Differential Equations Explained

Learning and science

interactive math explainer

SHOW HN2015

171points
75comments
#111of 2,565 in 2015
Top 5%of 2015 by points

How HN took it

RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical

4 positive, 1 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 15 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score -0.38.

Docs: 0 for, 8 againstExecution: 1 for, 5 againstDesign: 2 for, 2 againstIdea: 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

  • Clear, polished visuals and slick animations

    From 2 comments
    • The first two sections seemed fine to me. However, the "cartography" section made almost no sense. It needs to be explained more clearly how the two carts are different and why…
      klunger on HN
    • Cool idea, and the site looks nice. That being said, I was lost by the end of the first section.
      stickperson on HN
  • Quick explanation helpful for beginners

    From 1 comment
    • Thanks for explaining in literally 30 seconds what I failed to grasp in a fucking full semester of the class in college. Sigh.
      newobj on HN

Objections

  • Explanations are unclear and too short for learners

    From 3 comments
    • The intention is good, but without meaning to be overly negative, this is not very well written at all. There is imprecise and needlessly confusing and unclear phrasing ("To…
      andrepd on HN
    • Cool idea, and the site looks nice. That being said, I was lost by the end of the first section.
      stickperson on HN
    • I can say assuredly, this explains precisely dick to a layman.
      mml on HN
  • Interactive graphs broken in Firefox and Windows/IE

    From 3 comments
    • Hovering on the graphs in Firefox, nothing happens and the console logs NaN problems.
      potch on HN
    • Win 7, IE 11 -- there's a mass of overlapping text and images.
      dragonwriter on HN
    • Windows phone.... http://i.imgur.com/Vo68qcm.jpg
      wumbernang on HN
  • Friction example actually describes drag

    From 1 comment
    • > Consider a cart rolling to a stop. Its motion obeys the DE v̇=−k⋅v, where v is velocity, v̇ is the rate-of-change of velocity and k is a 'coefficient of friction.' This is…
      mdturnerphys on HN

Requests

  • Better explanation of the cartography section

    From 1 comment
    • The first two sections seemed fine to me. However, the "cartography" section made almost no sense. It needs to be explained more clearly how the two carts are different and why…
      klunger on HN
  • Fix hover and browser compatibility bugs

    From 2 comments
    • Hovering on the graphs in Firefox, nothing happens and the console logs NaN problems.
      potch on HN
    • The intention is good, but without meaning to be overly negative, this is not very well written at all. There is imprecise and needlessly confusing and unclear phrasing ("To…
      andrepd on HN

Questions

  • Why solve ODEs by integrating

    From 1 comment
    • The intention is good, but without meaning to be overly negative, this is not very well written at all. There is imprecise and needlessly confusing and unclear phrasing ("To…
      andrepd on HN

Alternatives named

  • Wikipedia articles on ODEs

    From 2 comments
    • The intention is good, but without meaning to be overly negative, this is not very well written at all. There is imprecise and needlessly confusing and unclear phrasing ("To…
      andrepd on HN
    • wikipedia. Why everyone keep showering ecyclopedic knowledge on blog posts instead of updating things there?
      gcb0 on HN
  • Coddington's ODE textbook

    From 1 comment
    • Ordinary differential equations? Okay: Just freshman calculus actually is a good start. E.g., for viral growth consider y'(t) = k y(t) ( b - y(t) ) where t is time, y(t) the size…
      graycat on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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