Explained Visually
Learning and science
visual math explanations
SHOW HN2014
How HN took it
14 positive, 8 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 1 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score +0.46.
Idea: 11 for, 0 againstDesign: 1 for, 1 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Visual, interactive explanations make concepts clear.
From 4 comments
As a visual thinker, this is great! Especially for mathematics which I was great at until secondary school began, where I struggled a lot due to impatient math teachers poorly…
computerjunkie on HNThis is incredible. I still remember the first time I read through Eliezer Yudkowsky's Intuitive Explanation of Bayes Theorem [1], and how it was one of those moments where the…
saosebastiao on HNWow. This is awesome. I never really, really understood Markov Chains. Really very well designed.
abhididdigi on HNWhat's interesting to me is that even if the animations were gone and we were just shown static images I'd still be able to grok the explanation of Markov Chains based on the way…
Yhippa on HN
Well designed and impressive animation use.
From 2 comments
Wow. This is awesome. I never really, really understood Markov Chains. Really very well designed.
abhididdigi on HNyou explained the concepts very well...I am especially impressed with the way you effectively used animation to bring the concepts to life. I would like to know what tools you…
gordon_freeman on HN
Objections
Virus spread network graph is misleading for exponential growth.
From 2 comments
Don't love the network graph illustrating the spread of a virus. It's deceptive and is counter to the purpose of explaining exponential growth. If the people infected are…
JackFr on HNActually it shows polynomial growth, not geometric growth. Polynomial growth is of the form t^n whereas geometric/exponential growth is of the form n^t. (The only real difference…
tedsanders on HN
Requests
Add trigonometry (sin, cos, tan) explanations.
From 1 comment
Trigonometry please (specifically Sin, Cos, Tan)! I can calculate the values when I need them, but I want to understand the 'why' and the 'how' on a fundamental level.
loco5niner on HN
Add eigenvalues and eigenvectors explanations.
From 2 comments
I am jealous of the engineering students to come after me. Can you imagine when every advanced textbook is so clear and interactive? Eigenvalues, differential equations,…
bernardom on HNYes!! I cannot wait for the eigenvalues one.
twistedTightly on HN
Open source the project and accept contributions on GitHub.
From 3 comments
Great! Any chance of hosting this project on Github so more people can contribute?
plumeria on HNAwesome. I've been wanting to seed a project like this for a while. You should definitely be pushing this open source and soliciting contributions.
chatmasta on HN+1. Have a couple of nice ideas on the new things I'm learning e.g. matrices, page rank etc. and I would love to contribute visualizations!
krat0sprakhar on HN
Questions
What tools were used to build it (R, D3.js)?
From 1 comment
you explained the concepts very well...I am especially impressed with the way you effectively used animation to bring the concepts to life. I would like to know what tools you…
gordon_freeman on HN
Alternatives named
Better Explained website.
From 1 comment
http://betterexplained.com/articles/intuitive-trigonometry/ and the whole Better Explained website is pretty great for things like this. Their article on the constant e is what…
minikites on HN
Visual Group Theory book.
From 1 comment
Visual Group Theory by Nathan Carter? I don't know, I've only ever read it while procrastinating on something else. So I haven't seen the entire book.
smorrow on HN
Bret Victor's interactive dynamical system explorations.
From 1 comment
Bret Victor is doing some amazing work in this area. http://worrydream.com/#!/InteractiveExplorationOfADynamicalSystem
varunjuice on HN
Khan Academy.
From 1 comment
They should offer this to Kahn Academy.
amelius on HN