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But what are Hamming codes? The origin of error correction

A 20-minute video by 3Blue1Brown about error correction, on the Computer science shelf. It came up in r/3Blue1Brown, in a thread called “Topic requests”. It is pitched at introductory level.

3Blue1Brown, Video, 20 min, 2020, on the Computer science shelf

Derives error-correcting codes through a discovery-oriented introduction to Hamming codes.

Study notes

Introductory, Derivation. Step 3 of 7 in Information, error and trust

Helpful first

• Binary numbers
• Even and odd parity

What it builds

• Recognize the inefficiency of simply copying every bit.
• Use parity-check outcomes to distinguish error locations.
• Understand what an error-correcting code can and cannot identify.

Useful moments

• 0:50Redundancy by repeating every bit
• 5:38Introducing parity checks

Check yourself: How can several parity checks identify one incorrect bit?

Next in the path: Hamming codes part 2: The one-line implementation

Notes are based on metadata, Reddit context and selected English caption passages. They are not a review of every claim in the video.

Derives error-correcting codes through a discovery-oriented introduction to Hamming codes.