PickVidsBest Recreational & visual math Videos
The 141 Recreational & visual math videos here were recommended by different people across different months. Choose by who it is for: 35 introductory, 22 intermediate, 84 for a general viewer, and 0 for someone who wants the harder derivation. Most of them are an explainer. What they share is that one picture or analogy is used to supply a missing concept. Channels you will keep seeing include 3Blue1Brown, Numberphile, Stand-up Maths.
Vectors | Chapter 1, Essence of linear algebra
The first chapter of 3Blue1Brown's Essence of Linear Algebra series, introducing vectors with animated geometric visuals.
But what is the Fourier Transform? A visual introduction.
3Blue1Brown's animated visual introduction to the Fourier Transform, showing how a signal breaks into frequency components.
But what is a neural network? | Deep learning chapter 1
3Blue1Brown's first chapter on deep learning explains what neurons and layers are and the math underlying a basic neural network, using handwritten digit recognition with visual animations.
The Beauty of Bézier Curves
Freya Holmer explains how Bezier curves work, from the helper-line construction to their uses in animation, text rendering and shapes.
The Continuity of Splines
Freya Holmer's 74-minute video essay on splines, covering Bezier curves, B-splines, derivatives and the different levels of continuity (C0, C1, C2), built with custom animation tools.
Jim Simons (full length interview) - Numberphile
The full-length Numberphile interview with mathematician and hedge fund founder Jim Simons.
But how does bitcoin actually work?
3Blue1Brown explains the math and mechanics behind Bitcoin visually: ledgers, digital signatures, proof of work and the blockchain, building up a decentralized payment system from first principles.
Conway's Game Of Life in APL
A short Dyalog demonstration building Conway's Game of Life in a single line of APL, step by step.
The essence of calculus
The first video of 3Blue1Brown's Essence of Calculus series, which builds toward integrals, derivatives, and the fundamental theorem of calculus from a simple geometry question.
The man with 1,000 Klein Bottles UNDER his house - Numberphile
Numberphile visits Cliff Stoll, the man behind ACME Klein Bottles, and sees how he stores a thousand glass Klein bottles in a crawlspace under his house.
Essence of linear algebra preview
A five-minute preview of 3Blue1Brown's Essence of Linear Algebra series, which uses animation to build geometric intuition for topics from a standard linear algebra course.
A Swift Introduction to Geometric Algebra
An animated introduction to geometric algebra, presented as a language that can describe most of physics.
The hardest problem on the hardest test
3Blue1Brown walks through a very hard Putnam competition problem and its elegant solution, emphasizing the visual intuition and the thought process behind solving it.
Imaginary Numbers Are Real [Part 1: Introduction]
The first part of Welch Labs' series on imaginary numbers, presenting them as the natural extension of the number line into two dimensions.
The determinant | Chapter 6, Essence of linear algebra
A 10-minute 3Blue1Brown chapter explaining the determinant as the factor by which a linear transformation scales area or volume.
Math's Fundamental Flaw
Veritasium's explainer on Godel's incompleteness theorems and the limits of mathematical proof, tracing set theory, Hilbert's program and the road to Turing and modern computing.
Fractals are typically not self-similar
3Blue1Brown explains fractal dimension and shows why many fractals are not strictly self-similar.
The Banach–Tarski Paradox
Vsauce's roughly 24 minute explainer on the Banach-Tarski paradox, building from infinity and set theory to the decomposition of a sphere into pieces that form two spheres.
Thinking outside the 10-dimensional box
3Blue1Brown visualizes high-dimensional spheres to explain a surprising puzzle about how a sphere fits in a box as dimensions grow.
Eigenvectors and eigenvalues | Chapter 14, Essence of linear algebra
3Blue1Brown's chapter on eigenvectors and eigenvalues in the Essence of Linear Algebra series.
Life in life
A two-minute video of Conway's Game of Life running inside Conway's Game of Life, built from OTCA metapixels and Golly.
All the Numbers - Numberphile
Matt Parker talks Numberphile through the different kinds of numbers: algebraic, transcendental, computable, normal, and beyond.
How Big is Graham's Number? (feat Ron Graham)
Numberphile talks with mathematician Ron Graham about the magnitude of Graham's number, building up from arrow notation to show how impossibly large it is.
The more general uncertainty principle, regarding Fourier transforms
3Blue1Brown shows how the uncertainty principle arises from Fourier transforms.