Linear algebra, made visual

Mission LAIKA

Linear Algebra in Kinematics and Aerodynamics connects abstract mathematics to the problems aerospace engineering students encounter. Developed within PRIME at TU Delft, the project uses animations to make linear algebra visible in the context of motion and flight.

I worked with professors at the Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics to translate mathematical concepts into visual explanations. The project’s animations were created by Stella Schultz and me using Manim, a Python library for mathematical animation.

Learning the tools

I learned Manim from scratch for this project, working through the documentation and experimenting with how to build mathematical animations in code. I also used Blender to create 3D scenes. Bringing these tools together required both new technical skills and my linear algebra background: the scenes needed to communicate the mathematics clearly while remaining mathematically accurate.

From mathematics to motion

The project is organised around engineering case studies, including Cleared for take-off, Pitch perfect, Navigating Subspaces, and Swinging Back to Safety. Each provides an applied setting for exploring linear algebra visually.

Explore the project

The repository brings together the animation source code and assets, with instructions for rendering the scenes using Manim.

The project also led to our paper, Mission LAIKA: Linear Algebra in Kinematics and Aerodynamics, included in the SEFI 2026 conference programme.