Exponential growth and epidemics

3Blue1Brown · 6.1M views · 2020-03-08 · 8:57

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Overview

A short 3Blue1Brown primer on exponential and logistic growth, using early COVID-19 case data to show how epidemics grow and eventually level off. It explains why small changes in growth rate make enormous differences in outcomes.

On Hacker News

During the early COVID-19 period, HN commenters linked it as the clearest quick explanation of what exponential growth means for an epidemic.

Recommended by 10 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2020–2020

Topics

Recreational & visual math Medicine & infectious disease

What people said

brownbat · 2020-03 · Strong recommendation
Just watched the 3brown1blue video today, which talks about exponential growth and fixes it to the latest actual COVID-19 numbers. Really helped it all click. [VIDEO] Edit: separate HN discussion: [LINK]
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thomasmg · 2020-03 · Strong recommendation
To be exact, it's a "logistic curve", which initially is exponential. From this 3Blue1Brown excellent video: [VIDEO]
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asix66 · 2020-03 · Strong recommendation
And those who don't understand, or need a refresher on, exponential growth should watch this great video by 3Blue1Brown. Exponential growth and epidemics: [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by 3Blue1Brown, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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