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Pi hiding in prime regularities

43 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2017–2019 score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Praised as a beautiful, understandable proof and a favorite among 3Blue1Brown videos.

3Blue1Brown shows how pi emerges from prime numbers via complex numbers and sums of squares, culminating in a formula for approximating pi.

“This is a really beautiful proof that connects complex numbers and primes to derive a formula for calculating pi.” (HN, 2017)

2 strong recommendations · 1 recommendations · Explainers · intermediate

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@pqh Nov 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread The Exterior Algebra and Central Notions in Mathematics (2015) [pdf]
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This is a really beautiful proof that connects complex numbers and primes to derive a formula for calculating pi. It should only require high-school algebra prereqs. [this video] If you want to truly follow the proof, there's one little bit on the chi function in there which is connected to something called the One Sentence Proof. This looks rather esoteric and takes a bit of pondering to wrap your head around, but again only really requires high-school level algebra. Doing proofs like this is what math is really about. This is how you come to really understand. And this video also happens to be entertaining in how well-put-together it is.
Beautiful, accessible proof connecting complex numbers and primes to pi.
@zerb Feb 2018 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Physics Travel Guide: a tool that makes learning physics easier
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3Blue1Brown has been recommended on HN before ( [link] ) But it's so great I think it bears bringing up in case anyone reading this comment has missed it. This channel animates math proofs, shows you the intuition behind fields of math, and constructs subjects in such a way as to make you feel like you could have invented them yourself. You'll still need a good textbook or something to go with the videos, but they cement the understanding in your mind very well and even open the door to more formal proofs. My favorite video is [this video] . You'll have to take an additional step to get a complete proof (hint: read and work through the One Sentence Proof), but this is a beautiful piece of mathematics, shown in an understandable manner.
Favorite 3Blue1Brown video; beautiful, understandable mathematics.
@throwawaymath Jan 2019 Recommends
on HN thread Mathematicians Seal Loophole to Breaking RSA Encryption
This is a half hour 3Blue1Brown video: [this video] If you're willing to watch at least the first half of it, I think it'll give you a very intuitive grounding for 1) why integers have unique polynomial representations, and 2) why that's related to (semi)prime factorization.
Intuitive grounding for polynomial representations and semiprime factorization.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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