Release Date: Thursday, March 5th, 2026 Due Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026 @ 11:59pm ET

The apotheosis of non-interactive multimedia technical content is the modern video explainer. YouTube is replete with videos that will explain linear algebra, neural networks, microbiology, and every other topic under the sun. Some of these videos are just traditional recorded lectures, but a subset use visualizations and animations much more creatively.

The avatar of the modern math explainer is Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown). Sanderson’s goal is to create videos which explain math concepts in a way that is both effective (viewers learn something), but critically, also engaging (viewers want to keep watching). As he’s stated:

If you’re bored with what you’re watching […] there are billions of hours of content sitting there waiting for you. Some of the most entertaining things humanity has ever created are sitting there just one click away. So if you’re trying to teach math on YouTube, and someone’s not engaged, they’re not sticking around.

In this assignment, you will analyze the multimedia structure of a 3B1B video, and then use his animation tool Manim to create a short animated explainer.

Part A: “The Hardest Problem on the Hardest Test"

For this section, you are going to watch and reflect on a ~10min video by 3B1B. To facilitate the reflection, it’s very important:

DO NOT START WATCHING THE VIDEO UNTIL THIS HANDOUT TELLS YOU TO!

DO NOT OPEN ANY COLLAPSED BLOCKS UNTIL THIS HANDOUT TELLS YOU TO!

Task 1: Watch the Video (5 points)

To begin, we are going to emulate a pseudo-experimental setup. You are going to need at least 20 uninterrupted minutes for this part.

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Go into a quiet space. Silence your phone, eliminate as many distractions as you can. Open a document where you can prepare to write down answers to questions.

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You are going to watch the 3B1B video. You should do this without taking notes and at 1X speed. After you watch the video, immediately proceed to answer the questions in the collapsed block after the video link. Do not open the questions until watching the video. (Your answers to these questions are NOT graded, you will get points just for doing it.)

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Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkmNXy7er84

You only need to watch until 9:30, you can skip the Brilliant ad at the end.

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• Click here for the questions, ONLY once you have watched the video above.

Task 2: Analyze your Response (10 points)

Next, you are going to evaluate your answers to Questions 1-4. Questions 1 and 2 have a direct answer. To grade Questions 3 and 4, you are going to qualitatively analyze your answer for its idea units. Below, we have provided a rubric for the set of ideas that should appear in the answer. Mark down the index of each idea unit contained in the answer, along with the total. For example, an evaluation of Q3 could be “2, 4, 5, 6, 7 (5)”.

• Click here for the answers, ONLY once you have completed Task 1.

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Write down your evaluations for your Task 1 answers in the document.

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