1. The visualizations are designed specifically for each topic, instead of a generic visualization used for all topics.
2. There's a narrative explanation supported by visualizations, instead of just the visualizations by themselves.
Wow, this is great. I didn't know stuff like this existed, strangely. I made a few of my own in my free time at http://projects.namanyayg.com/gyan (all open-source).
Does anyone has more links to simulations/visualizations like these? Is there any way I could contribute to places like Wikipedia with mine?
Not bad, especically for the EE, Physics people. But most of these abstractions are pretty intuitively modelable in ones head. There are better Fourier transform visual models, which I'd argue is in the top five of least intuitive concepts one would encounter in the standard courses up to 200 level. I can imagine this being helpful for kids taking AP classes, but there's a real dearth of resources for visualizing higher-level course material. Like, amplitude, phase, the standard electrical engineering constructs made with passives (RLC, RC tau, cap charge and discharge), heat distribution, these are all fairly intuitive, no? All resources are considered a net positive in my book, but there are better resources out there, e.g., I think BetterExplained has a way better intuitive way of approaching linear algebra that even "non-math people" can 'get'.
I think some (most?) of these mathlets are used in conjunction with MIT courses [0], for example it's used in [1] with an assignment so that it develops the intuition of the student solving that assignment.
I love projects like this. A lot of times what's written out as a formula is hard for someone to comprehend. Some people even understand a computer science code represnetation better than a mathematical representation of the same formula. Giving people a visual way to see what's happening is awesome.
For the few that I looked at, clicking the "Description" tab tells you almost nothing. Clicking the word "Help" in the upper right gives a much more detailed description.
