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The hardest problem on the hardest test

3Blue1Brown · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Recreational & visual mathPure mathematics

What it is

3Blue1Brown walks through a very hard Putnam competition problem and its elegant solution, emphasizing the visual intuition and the thought process behind solving it.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN fans list it among their favorite 3Blue1Brown videos for showing how mathematical problem solving actually unfolds.

  • 8 people recommended it
  • 7 different months
  • 5 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “Here are my favorite videos by Grant”

    Visual intuition behind a hard Putnam problem

    skadamat, 2017-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids”

  2. “These are my favorite videos of his”

    One of the interesting proof vignettes

    naturlich, 2019-07 · Strong recommendation · in “Think in Math, Write in Code”

  3. “3Blue1Brown is really great for learning/refreshing math. He has great visualizations.”

    A cool explanation, not exactly a math tutorial

    pjfin123, 2020-10 · Strong recommendation · in “A Programmer’s Intuition for Matrix Multiplication”

  4. “I like the 3blue1brown youtube series for explaining mathematical problem solving”

    Walks through problem-solving process for a Putnam problem

    JackC, 2021-08 · Strong recommendation · in “How to avoid being hit by a laser in a room of mirrors [video]”

  5. “He has an excellent channel that I would recommend anything from.”

    Thought process behind solving a level 6 Putnam problem

    msdrigg, 2021-08 · Strong recommendation · in “Manim: An animation engine for explanatory math videos”

  6. “I enjoyed watching this similarly insightful video [1]”

    Insightful video on the hardest Putnam problem

    tromp, 2019-10 · Recommendation · in “The “Windmill” Problem on the 2011 International Mathematical Olympiad [video]”

  7. “See for a great video by 3blue1brown on this topic.”

    Great video on empathy for new learners

    ncallaway, 2019-11 · Recommendation · in “Moving towards a faster web”

  8. “these videos give a sense of how someone might actually go about thinking through and solving these kinds of problems”

    Walkthrough of a hard Putnam problem showing how one thinks through such problems.

    mauriziocalo, 2025-07 · Recommendation · in “OpenAI claims gold-medal performance at IMO 2025”

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

Topics: putnam, 3blue1brown, proofs, visual math, puzzles

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