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Interactive Explainers

Play with the theorems

Interactive explainers that let you move the mathematics: drag ε and watch δ answer, walk the topologist's sine curve, trap a subsequence by bisection, watch Newton's method fall into a cycle. 15 are free to play right here — the rest come with Trap Analysis.

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Video explainers

Narrated walk-throughs of the trickiest ideas, made for this site — no ads, no recommendations pulling you elsewhere. Free to watch whether or not the interactive below is unlocked.

Unit 3Ordinary Differential Equations › Linear ODE, Wronskian, variation of parameters, systems#

The Wronskian: all or nothing, by Abel's identityinteractivefree

Step 1 / 4Abel's identity

For y′′+p(x)y′+q(x)y=0y'' + p(x)y' + q(x)y = 0 with p,qp,q continuous on an interval II, the Wronskian of two solutions satisfies W′=−pWW' = -pW, so

W(x)=W(x0)exp⁡(−∫x0xp).W(x) = W(x_0)\exp\left(-\int_{x_0}^x p\right).

The exponential never vanishes.

Unit 3Partial Differential Equations › Classification and canonical forms#

Classifying a second-order PDE, and the type that changesinteractivefree

Step 1 / 4The discriminant

For Auxx+Buxy+Cuyy+⋯=0Au_{xx} + Bu_{xy} + Cu_{yy} + \cdots = 0, compute B2−4ACB^2-4AC:

  • <0<0 elliptic (Laplace)
  • =0=0 parabolic (heat)
  • >0>0 hyperbolic (wave)

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Every interactive explainer comes with Trap Analysis — along with the worked solutions, the per-option trap diagnosis and the counterexample objects. The papers, the book and the video map are free without it.

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