This equation will change how you see the world (the logistic map)

Veritasium · 17.1M views · 2020-01-29 · 18:39

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Overview

A Veritasium video on the logistic map, showing how a simple population equation leads to chaos and bifurcation. It connects the idea to convection, neuron firing and the Mandelbrot set, with interactive animations.

On Hacker News

HN commenters call it a favourite Veritasium video, praised for how a simple equation reveals surprisingly complex patterns.

Recommended by 4 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2020–2023

Topics

Recreational & visual math Pure mathematics

What people said

teaearlgraycold · 2023-10 · Strong recommendation
Here’s a rabbit hole to go down on that theme - [VIDEO] That’s my second favorite YouTube video. I love how it reveals some universal primitives are really complicated. The pattern in the video is as fundamental to the universe as circles are. Imagine how many other mind-boggling structures are ubiquitous but just outside our understanding.
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Kaibeezy · 2021-12 · Strong recommendation
Have you ever seen the Veritasium video on where fractals actually come from in 3D? If not, and since you already thought fractals were fascinating, hold on to your hat. [VIDEO]
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Kaibeezy · 2021-12 · Strong recommendation
Did you see his one about the 3D landscape underlying the Mandelbrot set? I’ll cut him endless slack after that mindsplosion. [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Veritasium, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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