3Blue1Brown
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 48 YouTube channels
A math video channel whose visualizations make math concepts, including neural networks, intuitive and beautiful, though critics say viewers retain little without rigor, exercises or structure.
A math video channel whose visualizations make math concepts, including neural networks, intuitive and beautiful, though critics say viewers retain little without rigor, exercises or structure.
100 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 96
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 96%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 96 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 24 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Intuitive visual explanations of concepts
“If you don't find the way he presents e.g. linear algebra intuitive I think our brains must work fundamentally differently.”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3blue1brown) [video]” “his course provided a visual representation for the fundamental operations and properties”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Understand Anything” “I love 3Blue1Brown's videos and when I watch them I feel like I really get a concept.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “We Might All Be AI Engineers Now” - Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Citing 'severe' math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM”
- Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “The Illustrated Transformer”
- Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “The Smallest Brain You Can Build: A Perceptron in Python”
- Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Illustration Beyond Proof”
- Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “I were 17, I'd learn how to build LLMs from scratch”
Shows the beauty of math
“makes videos that shows you the beauty in math without having to understand it really”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “What's a Mathematician to Do?” “3Blue1Brown does an amazing job of making math interesting to learn in itself.”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3blue1brown) [video]” “They have all made extremely high quality, and often profound videos.”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Paperbacks and TikTok” - Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Mathematicians issue warning as AI rapidly gains ground”
- Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Math's pedagogical curse – Grant Sanderson [video] (2023)”
Great intro to neural networks
“has a good video series which covers the overall concept of LLM vectors in machine learning”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “LLMs encode how difficult problems are” “You can get a good idea of the foundation of the system with some 3blue1brown videos.”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Could a computer scientist build a brain?” “1blue3brown also has a few great videos about transformer and how they work”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Starting from scratch: Training a 30M Topological Transformer” - Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “The Smallest Brain You Can Build: A Perceptron in Python”
Helped with school and degrees
“I'm almost certain I wouldn't have pushed through and gotten a degree without the internet (3b1b and Khan Academy in particular)”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Advertise in ChatGPT” “algorhythm has done wonders from my mathmatical ability by directing me to so much numberphile and 3Blue1Brown”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “My Mathematical Regression” “helped me quite a bit when I needed to learn calculus ahead of school curriculum”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Doomscrolling ourselves to death”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Little retained or actually learned
“But I'm not sure I've ever really learned anything from one of those videos.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “An Illustrated Introduction to Linear Algebra, Chapter 2: The Dot Product” “It's actually not that great a teaching tool (it's truly great at what it is for, which is (a) appreciation and motivation”
Comment from 18 Mar 2026 in “The Math That Explains Why Bell Curves Are Everywhere” “I don't think that I retained anything useful from any of it.”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Understand Anything” - Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Understand Anything”
- Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Understand Anything”
- Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “LearnVector – Andrew Ng's AI company building one‑to‑one learning experiences”
Avoids rigor and formalism
“The videos are great, but by avoiding formalism, they are at least for me harder to understand than traditional sources.”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Mathematics is hard for mathematicians to understand too” “they do not go as deep into the mathematics, they avoid some of the harder to understand complexities and abstractions”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Mathematics is hard for mathematicians to understand too” “who has super cool visualizations, but also isn't rigorous enough to apply it to complicated problems”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Electronics for Kids, 2nd Edition” No exercises or systematic progression
“I can second 3blue1brown as intro, but anything practical needs practise.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship” “There's no systematic progression to teach from A to Z.”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “How do we prevent mathemathics from devolving into the Medieval Era of secrecy?” “They don't include exercise sets.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “LearnVector – Andrew Ng's AI company building one‑to‑one learning experiences”
Other YouTube channels people recommend
The four most recommended other YouTube channels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3Blue1BrownThis page | 96 | 4 | 96% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Veritasium | 44 | 12 | 79% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Technology Connections YouTube channel | 40 | 3 | 93% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Asianometry | 24 | 1 | 96% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Gamers Nexus | 22 | 10 | 69% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 105 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“3Blue1Brown does an amazing job of making math interesting to learn in itself.”
“If you don't find the way he presents e.g. linear algebra intuitive I think our brains must work fundamentally differently.”
“I've long been a fan of the way 3b1b illustrates and explains math.”
“What sometimes helps is to ask them to make something interactive and visual.”
“I find them very enlightening. They're are also very nice to watch and listen to, the production quality is very high.”
“I really got the sense from watching this of what makes him such a great math educator.”
“There's no systematic progression to teach from A to Z.”
“helped me quite a bit when I needed to learn calculus ahead of school curriculum”
“3 blue one brown on YouTube has other visuals that might help you.”
“You can get a good idea of the foundation of the system with some 3blue1brown videos.”
“They don't include exercise sets.”
“they don't actually teach you anything”
“I'm almost certain I wouldn't have pushed through and gotten a degree without the internet (3b1b and Khan Academy in particular)”
“algorhythm has done wonders from my mathmatical ability by directing me to so much numberphile and 3Blue1Brown”
“does one of the best depictions of why we need an activation function”
“they manage to show some of the (very) real beauty in mathematics”
“Most of what 3blue1brown shows in his fancy videos are things you can drawn on your own on a paper”
“how many people finally get it because of animations and playing with the maths”
“makes videos that shows you the beauty in math without having to understand it really”
“his course provided a visual representation for the fundamental operations and properties”
“3b1b videos typically contain complete mathematical arguments, not just intuition”
“they are NOT meant to teach you the material”
“I rarely retain anything meaningful after I've finished”
“I don't think that I retained anything useful from any of it.”
“3Blue1Brown just released an amazing video explaining the geometric transformation for Eschers print gallery”
“3Blue1Brown, Steve Ramsey's Woodworking for Mere Mortals, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared… I guess I'm straying into content not just code”
“who has super cool visualizations, but also isn't rigorous enough to apply it to complicated problems”
“possibly having ideas to convey from outside their usual purview and formal background”
“quite a few new-ish creators on YouTube are following in Grant's footsteps and producing very technically detailed and informative content”
“It's actually not that great a teaching tool (it's truly great at what it is for, which is (a) appreciation and motivation”
“I love 3Blue1Brown's videos and when I watch them I feel like I really get a concept.”
“1blue3brown also has a few great videos about transformer and how they work”
“you can search Youtube and find a great Khan Academy/3b1b collab explaining it”
“They have all made extremely high quality, and often profound videos.”
“It really clicked to me after reading this two and watching 3blue1brown videos”
“The videos are great, but by avoiding formalism, they are at least for me harder to understand than traditional sources.”
“they do not go as deep into the mathematics, they avoid some of the harder to understand complexities and abstractions”
“I can second 3blue1brown as intro, but anything practical needs practise.”
“has a good video series which covers the overall concept of LLM vectors in machine learning”
“But I'm not sure I've ever really learned anything from one of those videos.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.