Best free college math courses on YouTube

The college math sequence is all on YouTube for free: pre-calculus, calculus 1, 2 and 3, linear algebra, differential equations and statistics, taught by MIT professors in their lecture halls and by Professor Leonard at his whiteboard. Each of these is a full semester, and a semester of math is two things, the lectures and the hours of problems after them. The total below is the first of the two.

The numbers next to each course are live totals from the playlist itself. Click a course to see every lecture, tick off what you've watched, and get a finish date that leaves room for practice.

#	Course	Videos	Total	At 1.5×
1	Calculus 3 — Professor Leonard Vectors, partial derivatives, multiple integrals and vector fields, up to Green's theorem, the divergence theorem and Stokes' theorem.	34	3d 3h 24m	2d 2h 16m
2	College Algebra and Trigonometry (pre-calculus) — Professor Leonard Full-length classroom lectures with every step on the board. Start here if calculus keeps tripping over the algebra.	115	3d 3h 7m	2d 2h 5m
3	Calculus 2 — Professor Leonard Integration techniques, sequences and series, parametric equations and polar coordinates: the semester most students find hardest.	27	2d 2h 3m	1d 9h 22m
4	Calculus 1 — Professor Leonard Limits, derivatives and integrals, taught slowly and completely, with worked examples for everything. The usual answer when someone asks which calculus course to watch.	32	1d 20h 57m	1d 5h 58m
5	Differential Equations — Professor Leonard Solving first- and higher-order equations, in the same worked-example style as his calculus series.	43	1d 15h 39m	1d 2h 26m
6	Statistics — Professor Leonard Describing data, probability, the binomial and normal distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. Introductory statistics as it's taught in a college classroom.	28	1d 7h 56m	21h 17m
7	MIT 18.01 Single Variable Calculus (Fall 2006) — David Jerison MIT's first-semester calculus. Quicker and more conceptual than a typical college course; a good second pass after Calculus 1.	35	1d 4h 32m	19h 1m
8	MIT 18.02 Multivariable Calculus (Fall 2007) — Denis Auroux Vectors and matrices, partial derivatives, double and triple integrals, and vector calculus in two and three dimensions.	35	1d 4h 20m	18h 53m
9	MIT 18.065 Matrix Methods in Data Analysis, Signal Processing, and Machine Learning (2018) — Gilbert Strang Strang's sequel to 18.06: the linear algebra behind data science and deep learning, from the SVD to neural networks.	36	1d 4h 9m	18h 46m
10	MIT 18.06 Linear Algebra — Gilbert Strang The linear algebra course, and the lectures much of the internet learned the subject from. Strang's 18.06 videos were recorded in 1999 and have aged better than almost anything else on YouTube.	36	1d 4h	18h 40m
11	Linear Algebra (Full Course) · Linear Algebra (full course) — Dr. Trefor Bazett A complete linear algebra course in short videos, at a gentler pace than 18.06. Easy to fit into a busy week.	84	10h 50m	7h 14m
12	Essence of calculus — 3Blue1Brown Derivatives, integrals and Taylor series drawn rather than derived. Watch it before or alongside a calculus course, not instead of one.	12	3h 11m	2h 7m
13	Essence of linear algebra · Essence of linear algebra — 3Blue1Brown Short animated chapters on what vectors, matrices, determinants and eigenvectors mean as pictures. A few hours that make every linear algebra course above easier.	16	3h 1m	2h 1m

Course

Videos

Total

At 1.5×

Calculus 3 — Professor Leonard
Vectors, partial derivatives, multiple integrals and vector fields, up to Green's theorem, the divergence theorem and Stokes' theorem.

3d 3h 24m

2d 2h 16m

College Algebra and Trigonometry (pre-calculus) — Professor Leonard
Full-length classroom lectures with every step on the board. Start here if calculus keeps tripping over the algebra.

115

3d 3h 7m

2d 2h 5m

Calculus 2 — Professor Leonard
Integration techniques, sequences and series, parametric equations and polar coordinates: the semester most students find hardest.

2d 2h 3m

1d 9h 22m

Calculus 1 — Professor Leonard
Limits, derivatives and integrals, taught slowly and completely, with worked examples for everything. The usual answer when someone asks which calculus course to watch.

1d 20h 57m

1d 5h 58m

Differential Equations — Professor Leonard
Solving first- and higher-order equations, in the same worked-example style as his calculus series.

1d 15h 39m

1d 2h 26m

Statistics — Professor Leonard
Describing data, probability, the binomial and normal distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. Introductory statistics as it's taught in a college classroom.

1d 7h 56m

21h 17m

MIT 18.01 Single Variable Calculus (Fall 2006) — David Jerison
MIT's first-semester calculus. Quicker and more conceptual than a typical college course; a good second pass after Calculus 1.

1d 4h 32m

19h 1m

MIT 18.02 Multivariable Calculus (Fall 2007) — Denis Auroux
Vectors and matrices, partial derivatives, double and triple integrals, and vector calculus in two and three dimensions.

1d 4h 20m

18h 53m

MIT 18.065 Matrix Methods in Data Analysis, Signal Processing, and Machine Learning (2018) — Gilbert Strang
Strang's sequel to 18.06: the linear algebra behind data science and deep learning, from the SVD to neural networks.

1d 4h 9m

18h 46m

MIT 18.06 Linear Algebra — Gilbert Strang
The linear algebra course, and the lectures much of the internet learned the subject from. Strang's 18.06 videos were recorded in 1999 and have aged better than almost anything else on YouTube.

1d 4h

18h 40m

Linear Algebra (Full Course) · Linear Algebra (full course) — Dr. Trefor Bazett
A complete linear algebra course in short videos, at a gentler pace than 18.06. Easy to fit into a busy week.

10h 50m

7h 14m

Essence of calculus — 3Blue1Brown
Derivatives, integrals and Taylor series drawn rather than derived. Watch it before or alongside a calculus course, not instead of one.

3h 11m

2h 7m

Essence of linear algebra · Essence of linear algebra — 3Blue1Brown
Short animated chapters on what vectors, matrices, determinants and eigenvectors mean as pictures. A few hours that make every linear algebra course above easier.

3h 1m

2h 1m

Totals count available videos only and update as the playlists change. Private or deleted videos are excluded. Compare the top 5 side by side →

How to choose

Taking the course at college right now? Professor Leonard's lectures are numbered by textbook section, so they're easy to match to the class you're in.
Learning on your own? Watch the 3Blue1Brown series first for the intuition, then do a full course with problems.
Want the MIT version? 18.01 and 18.02 move faster than Professor Leonard and assume you're doing the problem sets from MIT OpenCourseWare alongside them.
Linear algebra for machine learning? 18.06, then 18.065, then the free machine learning courses.
Studying for JEE or GATE? Those exams have their own lists: JEE and GATE CSE.

The hours nobody counts

A math lecture is the shorter half of the work. Plan on at least as long again for problems, and give the planner that number rather than the playlist's runtime. Open a course here, set your weekly hours, and it gives you a date; tick lectures as you go and the remaining time updates. The guide to finishing before an exam shows how to work back from a test date, and 1.5× is usually too fast for math you have to write down.