3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown
YouTube Profile
Pop quiz time! Try to answer without looking it up.
Suppose I have a mystery function, and I tell you that there’s some secret value among all the numbers from 1 to N, where if you plug that value into my function, it returns True, otherwise, it returns false. For example, maybe it simply looks something like "f(n): return (n == 123)". But you can't see the inside of the function; it's a black box.
How long does it take to find this secret value? For a classical computer, there's no better method than3Blue1BrownPost · 1 month ago
I've been spending most of this week writing/rewriting the script for Grover's algorithm video, which aims to highlight a connection between quantum computing and block collisions. Man, I thought this would be relatively simple, but it turns out to be very hard to explain quantum computing if you don't want to assume any background (shocking, I know!). It's one of those topics where once you know all the setup and premises, the result itself is swift and satisfying, but all the effort goes into wrapping you3Blue1BrownPost · 1 month ago
In the recent videos I made with Terence Tao about the cosmic distance ladder, we necessarily had to move past some of the added details on each topic. Somewhat coincidentally, around the same time, Ben Syversen put up a video with the mathematician Alex Kontorovich all about the contributions Aristarchus made, involving the deductions of how far away the moon and sun were. If you liked the cosmic distance ladder piece, you'll definitely enjoy this one, and it answers many questions I saw people ask in the 3Blue1BrownPost · 1 month ago
I have a pi-day challenge for all the physics students among you (or anyone willing to set up an experiment). If you share your results with me by March 10th, I may feature them in a video, depending on how good the results are and how many I get.
Many years ago I made this video about how two colliding blocks on a frictionless plane can compute pi. The challenge is to implement this, physically, in practice. The original puzzle assumes zero friction and zero energy loss in collisions, so obviously there a3Blue1BrownPost · 1 month ago
Still hungry for more linear algebra quizzes? Eigenvalues are arguably the most important topic in the whole batch.
Eigenvalues: https://beta.retainit.app/game/665599...
A quick trick for 2x2 matrix eigenvalues: https://beta.retainit.app/game/6655a3...
Full series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...3Blue1BrownPost · 3 months ago
More linear algebra quizzes. Cramer's rule is a neat trick for solving equations, and for understanding inverse matrices. Understanding the geometry behind it is a great workout for testing your geometric intuitions of L.A.
Cramer's rule: https://beta.retainit.app/game/6645eb...
Changes of basis: https://beta.retainit.app/game/6645f4...
Full series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...3Blue1BrownPost · 3 months ago