Intuitive animated guides on grokking (Deep) Neural networks & learning, Linear algebra etc

(wasn’t sure where to share these links, so created a new topic. @jeremy Please let me know if I’m being spammy and should be posting these somewhere else.)

I really enjoy watching video explanations presented on the youtube channel 3Blue1Brown, as the author takes a complex mathematical idea and dissect/presents it in an intuitive format.

As of now, the author is working on a set of videos to explain neural networks in the context of deep learning. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned some more. I’d very much recommend watching this alongside the course to gain some kind of intuition behind how/why neural networks work the way they do.

  1. But what is a Neural Network? | Deep learning, Part 1
  2. Gradient descent, how neural networks learn | Deep learning, part 2
  3. What is backpropagation and what is it actually doing? | Deep learning, chapter 3

Maybe it’s just me, but these videos are a lot of fun. I made sure that I had enough popcorn before getting started :smiley:

The same channel also has a fantastic series of videos on visually explaining the essence of linear algebra. Honestly, my mind was blown way too many times watching that one. I knew how to do the math and the formulas, but didn’t quite intuitively grasp the linear algebraic operations. Now, those transformations make more sense.

Hoping this is of help to more of us here. :beers:

19 Likes

I’d love to resurface the CS231n course website as well! I think these are as clear a written explanation as possible — though I’m sure 3Blue1Brown is much more entertaining.

http://cs231n.github.io/ -> module 1 onwards

4 Likes

Definitely not spammy - I love 3blue1brown! :slight_smile: Thanks for sharing

1 Like

Bumping this, the 3rd part is out now.

Really neat explanation of mini-batches and how it affects the learning process (stochastic gradient descent).

2 Likes

Tremendously helpful and enjoyable to watch; especially the ‘Essence of linear algebra’ one.