,

Here is the first of three installments for the next probability topic.  Imagine you're shopping online, and see three different sellers of the same product with the following ratings:

- 100%, with 10 reviews
- 96%, with 50 reviews
- 93%, with 200 reviews.

Who should you buy from?

There are many different ways you could go about answering this, but for just about any of them, it's helpful to know about the beta distribution, which is the target...

Exponential growth with epidemics

I, er, got a bit distracted and made a video about exponential growth.  The plan is to publish it tomorrow morning, if you catch any errors, do let me know!

Edit: And now it's live.  Thanks everyone for the helpful comments and feedback!  Keep on the lookout for the next probability video soon here.

Video status, emerging from the rabbit hole, and England.

Hi Everyone,

First off, there will be a new probability video within the next week.  Thank you for your incredible patience on this front!  The topic, broadly speaking, is a case study for Bayesian updating in a continuous context, revolving around the beta distribution.  The script ended up long enough that I think it makes sense to split this one into two.  At the moment I'm on a trip to England (more on this below), so it seems best to wait on doing the voice reco...

TEDx

I spoke at TEDx Berkeley was this past weekend, and even got to meet a couple of you there, which was fun.  It's about what makes people engage with math and the relationship between utility and story.

January update

Several times recently I've received update posts from people I support on Patreon that open with something like "I know I've been slow to publish content recently..."  In reading those, I always think to myself "Huh?  I actually hadn't noticed, I just enjoy what you make whenever it comes."  In general, content creators seem to assume their followers follow them more closely than they actually do.

That said, I know that I really have been slow to publish new vid...

The quick proof of Bayes’ theorem

This is a quick footnote to the first Bayes' theorem video, not the part 2 referenced at the end of that video.  Enjoy!

New video: Bayes' theorem, and making probability intuitive

What I initially thought would be a simple massaging of an old unpublished video quickly turned into doing a completely new project.  I think it's for the best, too, as there were enough things I didn't quite like about the previous attempt at a Bayes video 

I'm hesitant to make promises, because I've been down the road before, but I have a lot of thoughts for probability content which I'm fairly excited to start executing on.  Maybe instead of specific promises, I'll jus...

The "moduli space" of triangles

Hey folks,

I wanted to share a small thing I've made, which will likely be incorporated into a full video around February.

A few months ago, David Eisenbud, director at MSRI, asked if I'd be interested in making some animations or perhaps a video in conjunction with a documentary they are funding about Maryam Mirzakhani.  For those of you unfamiliar, Mirzakhani was a mathematician at Stanford, she won the fields medal in 2014, and tragically she died three years later due to ...

Q&A, windy walking edition (rough cut and early view)

Hi Everyone,

I made a simple Q&A video to mark passing 2^21 subscribers.  I decided to try a stark contrast in style from the usual faceless, minimalist, animated style characterizing the channel and just go for a walk filming on my phone.

In terms of sound, there's an unfortunate amount of wind at some points, and a few small airplanes decided that day that the airspace above these trails was a wonderful place to practice going around in circles.  But I'm hoping thi...

New video, the hyperdarts puzzle, done with Numberphile

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your patience recently.  The video showing the hyperdarts puzzle, with the solution and the surrounding commentary on why I like it, is finally out!

Originally, I had scripted it out and started animating it like an ordinary 3b1b video.  But then Brady Haran was in town (he's the man behind Numberphile, for those of you who don't know), and it occurred to me that this one might be more fun to shoot live.  Especially since it's centered on ...

Per month

Hey everyone,

Following up on the last post, I'd like to try out switching this page to a model of "per month" pledges.  To list a few reasons why:

• Remove ambiguity on whether to count smaller projects.
• Remove ambiguity on collaborative projects (e.g. see below).
• If a big project necessitating a lot of research and production is going to take more...
  2019-10-21 18:13:12 +0000 UTC View Post

Per month vs. per video, which do you prefer?

Hey everyone,

Currently, the structure of this Patreon page is that people make pledges to contribute for each new video produced on 3blue1brown.  Or rather, each one I choose to mark as a paid post, leaving room to put out less serious 2019-10-19 21:47:51 +0000 UTC View Post

Final prime spiral video (quick error check before release)

Hi Everyone,

Here's the final form of the prime spirals video, now with an added ~8 minutes on Dirichlet's theorem + some thoughts on the value of "pointless" mathematical play.

If you get a chance, can you see if there are any errors (typos/mathematical/etc.) that I missed before I make it live tomorrow?

-Grant

Prime spirals (early view)

Hi Everyone,

As usual, I'd like to give you an early view of the current project before it goes live this coming Sunday.  I really enjoyed getting your input last time on the Windmill puzzle, it made the ending message better than it otherwise might have been, so I wanted to do something similar here.

At the moment, the video is left without a real ending.  What's linked above is simply the core puzzle and a solution.  What I'd like to convey after that solution is ...