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Masterclass on mathematical thinking

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Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#131

Post by dr_kiszonka »

raphlinus wrote: post #55
nefitty wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I asked the people close to you what you do/think differently than others, what would they say?

I don't think I come across as an alien. For example, I'm very deeply involved in my local Quaker meeting, and I don't think any of that is particularly different than others. That said, I can nerd out extremely deeply into a problem, to a point where I've noticed other people's eyes glaze over. Case in point, I've become interested in memory models for GPUs, and while most people in the field would be content to lea…

1) When talking to others, do you feel that you need slow down a lot and simplify to give them a chance to keep up with you?

2) Is learning any topic easier for you than for an average person or are you so talented in just a few areas?

Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#132

Post by nefitty »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #99
nefitty wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very cool. Thanks for the response. I may be reaching but maybe genius is a combination of curiosity, processing speed, mental RAM and focus. Maybe each of those can be improved in regular people...

As a human high in curiosity and processing speed but low in RAM and focus, my personal experience is that diet+prescription drugs can unlock the rest. At least for me, this also comes with costs. Some of these costs are immediately observable to me (much lower levels of broad-insight / Gordian-Knot-slicing, and I am less patient with others). Other costs are only presumed…I have guesses about associated long-term he…

I hadn't thought of it but I see that I'm high RAM, high curiosity. Haha we should make a Meyers-Brigg for this.

I agree about inputs. I have a list project I'm working on called "This I Believe". I'm trying to decode my deeply held beliefs so that I understand mself and can change those beliefs. The very first thing I put on it was "Better living through chemistry."

Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#133

Post by lanstin »

imranq wrote: post #91

This is nice initiative and any attempt to make mathematics more accessible is a value added to society in my book. However, saying you will learn "mathematical thinking" by watching 1.5 hours of passively watching, even Professor Tao, is quite an overpromise. I don't think there's a subject that requires more hands on practice and thinking than math, especially higher level math, so this is more along the lines of e…

on the other hand, i took a general relativity class solely because Prof Penrose was teaching it, did none of the homeworks, and still walked away having learned a lot from the many comments Penrose made that conveyed a big picture understanding; an experience of illumination that so many maths classes fail to provide. and unlike the famous business people you cite, Prof Tao has done a lot of actual maths.

Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#134

Post by Tempest1981 »

dfdz wrote: post #46
Graffur wrote: post #7

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…

In case anyone missed the response to a similar comment on the blog: > 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 profession…

Yes, sounds like he is trying to reach a different audience, versus trying to reach the HN audience in a different way.

Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#135

Post by CogitoCogito »

cinntaile wrote: post #118
CogitoCogito wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plenty of Youtube teachers put out good quality stuff without access to any of that. People would listen to Terrence Tao using a cheap ass webcam and drawing on screen using a Wacom tablet. It's a justification for something that doesn't add value for learning mathematical thinking. To me it sounds more like he gets paid a passive income and a lump sum to make infotainment. That's possible. It's also possible that…

I didn't say he was lying, I just think the value add of a crew of this size is overrated.

Well he knows what he's capable of and knows what the crew is capable of. I think it makes more sense to assume he know what he's talking about rather than not. I mean he might literally never have done this without Masterclass at all.

Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#136

Post by cinntaile »

CogitoCogito wrote: post #135
cinntaile wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say he was lying, I just think the value add of a crew of this size is overrated.

Well he knows what he's capable of and knows what the crew is capable of. I think it makes more sense to assume he know what he's talking about rather than not. I mean he might literally never have done this without Masterclass at all.

I never said anything about not knowing what he's talking about either. It's a bit hard to have a discussion like this.

Re: Masterclass on mathematical thinking

#137

Post by dandellion »

vicda wrote: post #52
dandellion wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also liked The Art of Negotation by Chris Voss, there's some tips that can be useful for salary negotations, for example.

I've wanted to watch that, but I'm expecting it to only be a polished highlights of his book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I also enjoyed the book. A very nice addition of the course are some mock negotiations that I think really help illustrate many of the points. I would recommend at least you watch those, the rest is true that are mostly highlights (I watched them anyway, it was a nice refresher).
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