41–50 of 137 posts
1. https://www.wondrium.com/art-and-craft-of-mathematical-probl...
My first reaction to this blog post was kind of negative because Master Class is not free. I watched the teaser video and it's actually pretty inspiring. As someone who has done undergraduate Computer Science level Math, but completely forgotten most things about Math except for simple Algebra, I am going to try this. The cost is €16/month which is cheaper than Netflix. I just cancelled my Spotify recently so this is…
On that note, I wonder if anyone has suggestions for paid video content that is good? That is, "non fiction" or educational stuff like this series is supposed to be. I feel like I spend too much time watching YouTube (mostly free) and Netflix (very cheap, quality varies). This is a vague question but I'm interested in all kinds of suggestions... including meta suggestions to recommendation sites. I sometimes look at…
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Is it really common opinion that TT is smart because of his genes? I would think having a helpful and engaged math-fluent father and lots of encouragement from an early age has way more to do with it. You can't seriously believe that an introduction into mathematical thinking from an early age and close advision from math-fluent parents is only 10% of the reason that TT is where he is today.
From the wiki: > Tao exhibited extraordinary mathematical abilities from an early age, attending university-level mathematics courses at the age of 9. He is one of only two children in the history of the Johns Hopkins' Study of Exceptional Talent program to have achieved a score of 700 or greater on the SAT math section while just eight years old; Tao scored a 760 I think genetics have more to do with this level of a…
Trevor Tao is autistic savant with a double degree in maths and music. He is FIDE International Master in Chess.
Nigel Tao has IQ 180. I think he works with Go language development.
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> It's 90% genes , 10% other factors. Do you have evidence to support these numbers, or the more general claim of genetic supremacy?
He was a demonstrating adult level math ability even at the age of 5. Also, he was genius level at other subjects too. How would it not be genetic. Think of how hard parents push their kids in today's super-competitive economy and high-stakes higher ed system, how many turn out even close to as talented as him?
But I have a feeling his success as a professional mathematician involves the interaction of such math talent with hard work and good mathematical taste.
One can read his PhD qualifying exams to observe he was actually not an outlier amongst his peers in his early career.
My first reaction to this blog post was kind of negative because Master Class is not free. I watched the teaser video and it's actually pretty inspiring. As someone who has done undergraduate Computer Science level Math, but completely forgotten most things about Math except for simple Algebra, I am going to try this. The cost is €16/month which is cheaper than Netflix. I just cancelled my Spotify recently so this is…
However, the production value is not only visually high, it is generally well done so I find myself watching something I might otherwise not be interested in. It's not like TED talks, which I often find too showy, too heavy on the presentation.
I think Masterclass is a good platform for this kind of thing: get experts to introduce people to watch something they otherwise wouldn't.
My first reaction to this blog post was kind of negative because Master Class is not free. I watched the teaser video and it's actually pretty inspiring. As someone who has done undergraduate Computer Science level Math, but completely forgotten most things about Math except for simple Algebra, I am going to try this. The cost is €16/month which is cheaper than Netflix. I just cancelled my Spotify recently so this is…
> Terence Tao on 27 January, 2022 at 10:31 am The production values of the lecture series given by Masterclass would not be possible for me to replicate by myself. (For instance, the film shoot alone involved well over a dozen people, including makeup, prop design, camera and lighting crew, director, editing, etc., in a custom studio with professional-quality recording equipment. The professional scriptwriting services were also very valuable, improving the selection and arrangement of material in ways I would not have thought of.)
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Probably getting to his level is highly genetically dependent but that’s not what watching a Masterclass vid is about. Probably really interesting but I would likely forget to cancel and i am planning on living forever so I’d end up paying an infinite amount of money for this.
then what is it about then? listening to someone talk about their job? Can't you do that for free on YouTube?
Watching the trailer, makes me think that people who may enjoy this series will also enjoy a book called "Aha" by Martin Gardner (from probably 40 years ago)[0]. It has a lot of amusingly illustrated insight problems that show you how thinking about a problem differently simplifies getting to the answer a lot. It's probably aimed at advanced teenagers, but in fact the lessons there are some that even many adults prob…
Do you mean Aha! Insight? I don't see a book just labeled "Aha". There is another Gardner book, Aha! Gotcha, which has a different emphasis than what I think you're talking about, but is excellent. I loved it as a kid. Gotcha is more about mathematical paradoxes and intuition-breaking concepts. Hotel Infinity, "who shaves the barber who does not shave himself?", the 'unexpected tiger', Zeno's paradox is included I th…
The other one ("Aha Gotcha"), you are right is more about paradoxes that arise when applying logic that seems to lead to contradictory outcomes. But it also has a lot of "change the way of thinking" answers.
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From the wiki: > Tao exhibited extraordinary mathematical abilities from an early age, attending university-level mathematics courses at the age of 9. He is one of only two children in the history of the Johns Hopkins' Study of Exceptional Talent program to have achieved a score of 700 or greater on the SAT math section while just eight years old; Tao scored a 760 I think genetics have more to do with this level of a…
Regarding his brothers, imagine if IQ is like a bunch of switches. TT was born with all his switches flipped 'on' out of some maximum. His brothers were born with most of them flipped on, as were his parents. Having high IQ parents increases the odds of more switches being flipped on, but having all of them flipped is still innate.
Now, to torture the metaphor, how do I flip on the rest of my switches...
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Is it really common opinion that TT is smart because of his genes? I would think having a helpful and engaged math-fluent father and lots of encouragement from an early age has way more to do with it. You can't seriously believe that an introduction into mathematical thinking from an early age and close advision from math-fluent parents is only 10% of the reason that TT is where he is today.
Unusually, we have pretty good documentation about Prof Tao's background, childhood, and mathematical education. I found this a good read. http://math.fau.edu/yiu/Oldwebsites/MPS2010/TerenceTao1984.p... My favorite part is when he was asked, at age 8 minus epsilon, whether addition distributes over multiplication (after having established that multiplication distributing over addition is an example of a distributive…