Let you see it with your own eyes first, and only at the end tell you what it's called and what the formula looks like.
3Blue1Brown is a video channel about math, made by Grant Sanderson. The name comes from his eye: a blue iris with a patch of brown, which is the eye on the cover. His videos are famously easy to follow. Hard math leaves you thinking, "Oh, that's all it is."
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How is it different from a textbook?
THE TEXTBOOK ORDER
Name → formula → worked example
First you get a word and a string of symbols, and you memorize them. Why is it so? Read on, or don't ask.
THE 3B1B ORDER
Question → picture → you discover it → only then the name
First it sparks your curiosity, then draws it for you, and lets you almost work it out yourself. By the time the name and formula show up, you already get it. They just put a label on something you understand.
In short: a textbook makes you memorize first, understand later. 3Blue1Brown makes you understand first, and then you remember it naturally.
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An example: the area of a circle
The textbook says: area of a circle = π × radius². Just memorize it.
3Blue1Brown explains it like this:
1. Slice the circle into ringsLike an onion, or the growth rings of a tree.
2. Cut each ring open and straighten itThe outer ring is longest, and they get shorter toward the middle.
3. Stack them from short to longThe stack forms a triangle. Its base is as long as the circle's edge, and its height is the radius.
4. You can find a triangle's areaBase × height ÷ 2 comes out to exactly π × radius². You worked the formula out yourself.
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Four habits of this style
Start with a questionMake you want the answer first
Draw it if you canOne picture beats a paragraph
Let it change slowlySee how it gets from here to there
Label it lastTell you the name once you get it
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What does it have to do with AI?
AI has seen a great deal of his way of explaining. Name it, and the AI will follow it.
ASK LIKE THIS
"Explain it to me like 3Blue1Brown would..."
It will pose a question first, then walk you step by step with examples and pictures, and give the conclusion last. No more being hit with a pile of jargon right away.
YOU CAN STACK IT
"Explain in 3Blue1Brown's order, and write the sentences in Simplified Technical English."
One governs what to say first and what next; the other governs how each sentence is written. Each handles its own end, so they don't clash. (Simplified Technical English is covered on this site, in the page about how aircraft maintenance manuals are written.)
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What it's not good for
Don't use it when you need an answer fastIts strength is making you understand, and the price is length. If you only want to know "what time is tomorrow's meeting," don't make it start from a question.
An AI in a chat box can't play animations. It can only describe the pictures in words. To really see them, you have to ask it separately to draw.
"I get it" is not the same as "it's proven." Intuition helps you understand, but any conclusion you'll base a decision on still needs checking.
What does this have to do with me?
Next time you meet something you don't understand, don't let the AI just hand you a definition. Tell it: "Like 3Blue1Brown would, start from a question and explain it to me."
