Understanding Linear Algebra through Anki
Last month, to refresh my knowledge of linear algebra, I watched 3B1B insightful series called “Essense of Linear Algebra” on Youtube. In the past, I must have watched the series multiple times, but this time I made some flash cards with Anki to try out spaced reptition.
I made cards mostly capturing AHA moments or intuition. As an example “Q: explain why orthogonal matrix has determinant 1 or -1?” “Because orthogonal matrix implies a rotation which does not change the area”.The card serves multiples purpose, not only it does memorize a concept but it allows me to do “Active Recall”. To mark this card successful, I must recall the concept of Determinant, what happens to it when you apply a transformation, and finally how does an Orthogonal matrix transform the space?
To my surprise, After a month, I can recall and explain the intuition for most of the concepts found in an introductory linear algebra course textbook. I wonder why spaced repetition is so uncommon and should be put forward as an aid to learning.
Here are flash card in case you want to checkoutGitHub - y1450/Anki-Essence-of-LinearAlgebra