Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

web.evanchen.cc

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 76 posts

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#11

Post by qsort »

spankibalt wrote: post #5
nxobject wrote: post #3

The 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.

> that's way beyond what's called basic math instruction, e. g. in schools

I'm not saying you're wrong, I know for a fact that you aren't: unfortunately most high-school students fall extremely short of that bar, but it's not necessarily that way. Many teenagers can and do develop that kind of mathematical maturity.

In this context "basic" means "it doesn't require knowledge in the field", and by and large this book can indeed be followed with no other requirement than the mathematical maturity it talks about. Many classic books self-describe in similar way.

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#12

Post by ptsneves »

commandersaki wrote: post #8
_hao wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

> Centred around AI

Where do you see the centered around AI? I have used it a lot and have not touched a single subject around AI.

> - Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site)

What is edutech and why is it unsuitable?

Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#13

Post by stared »

nxobject wrote: post #3

The 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.

It follows a good tradition of textsbooks in STEM - is it starts with "Introduction to..." it is neither short or simple.

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#16

Post by thaumasiotes »

auggierose wrote: post #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.

From a technical perspective you frequently need 0 in there.

From a pure convenience perspective, it doesn't make sense to assign ℕ to the positive integers when they're already called ℤ⁺. Now you have two convenient names for the smaller set and none for the larger set.

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#17

Post by commandersaki »

ptsneves wrote: post #12
commandersaki wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

> Centred around AI Where do you see the centered around AI? I have used it a lot and have not touched a single subject around AI. > - Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site) What is edutech and why is it unsuitable? Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

Where do you see the centered around AI?

From https://www.mathacademy.com/how-it-works:

> Math Academy is an AI-powered, fully-automated online math-learning platform. Math Academy meets each student where they are via an adaptive diagnostic assessment and introduces and reinforces concepts based on each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

What is edutech and why is it unsuitable?

I don't want a computer in the loop when I learn math, plain and simple. My preferred style of learning is instructor led with a mix of Socratic method and hand holding. But bar that, reading texts and using a pen and paper.

Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

Nope, doesn't look like my cup of tea.

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#18

Post by delichon »

commandersaki wrote: post #17
ptsneves wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Centred around AI Where do you see the centered around AI? I have used it a lot and have not touched a single subject around AI. > - Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site) What is edutech and why is it unsuitable? Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

Where do you see the centered around AI? From https://www.mathacademy.com/how-it-works : > Math Academy is an AI-powered, fully-automated online math-learning platform. Math Academy meets each student where they are via an adaptive diagnostic assessment and introduces and reinforces concepts based on each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses. What is edutech and why is it unsuitable? I don't want a computer…

My experience with MathAcademy is very positive. So is my experience using ChatGPT 5 as a math teacher in learning mode. I'm as fed up with AI slop as most people, but for me this is a domain where it excels.

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#19

Post by loose-cannon »

If you just pick one of those subjects, you'll probably find a textbook just as long as his entire PDF trying to cover 13+ subjects.

Sorry to be negative Nancy over here, but you're going to need more than 54 pages to cover calculus. There is value in organizing the major theorems in the different disciplines. But, to be honest, this doesn't really serve the beginner.

Re: Basic Math Textbook: The Napkin Project

#20

Post by avdelazeri »

spankibalt wrote: post #5
nxobject wrote: post #3

The 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.

That's common with mathematics books. Weil's Basic Number Theory is enough to give the unsuspecting quite the fright, despite the name
Post reply on HN