3
$\begingroup$

I've always been a very, very visual thinker (to the point that I suspect I have a mild autism) and basically only visual explanations of math make any sense.

Of course, it is not taught that way in school! I stumbled across this site https://betterexplained.com/ and it basically changed my life. All the math I've ever truly understood was stored in my brain like one of Kalid Azad's articles. I'm now furiously gobbling up anything like it.

If anybody else shares this thinking style, what other resources helped you? I know you always have to sit and "play with" problems yourself, but I'm looking for books, videos, etc to assist this.

Also to clarify, by "higher math" I mean basically anything you'd see in a typical mechanical engineering undergrad series (calc 3, differential equations, linear algebra etc). Geometry is fun, but it's also self explanatory for me. I'm looking for visual explanations of not explicitly visual math.

The "art of problem solving" by Richard Rusczyk and the rest of that textbook series phrase things in a way that helps me make my own visuals/analogies even though there arent many diagrams. Also "proofs without words" by Roger Nelsen was helpful.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ How does visual thinking relate to autism? $\endgroup$
    – Servaes
    Nov 19, 2017 at 3:48
  • $\begingroup$ It's what the shrink said. Also my grandpa has this thought style and has Aspergers (and is a physicist). Too bad he can't even properly explain how to make a ham sandwich! $\endgroup$
    – Flurpy
    Nov 19, 2017 at 3:49
  • $\begingroup$ Does this answer your question? Textbooks for visual learners $\endgroup$
    – user1147844
    Feb 25, 2023 at 23:57

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3
$\begingroup$

You can try 3Blue1Brown videos on YouTube, they go to a reasonable degree of depth and the animations are very good (almost all explanations are done through animation, allowing for a visual understanding of analytic continuation for example). The content may be a bit simple in some parts, but they really aid in gaining a basic understanding and they introduce the core concepts of higher level maths. They have taught me to consider, for example through their linear algebra series of videos, the geometrical significance of vectors and matrices. It is probably only first to second year of university level.

$\endgroup$
1
$\begingroup$

lastly, on the level of philsosophy of math, I haven't read it for a while, but I remember Gilles Chatelet having a lot of interesting things to say in Figuring Space, and the book being filled with diagrams/visaulizations. Would probably be really interesting reading for you to better understand your thinking style.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .