3Blue1Brown YouTube Channel
Avi LOVES Math! Especially complex math concepts!
My son Avi (who will turn 16 years old in January!) does a huge chunk of his learning via YouTube, but it’s not because of the pandemic and the need for distance learning – it is because he has a diagnosed brain injury with a visual memory in the 4th percentile (as a result of being acutely Lead poisoned at 7 months old.) He’s been self-teaching on various subjects (using YouTube and other sources of videos and audio for learning) for most of the past 6 or 8 years – and thankfully YouTube has some EXCELLENT and SMART and APPROPRIATE content creators! One of the channels Avi loves is 3Blue1Brown, not just because of the content – but because the channel’s logo also matches his own eye!
Here’s the “About The Channel” blurb from 3Blue1Brown
“3blue1brown, or 3b1b for those who prefer less of a tongue-twister, centers around presenting math with a visuals-first approach. Rather than first deciding on a lesson then putting illustrations to it for the sake of having a video, almost all projects start with a particular visualization, with the narrative and storyline then revolving around this image.
Topics themselves tend to fall into one of two categories:
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- Lessons on topics people might be seeking out, like linear algebra, neural networks, calculus, Fourier transforms, the math of bitcoin, quantum mechanics, etc.
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- Problems in math which many people may not have heard of, and which seem really hard at first, but where some shift in perspective makes it both doable and beautiful. I try to keep track of these here.
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Loosely speaking, the first category motivates math by its usefulness, and the second motivates math as an art form. But of course, the line dividing these two is easily blurred.”
Here’s why the creator of 3Blue1Brown chose the name and logo:
“Well… I’m not going to pretend this isn’t a little weird. The logo is a loose depiction of my right eye color: It has sectoral heterochromia, 3/4 blue 1/4 part brown. In the same spirit that some channels simply share their name with the author, I thought some kind of more genetic signature might be neat. Plus, the channel is all about seeing math in certain ways, so it felt appropriate. The name, of course, is just derived from the logo, factoring in a desire for a purposefully weird-sounding name that stands out. In hindsight, this feels a bit more self-centered than I’d like, but hey, what can you do?”
Links for those who would like to check out the channel:
Why I wrote this post
While I have been asking Avi to write about his favorite YouTube channels for a while now (as a resource for other parents of Lead poisoned children or other parents of children with brain injuries from other incidents) I primarily created this post because I wanted to share it with Grant Sanderson (for Avi) and thank him. Grant is the creator of 3Blue1Brown and Grant’s contact form on his website doesn’t have a place to attach a photo! So thank you Grant for creating 3Blue1Brown! Thank you for helping to educate my child, especially when the Portland Public school district has completely failed at any reasonable scenario for educating him in a way that both accommodates his brain injury and teaches to his higher level (college and above) of comprehension (given his high I.Q.) – especially on subjects like Math and Science!
Avi was born with all blue eyes.
The brown spot in Avi’s eye did not happen until after he was acutely Lead poisoned (which happened when he was just about 7 months old) and we are fairly certain the change in color is in some way related to his poisoning. When it happened we were quite concerned and had several doctors (including specialists from both western and non-western medical fields!) take a look at it. Since then we have just accepted it as “Avi’s Eye!” and are no longer concerned about it. Avi took the picture below of his own eye (to share it with his brothers alongside the 3Blue1Brown logo, but I thought it would also be fun to share with Grant!). Grant, I will do my best to take a better picture (more in focus than Avi was able to do with a selfie!) for you too! It’s a fun club to be part of.
Avi is also working on putting together his own YouTube video series – “Paleontology Across The U.S.” -(which he filmed this year as we drove across the United States). Keep an eye out for a post with more details about that (and links to the videos as soon as they are up!)
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Selfie Photo by Avi Rubin – 2020
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