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Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#141

Post by kraitis »

dragon96 wrote: post #103

My recommendation is to focus on these two items and ignore everything else until then: 1) Logical quantifiers: ∃ ("there exists") and ∀ ("for all"). Quantifiers can get confusing when they get strung together. I like to think of them as challenge-response games. For example, your real analysis textbook asserts that a function f is continuous at x if ∀ e>0, ∃ d>0 such that if |x0-x| disprove and the ∃ player (Daniel)…

>challenge-response games

This is standardly called "game-theoretic semantics" in the literature. Enthusiasts can find more info here (or just by Googling around): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-games/#SemGam

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#142

Post by sabertoothed »

QuadrupleA wrote: post #18

Sort of copy-pasting one of my earlier comments, apologies, but I highly recommend the book "Mathematical Notation: A Guide for Engineers and Scientists" by Edward Scheinerman (Amazon link: http://a.co/c1jcvLH ). It's short, and perfect for looking up symbols, brackets, subscript/superscript conventions etc. for science and engineering math (for me, the stuff I encounter in my programming life, when I read papers & b…

You put a referral code in the URL? I find that somehow objectionable.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#143

Post by QuadrupleA »

sabertoothed wrote: post #142
QuadrupleA wrote: post #18

Sort of copy-pasting one of my earlier comments, apologies, but I highly recommend the book "Mathematical Notation: A Guide for Engineers and Scientists" by Edward Scheinerman (Amazon link: http://a.co/c1jcvLH ). It's short, and perfect for looking up symbols, brackets, subscript/superscript conventions etc. for science and engineering math (for me, the stuff I encounter in my programming life, when I read papers & b…

You put a referral code in the URL? I find that somehow objectionable.

It's just a shortener.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#144

Post by MRD85 »

ssijak wrote: post #139
kazinator wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is assuming that the reader is already familiar with the notation, and consequently not explaining it.

If it is a mathematical paper it is targeted at other mathematicans eho should be able to understqnd the notation.

My math professors would teach maths under the presumption we knew mathematical notation. I felt I got thrown in the deep in during first-year calculus units but I also now feel strangely adept at reading maths so it had a positive effect.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#145

Post by adaszko »

sabertoothed wrote: post #142
QuadrupleA wrote: post #18

Sort of copy-pasting one of my earlier comments, apologies, but I highly recommend the book "Mathematical Notation: A Guide for Engineers and Scientists" by Edward Scheinerman (Amazon link: http://a.co/c1jcvLH ). It's short, and perfect for looking up symbols, brackets, subscript/superscript conventions etc. for science and engineering math (for me, the stuff I encounter in my programming life, when I read papers & b…

You put a referral code in the URL? I find that somehow objectionable.

Even if so, this is an acceptable incentive for people to comment with Amazon links. If find this a problem for services like http://hackernewsbooks.com/ (there are few others). If someone mentions just a title of a book, it doesn't get indexed.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#146

Post by someguydave »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #53
eldavido wrote: post #32

I love how there are these two parallel threads going in HNville: (1) COLLEGE SUCKS BURN IT DOWN and (2) "I'd like to learn complex things like machine learning and math that take more than reading 5 blog posts to master, how do I do it"? Sometimes this place just cracks me up. I honestly think the answer is pretty simple: go to college. It doesn't have to be expensive. Take a community college course in calculus or…

> I don't know any way I'd have learned all the complex topics in math, stats, probability, etc., I did without attending a big 10 engineering school This is something the MOOC crowd often overlook. It's based on a misunderstanding of what a university gives you: university entry doesn't grant you access to some members-only club where they hide away the knowledge to keep it from the plebs (ignoring the open access m…

What if most of the purpose of attending university was to signal to future employers that you are the kind of person who attends university?

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#147

Post by fooker »

yesenadam wrote: post #137
imjustsaying wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wondered why math notation hasn't been replaced by code. While math notations can be interpreted in different ways, code is going to give an unambiguous result. Why don't mathematicians, especially those writing in machine learning or computer science domains, do this? Is it just a problem of agreeing on a common language?

You mean, "Why don't they use a language you understand, instead of one you don't?"... Why expect they should? I don't think math notations can be interpreted in different ways usually is right. That would defeat the purpose of using them, if the meaning wasn't exactly clear. And maths notation is more compact, a lot more. Even assuming a translation between the 2 always is possible or makes sense.

If math notation was unambiguous, automatic theorem provers would take that as input instead of inventing their own languages.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?

#148

Post by nvarsj »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #140
nvarsj wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You ignore the possibility that MOOCs can have peer interaction. In OMSCS at least, there is loads of peer interaction (via slack, email, forums) - more in fact than I ever had at my undergrad (which was a top 10 engineering school).

That's a fair point, but I put a lot of stock in physical interaction. I suspect that being physically part of a class greatly reduces odds of drop-out, and improves group study. (Of course, this is an empirical claim, and I can't say I'm basing my opinion on a published study.) More cynically: some undergrads struggle to get out of bed for their midday lectures. They would not thrive in a MOOC, where there is less i…

Yeah, I can see your point. I also think the type of degree matters - you can be fairly autonomous in a C.S. masters.
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