Summer of Math Exposition

It’s a good explanation but I think using Fortnite was the wrong tool for the job.

This is a good video, it explains the concepts well although the editing is the one weak point about it. It’s definetly memorable since you don’t see much math videos featuring fortnite, but I’d suggest to only use gameplay when explaining things that are more graphical (like the stacking of bills), and switching to manim when explaining graphics. Some background music would’ve also been nice, and better audio.

Probably could be useful for high school or middle school students who would like to learn some info about compound interest. The video would likely keep the students engaged, but I found it difficult to focus on the written formulas while the video was constantly moving around.

Very hard to see the numbers as the video is based on the game format. It looks entertaining, but as I kept on watching the video, math content did not come to my sight, but only the game character did. I voted this very low.

Looking just at the math, I think you’ve got something quite good: I’m a math tutor, I get a lot of questions about interest, and the way I teach it in those situations is somewhat similar to how you do here with the “speedrunning” portion. I think you have a good grasp on what it means to explain where these formulas come from to someone.

That said, I really think the choice of medium is hampering you a bit. I know you probably expected people to be a bit against you just for it being Fortnite, and I have to admit I have a certain bias against it, but I’m going to try to engage with it on the merits: I see that you’re trying to do a certain amount of “sneaking vegetables into people’s cookies” here, trying to give students something they’re not all fond of (a math lesson) packaged with something they are fond of. (Fortnite) And although when taken to its extremes I think that this can compromise the integrity of the math lesson, I understand that the idea isn’t without benefits. I do think you showed a nonzero amount of potential as a visual aid when you had the stacks of money near the start, but then when we got to the part of the video where you had to start really doing the math more, it sort of just turned into you looking at signs, the energy really went down, and I don’t think that really represented any advantage for you doing it in Fortnite. I also think that the recording method being more akin to what you might do for a gaming video (visuals and audio recorded simultaneously, for instance) really left you in a position where it would be difficult to give a good vocal performance, and I think this is sort of evidenced by the amount of filler words (the um’s) which also sort of brings down the energy, which I think is sort of important if you’re trying to go for more of this flash, trying to bring people in with Fortnite. As is I think the visuals provide a minimal improvement over a PowerPoint, and the implications on the audio lead to it being a bit worse than what might be expected there.

Again though, based on the math I think you do have the potential to be a great math communicator, everything I’m talking about here as a negative is just the delivery, which I expect comes with time. Please do keep it up.

The stacks of money make for a great visualization, and I think you did a good job explaining the difference between simple and compound interest. But there’s a lot of text, and the jerky camera makes it physically uncomfortable for me to read it.

I don’t know whether this lands with your target audience, but it put a smile on my face. A few notes: I first thought GCSE was a term related to the topic, so I’d maybe trim that since it’s not internationally understood. I liked how you committed to Fortnite and stayed at it. I understand that sharing the map only works if you have all graphs and text in it, but you could still use an overlay to make the video more legible.

In any case, I’d encourage you to publish the map if you didn’t do it already, no need for it to be perfect.

The intro was great and definitely triggers association with the content you emulated!