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Lessons by 3blue1brown

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Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#101

Post by gowld »

dingosity wrote: post #7

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 CLEAR…

> hint: raising something to e

raising e to something

> is converted into another function where it's not nonsensical to do such a thing.)

That function is the power series expansion, taught in your calculus class. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_exponential

> CLEARLY superior to the instruction I received at a tier 1 research institution.

3B1B is a tier 1 educational institution.

But also, videos often feel better than classes, because videos don't have homework, so you don't actually have your feeling of understanding tested.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#102

Post by Karellen »

Silverback_VII wrote: post #28
armchairhacker wrote: post #9

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.

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…

> What's the use of arcane knowledge about prime numbers if you are not mathematician, and even then, one should question its importance?

Because learning for its own sake can be intrinsically rewarding, and even fun?

> I often watch those kinds of videos, but I feel bad about it because I know it's procrastination.

Don't feel bad about it. Give yourself permission to enjoy just learning stuff that you find interesting.

> Learning and understanding abstract concepts won't make you more successful, ...

As someone else has already pointed out, not everything has to be a hustle.

> ... increase your SMV and give you access to better mating opportunities.

OK. Not everything needs to be seen through that lens either. If that's important to you, sure, work on it a bunch. But surely it doesn't have to be only thing you ever work on?

Plus, you never know - knowing about a few areas of arcane stuff you like to geek out about might end up making you a more interesting person anyway.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#103

Post by hpcjoe »

pdpi wrote: post #19
dingosity wrote: post #7

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 CLEAR…

My "ten minutes to understand something I never quite got" moment was his video on Fourier Transforms.

There's an old joke in math/physics student circles that covers this.

Student goes to see the prof in their office hours to try to understand something the prof said is seen to be trivial. They spend 4 hours working on it, and the student returns to their friends in class. They ask how it went. The student says "yeah, it was trivial."

For those who don't quite get the joke, 4 hours to show something is trivial, tends to not support that the thing is trivial to comprehend.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#104

Post by webshit2 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #87
gumby wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CLEARLY superior to the instruction I received at a tier 1 research institution. It was pretty clear at the R1 institution I attended (MIT) that it is really a huge research lab with a small school attached, and that the educational part, for undergrads at least, was definitely not a priority. The continuing stream of advertising (err, alumni updates) that I’ve received over the subsequent decades don’t seem to con…

Interesting that we both saw the same thing. I visited MIT as it was on my list of schools I wanted to attend out of HS and realized after that visit that all the "action" there was in research/postgrad so it was a better graduate school candidate than undergrad.

The undergrads are more involved with research than at most other schools (huge range in quality/difficulty/etc, but the option is there). The teaching quality doesn't really suffer from the focus on research. Blackboard style classes probably aren't much better than any other school, but lab classes were quite good.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#105

Post by screye »

haberman wrote: post #38

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 thi…

This is task for paid educators and not free youtube channels. The problem here is that educators do not make their content available for free online.

I don't blame them. Educators are in a perpetual cat-and-mouse game with their students to avoid cheating. However, in an era with Chat-GPT (and even before), cheaters can always cheat if they want to cheat. If a teacher decides to teach calculus using 3B1B's videos as reference, then they should make associated assignments available for other educators to use.

There is no field better suited for opensource than education, yet tribal knowledge remains either inaccessible or under-utilized. It's a shame. And no, "online courses" are not a substitute for real coursework. Watered-down wish-fulfillment QTEs is all they are most of the time. There are some excellent online courses (MIT OCW, NPTEL), but they're the exception. And even then, online courses have yet to replicate the essential support of a human educator or peers in learning.

I look forward to seeing schools that fully construct a curriculum around curating the best internet resources, with the teacher being there more so 'conduct / direct' rather than getting their hands dirty figuring out how to optimally teach the same thing every teacher has taught for the last 100 years. It has the advantage of reducing teacher overhead and improving the quality of teaching. win-win.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#106

Post by webshit2 »

locusofself wrote: post #69
gumby wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CLEARLY superior to the instruction I received at a tier 1 research institution. It was pretty clear at the R1 institution I attended (MIT) that it is really a huge research lab with a small school attached, and that the educational part, for undergrads at least, was definitely not a priority. The continuing stream of advertising (err, alumni updates) that I’ve received over the subsequent decades don’t seem to con…

I've been watching some MIT lectures online recently, most of which are about 10 years old. Do they still use those huge a chalkboards?

Yes usually blackboard or slides. Sometimes iPad + stylus.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#107

Post by SPBS »

jonahx wrote: post #31
dingosity wrote: post #7

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 CLEAR…

I've had math instruction at the undergraduate and graduate level at top universities, with good instructors that I liked, and I can say without question YouTube is superior. There are many channels with outstanding content. This video is not an outlier.

Because educational YouTubers only get one shot at bringing their point across (once the video is created, it's there for good) so they really polish every aspect of their video.

Also there's the part where they can't assume their target audience is a bunch of students who have to learn a subject so they really do try to make it as layman as possible.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#109

Post by Rayhem »

liorben-david wrote: post #54

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…

I think this is just another manifestation of the "office hours phenomenon":

1. You don't understand a concept 2. You go to your professor's office hours with a question and ask them to explain. 3. They draw some squiggles on the board and walk you through the issue 4. You say "Aha! I get it! Thank you for explaining!" 5. Two steps out the door you've completely lost the idea and need help again.

You haven't internalized the idea, you're still just attached to someone else's idea. To understand something fully, you have to really take it in and play with it; find the holes and the limitations of the model.

Re: Lessons by 3blue1brown

#110

Post by gowld »

seanw444 wrote: post #52
RichieAHB wrote: post #17

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/

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.

If you want to see the power of PowerPoint math animation, see Mathologer.
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