No bullshit guide to math and physics

Post by chris_wot » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 12:04 PM UTC

crntaylor wrote: post #103

I applaud the idea, but I think this book needs some serious work before it is suitable for your intended audience. For example, in Section 1.1 you explain how to go about solving the equation x^2 - 4 = 45, a topic which (I would venture) most 16 year olds should be comfortable with. Then in Section 1.2 you, out of nowhere, introduce set-theoretical ideas and notation. Even seemingly innocent notation like {0, 1, 2,…

Post by crntaylor » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 12:12 PM UTC

chris_wot wrote: post #111

crntaylor wrote: post #103

I applaud the idea, but I think this book needs some serious work before it is suitable for your intended audience. For example, in Section 1.1 you explain how to go about solving the equation x^2 - 4 = 45, a topic which (I would venture) most 16 year olds should be comfortable with. Then in Section 1.2 you, out of nowhere, introduce set-theoretical ideas and notation. Even seemingly innocent notation like {0, 1, 2,…

can you really always divide two rational numbers to get another rational number? I'll not give a formal proof, but intuitively the answer is surely "yes"!

Post by ivansavz » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 12:24 PM UTC

jackowayed wrote: post #59

mharmon14 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Looking at the title, & reading over the preview of the book, I think that the concise, anti-politically correct tone the author uses is one of his best selling points. After all the book is titled "no bullshit". And there's already plenty of texts that use ostensibly comforting words to artists.

There is a difference between being somewhat edgy and improper ("no bullshit") and actively working against one's aims by including copy that is confrontational and discouraging to the most insecure segment of one's audience ("you have a math problem; you need therapy"). Those whom it does not bother might appreciate this continuation of his tone, but it is horribly damaging with the audience that it claims to target…

Post by ivansavz » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 12:31 PM UTC

cameronh90 wrote: post #4

I would buy it, but it appears you don't have an ebook version? I can't really keep physical books because they take up too much space (small apartment).

Post by DanBC » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 12:38 PM UTC

dalke wrote: post #71

pflats wrote: post #39

I read the first 10 pages of the pdf. I'm not sure who you think your target audience is, but this book doesn't seem to serve any of them. You gloss over huge sections of algebra, and in doing so, ignore incredibly common mistakes that students make. Take a look at the top of page 9, 6 \sqrt{x} - 7 = [...]. You solve that out, but give no reason as to why you got rid of the 7 first, the 6 second, and the radical thir…

The Bible, for example, uses fractions. In Lev. 5:16 - "He must make restitution for what he has failed to do in regard to the holy things, add a fifth of the value to that and give it all to the priest, who will make atonement for him with the ram as a guilt offering, and he will be forgiven." But I'm with pflats' judgement. I see text like "Indeed, on computers systems which don’t have a hardware multiplication cir…