Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
web.evanchen.cc
Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
1–10 of 76 posts
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#2I have been looking for a general all around math text since last century (as an amateur / recreational mathematician). I m starting to look at this. It seems to cover lots of ground. Any observations?
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#3The author’s doing themselves a disservice by using the word “basic” - it doesn’t describe either the mathematics or the description. Perhaps it refers to its focus on the basics of a field.
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#4I have been looking for a general all around math text since last century (as an amateur / recreational mathematician). I m starting to look at this. It seems to cover lots of ground. Any observations?
Subscription to Math Academy might be more suitable for that.
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#5The author’s doing themselves a disservice by using the word “basic” - it doesn’t describe either the mathematics or the description. Perhaps it refers to its focus on the basics of a field.
From the books advice corner:
"As explained in the preface, the main prerequisite is some amount of mathematical maturity. This means I expect the reader to know how to read and write a proof, follow logical arguments, and so on."
Yeah, that's way beyond what's called basic math instruction, e. g. in schools. A more specific, as in accurate, subtitle (or description) is in order.
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#6The author’s doing themselves a disservice by using the word “basic” - it doesn’t describe either the mathematics or the description. Perhaps it refers to its focus on the basics of a field.
From the books advice corner: "As explained in the preface, the main prerequisite is some amount of mathematical maturity. This means I expect the reader to know how to read and write a proof, follow logical arguments, and so on." Yeah, that's way beyond what's called basic math instruction, e. g. in schools. A more specific, as in accurate, subtitle (or description) is in order.
It would make more sense to include the term "higher math" (from the author's own description) in the page title, like "Basic Higher Math Textbook" or "Introductory Higher Math Textbook".
Higher mathematics isn't necessarily very strictly defined anyway, but I guess most people who've heard the term would apply it to branches of math that are developed using formal definitions and at least moderately rigorous proofs, and that usually aim at a level of generality beyond their originally motivating examples.
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#7> The set ℕ is the set of positive integers, not including 0.
Hell yeah!
I've agonised over this quite a lot over the decades. Not including 0 is more intuitive, but including 0 is more convenient. Of course, both approaches are correct. My main reason for not including 0 is that I hate seeing sequences numbered starting with 0.
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#8I have been looking for a general all around math text since last century (as an amateur / recreational mathematician). I m starting to look at this. It seems to cover lots of ground. Any observations?
Subscription to Math Academy might be more suitable for that.
Red flags of Math Academy:
- Centred around AI
- Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site)
Green flags for Napkin:
- Covers advanced undergraduate and graduate topics
- Encourages pencil & paper way of learning (took me way too long to learn this is the best appraoch)
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#9It's that Evan Chen. Thanks for teaching me the way of the bary, senpai!
Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project
#10> The set ℕ is the set of positive integers, not including 0. Hell yeah! I've agonised over this quite a lot over the decades. Not including 0 is more intuitive, but including 0 is more convenient. Of course, both approaches are correct. My main reason for not including 0 is that I hate seeing sequences numbered starting with 0.
I used to write and review problems for math competitions. This is why we avoided saying "natural numbers". We used "nonnegative integers" or "positive integers" instead.