How to Build a Math and Puzzle YouTube Channel From Checked Worked Examples

The short answer: A math channel can run for years on worked examples. Each episode shows the step people want to skip, then the step that changes the answer. You check the line. Golpo draws the working. A pretty frame with the wrong total is a wrong episode.

Putting real equations into Golpo with Markdown-style LaTeX is a separate skill, covered in Markdown and LaTeX equations. This page owns the puzzle-and-percent series: the mistake, the correction, and the next problem you can hand the viewer.

The promise

We take one calculation people finish too early, show the early answer, and then show the answer the definition requires. Viewers return to catch the next shortcut.

Episode shape

1. The tempting answer, stated plainly.
2. The first legal step.
3. The second step, applied to what remains.
4. The comparison that makes the gap obvious.
5. A smaller problem the viewer can finish without you.

Worked examples that fit

• Two 20 percent discounts.
• A 50 percent loss and the gain that undoes it.
• Why doubling and halving do not always cancel in the order people assume.
• The average of averages, when the groups are different sizes.
• A “buy one, get one half off” price, written as a single percentage.
• Why a 10 percent increase followed by a 10 percent decrease misses the start.
• Splitting a bill when the people did not order equally.
• A puzzle with one picture that hides a missing unit.

Two worked episodes

Both use a Dry Erase look so the series can stay a board. The dollar figures are exact in the notes under each video. On-screen digits are part of the review, not a decoration.

Own Narration: OFF · Script Mode: ON · Duration: 1 minute · Orientation: Horizontal (16:9) · Style: Dry Erase · Color: ON · Language: English · Voice: Male 1 · Pace: Normal · Music: None

A jacket costs one hundred dollars. The shop takes twenty percent off, so the price becomes eighty dollars. Then it takes another twenty percent off that new price. Twenty percent of eighty is sixteen, so the jacket becomes sixty-four dollars. The two discounts removed thirty-six dollars, which is thirty-six percent of the original price, not forty. The second discount acts on what is left, not on the starting price. Two successive twenty percent discounts are not the same as one forty percent discount.

A price tag goes from one hundred to eighty to sixty-four. Show the second discount taking sixteen from eighty, not twenty from the original one hundred. Contrast with a single forty percent discount that would land at sixty. End on sixty-four and thirty-six percent. Allowed labels: $100; Minus 20% = $80; Minus 20% of $80 = $64; $36 off; 36%, not 40%. Do not add a subscribe animation, a sample stamp, or any claim that the story is a demo. Show only the labels listed. If a number appears, it must match the narration exactly. No extra dates, prices, percentages, logos, or quotations.

Patient math teacher. Pause at one hundred, eighty, and sixty-four.

Own Narration: OFF · Script Mode: ON · Duration: 1 minute · Orientation: Horizontal (16:9) · Style: Dry Erase · Color: ON · Language: English · Voice: Male 1 · Pace: Normal · Music: None

Start with one hundred dollars. A fifty percent loss takes it to fifty dollars. To get back to one hundred, the fifty dollars has to double. That is a one hundred percent gain, not a fifty percent gain. A fifty percent gain on fifty dollars adds only twenty-five, and ends at seventy-five. The way down and the way up are not the same size. A loss of half needs a gain of double to undo it. The picture is one stack cut in half, then the smaller stack needing a full copy of itself to recover.

A stack of one hundred cut to fifty. Show that restoring it requires another fifty, a one hundred percent gain on what remains. A fifty percent gain adds only twenty-five and stops at seventy-five. End with the recovered stack beside the short stack. Allowed labels: $100; Lose 50% = $50; Need +100% to return; +50% ends at $75. Do not add a subscribe animation, a sample stamp, or any claim that the story is a demo. Show only the labels listed. If a number appears, it must match the narration exactly. No extra dates, prices, percentages, logos, or quotations.

Patient and exact. Let fifty, one hundred percent, and seventy-five stay distinct.

Review checklist

• You can recompute every line without the video.
• The tempting wrong answer appears only as the thing being corrected.
• Units stay attached. Percent of the original and percent of the remainder are different objects.
• The layout of the board is similar enough that episode ten feels like episode one.
• The challenge at the end has an answer you have already calculated, even if you do not show it yet.

FAQ

Do I need to show a formal equation?

Not for these pilots. A price tag that moves from 100 to 80 to 64 is the equation. When you need a symbolic line, use the LaTeX workflow and check the rendered glyphs.

Can viewers send puzzles?

Yes, if you solve them before you film them. A viewer challenge with a wrong pinned answer damages the channel faster than a quiet week.

How hard should the series get?

Keep the promise, and raise the subtlety. Successive percentages and recovery from a loss are the same idea at two depths. Jumping to a contest problem without a board style is a different show.

Is this a homework channel?

It can help a student see a step. It is not a worksheet library and it does not complete assigned work for anyone. Exam-style explainers have their own guide: explainer videos for exam questions.

What if the drawing shows 60 when the script says 64?

Do not upload it. The number is the episode. Edit the frame or render again.

Should I use a tutor’s voice?

One calm voice, paused on the totals. Excitement sells a trick. Patience sells the step.

Related guides

• Run Multiple YouTube Channels — parent playbook.
• Markdown and LaTeX Equations — symbolic math on screen.
• Personal-Finance Channel — when the percentage is inside a household.
• Exam Question Explainers — a different promise from a puzzle show.