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Exponential growth and epidemics

3Blue1Brown · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Recreational & visual mathMedicine & infectious disease

What it is

A short 3Blue1Brown primer on exponential and logistic growth, using early COVID-19 case data to show how epidemics grow and eventually level off. It explains why small changes in growth rate make enormous differences in outcomes.

Why Hacker News recommends it

During the early COVID-19 period, HN commenters linked it as the clearest quick explanation of what exponential growth means for an epidemic.

  • 10 people recommended it
  • 1 different months
  • 4 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2020

What HN commenters said

  1. “Really helped it all click.”

    Ties exponential growth to actual COVID-19 numbers.

    brownbat, 2020-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Show HN: Epidemic Simulator”

  2. “From this 3Blue1Brown excellent video”

    Explains logistic curves of epidemics.

    thomasmg, 2020-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Why some governments appear not to be acting on the Covid-19 threat”

  3. “should watch this great video by 3Blue1Brown.”

    Refresher on exponential growth.

    asix66, 2020-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: What happens next after a successful lockdown?”

  4. “(excellent video by the way)”

    Fej, 2020-03 · Strong recommendation · in “‘It looks like a war zone’: NJ docs say hospitals under siege, supplies low”

  5. “please watch this video by 3blue1brown”

    officialjunk, 2020-03 · Recommendation · in “Show HN: HN reader that filters out COV**-19 and Coronavir** articles”

  6. “Here is a neat video that helps put things in perspective for most any viewer.”

    Puts pandemic spread in perspective for any viewer.

    willis936, 2020-03 · Recommendation · in “Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic, WHO says”

  7. “Maybe they should include this 3Blue1Brown video to explain what 'exponential' means in this context”

    Explains what exponential means in this context.

    arendtio, 2020-03 · Recommendation · in “Open letter from Italy to the international scientific community”

  8. “Have you seen this from 3Blue1Brown”

    carapace, 2020-03 · Recommendation · in “Shelter in place for Bay Area counties”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: exponential growth, logistic curve, epidemics, covid-19, mathematics

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