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Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

math.cmu.edu

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Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#131

Post by mycologos »

admsmz wrote: post #95
Gerard0 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks great and was ready to sign up but I surely wasn't expecting that price! I am not saying it is not worth that, but as someone who has tried to start learning math on my own only to quit afterwards for whatever reason, it's a big risk to take.

I’ve been a paying customer since October last year. I discovered it after someone recommended it in a hackernews comment. I’m guessing you’re mentally comparing this to all the possible books you could buy instead for that price. But how many of those books would you actually read, let alone finish? A better comparison is, having an MIT educated math tutor on call for $50 a month. I have a bachelors in physics but i…

I'm a little concerned that the majority of this 3-month-old account's posts are Mathacademy rave reviews.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#134

Post by sanderjd »

adnauseum wrote: post #121
sanderjd wrote: post #119

How do people here like to read pdfs? It doesn't work on my ebook reader and I never actually read anything long-form on a computer screen, even when I think I will. Someone below mentioned using a service to print and bind into a book. Anyone have a better workflow for this kind of thing?

I purchased a Supernote for this very reason. Not cheap, but I (unfortunately) read a lot of PDFs.

And it works well for it? I have a Remarkable, but never felt like it worked that well with pdfs.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#135

Post by cashsterling »

jayro wrote: post #66
no_wizard wrote: post #42

Does anyone know of an entry level book that could take someone through say, high school math to college alegbra / calculus? This is my singular biggest hurdle in going back to school to finish my degree and I'd love to fill the gaps I have around mathematics so I can not only finish my degree; I'd also like to participate in some more advanced computer science that rely heavily on underlying computation.

At Math Academy ( https://mathacademy.com ), we created a series of courses, Mathematical Foundations I, II, & III, that will take a student from basic arithmetic through calculus and prepare them for university-level courses like Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Probability & Statistics, etc. You can jump in at any with an adaptive diagnostic that will custom fit the course to you based on your individual str…

600 USD a year is definitely worth it to learn any highly technical topic: mathmematics, physics, chemistry, CS, engineering, etc.

BUT... I'm highly skeptical of any online math course that claims many students have mastered 3-5 years of math in a year. How many hours of study in what subjects? How was mastery measured... did they take the grad school math GRE and ace it? Mastery takes continued practice... I'm highly s

Most online math courses I've looked into [for my friends, my kids, etc.] are "paper thin" and contain less than 25% of the topical matter, descriptive detail, and depth of a good book on the subject... and I'm actually being generous.

I hope your courses are going at least as deep, or offer the capability to, as good books on the various topics. For instance, if linear algebra does not go as deep as Strang + VMLS[0]... folks should just get those two books (VMLS is free), plus watch some youtube, like 3blue1brown.

[0] https://web.stanford.edu/~boyd/vmls/

Edit: btw... not trying to be overly harsh, just skeptical. If your courses end up being half as good as advertised I'll 100% sign up at some point.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#136

Post by abhayhegde »

rg111 wrote: post #102
abhayhegde wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say the Feynman Lectures of Physics [1] volumes cover a broad base with some topics in great detail as well. [1]: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/

No. Feynman Lectures, to be properly understood requires one to be at least an advanced undergrad. Most people just use it as home decor and many use it like a novel. To properly appreciate the material, you need training in Physics. Otherwise you will be getting much less.

Fair enough -- to appreciate it really, one needs a motivated undergrad. But, it's similar in pedagogical style. It's not run of the mill concepts, but rather like a conversation that builds up with strong hints to form intuition.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#137

Post by pmoriarty »

cubefox wrote: post #110
ivansavz wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RE: math symbols Check out this excerpt of definitions of basic math notation I use in my books: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf It has some examples of the "alien symbols" ∀ (for all), ∃ (there exists), etc. One problem (feature?) of math notation is that paper authors don't follow a consistent convention for symbols, so what you're asking might not even be possible... It doesn't help that…

One thing I love about programmers is that they rarely use complex symbols. They are the complete opposite to mathematicians in this regard. Basically all programming languages consist just of ASCII keywords. So when in doubt about some keyword, you can just use Google and type it in. Together with the name of the language. I guess symbols look fancier and are more concise. Also, mathematicians do love their PDFs. No…

"Basically all programming languages consist just of ASCII keywords. So when in doubt about some keyword, you can just use Google and type it in."

Programming languages have their own symbols, and unfortunately search engines are petty awful at searching for them.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#138

Post by selecsosi »

mycologos wrote: post #131
admsmz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been a paying customer since October last year. I discovered it after someone recommended it in a hackernews comment. I’m guessing you’re mentally comparing this to all the possible books you could buy instead for that price. But how many of those books would you actually read, let alone finish? A better comparison is, having an MIT educated math tutor on call for $50 a month. I have a bachelors in physics but i…

I'm a little concerned that the majority of this 3-month-old account's posts are Mathacademy rave reviews.

Also as someone with a physics degree, it's difficult for me to think of taking courses beyond sophomore year that didn't involve SVD to some extent or were using proximal solution strategies (solid but not crazy tough public state school, late aughts). It's not something skipped for time, it's a basic tool used in multiple branches of physics/math. I'll need to look further to validate some of the content/capabilities but as with most things, buyer beware.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#139

Post by m00n »

With that title and reception I can imagine people bookmarking this for „later“ and feeling good about it. But who reads that stuff really?

To each their own, but 700+ pages for material that is done in my experience in the first 2-3 weeks of undergraduate math is more disheartening than empowering for a student, in my opinion.

If you can open a math book anywhere in the last 20% of pages and just start reading, you are looking at pop science and not lecture notes.

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