Two series from the 3Blue1Brown channel explain the foundations of maths through visual intuition before formulas: Essence of Linear Algebra and Essence of Calculus.
What’s in it? The linear algebra series covers vectors, matrices as linear transformations, the determinant, the dot product, change of basis, and eigenvectors and eigenvalues. The calculus series covers what a derivative is, the chain rule, Euler’s number e, limits, integration and the fundamental theorem of calculus, and Taylor series.
Why we recommend it: Made up of 10 to 20-minute videos, these series are ideal to watch before, or alongside, Strang’s linear algebra course or MIT’s calculus courses. The view of “a matrix as a transformation” in particular makes many signal processing concepts click into place at once.
Who is it for? High-school maths is enough. Anyone who has met these topics before but never quite settled the “why”.
- Series pages: Essence of Linear Algebra and Essence of Calculus