No bullshit guide to math and physics • Hacker News Board

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#121

Post by ivansavz » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 12:58 PM UTC

Author here. Some comments before I go catch up on sleep.

1/ The response by the community was amazing. You guys are great! Especially the ones who are nitpicking and fact checking me! I love it. http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/miniref/HN_wave_Jan1_Jan2.png

2/ By popular demand, I created a PDF version of the book -- mostly changed the font and added more space on each page. Preview is here: http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/miniref/noBSmath_preview.pdf PDF is available on gumroad: http://gum.co/noBSmath

3/ Will write up a detailed post about the experience later today here: http://minireference.com/blog/

4/ The notation "∈" stands for "is an element of" and is covered later on in the book. See http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/miniref/set_notation.pdf for more info.

Thank you everyone for the feedback and the support.

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#122

Post by bane » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:17 PM UTC

chris_wot wrote: post #120

DIFF wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0 \in N, 5 \in N => (0/5) \in Q. Therefore 0 \in Q. QED.

\in?

\in means "in the set of"

Given the definition "The definition of a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers where the denominator is not 0."

Let N be the set of all integers and Q be the set of all rational numbers.

Trivially 0 is in the set N, 5 is in the set N

by the definition 0/5 is in Q. Therefore 0 is in Q. QED.

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#123

Post by ntaylor » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:57 PM UTC

ivansavz wrote: post #121

Author here. Some comments before I go catch up on sleep. 1/ The response by the community was amazing. You guys are great! Especially the ones who are nitpicking and fact checking me! I love it. http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/miniref/HN_wave_Jan1_Jan2.png 2/ By popular demand, I created a PDF version of the book -- mostly changed the font and added more space on each page. Preview is here: http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/min…

@ivan_ah I just placed an order for a print copy, am I also entitled to a PDF version?

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#124

Post by eliben » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:16 PM UTC

While I applaud the self-publishing, promising to teach "all of math and physics" in two weeks is preposterous at best.

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#125

Post by rheeseyb » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:16 PM UTC

ivansavz wrote: post #121

Author here. Some comments before I go catch up on sleep. 1/ The response by the community was amazing. You guys are great! Especially the ones who are nitpicking and fact checking me! I love it. http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/miniref/HN_wave_Jan1_Jan2.png 2/ By popular demand, I created a PDF version of the book -- mostly changed the font and added more space on each page. Preview is here: http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/min…

This book looks very interesting, and one that I want to buy, but I'm going to hold off on buying it at the moment because (based on the comments in this thread and the preview) it sounds incomplete. Any chance of you selling a work in progress version so that we can help out (akin to the Manning Early Access Program)?

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#126

Post by wjgeorge » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:28 PM UTC

but pretty much a bullshit ad

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#127

Post by dalke » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:43 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #119

dalke wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> The Bible, for example, uses fractions. In Lev. 5:16 My interest was piqued. I've asked a question at one of the Stack Exchange sites. ( http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2885/do-the-... )

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_000...

"The fraction one-fifth is likewise common (Lev. 5:16; 22:14)." "In ritual observances the fraction one-tenth occurs frequently (Num. 28)." "The term pi shenayim originally meant two-thirds but subsequently came to signify "twice as much" (II Kings 2:9)."

As for the translation, I used NIV. Some others will actually say 20% for that quote.

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#128

Post by lsllc » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 2:46 PM UTC

ivansavz wrote: post #121

Author here. Some comments before I go catch up on sleep. 1/ The response by the community was amazing. You guys are great! Especially the ones who are nitpicking and fact checking me! I love it. http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/miniref/HN_wave_Jan1_Jan2.png 2/ By popular demand, I created a PDF version of the book -- mostly changed the font and added more space on each page. Preview is here: http://cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/min…

Is there a deal for both the PDF and the book? Or do I have to pay twice (it looks like it's $29 each for the book and PDF).

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#129

Post by edgeman27 » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 3:03 PM UTC

I don't think that there is a need for the liberal use of swearing in a mathematics book ("shit" appears 5 times in your sample PDF alone, two of which are in the title). In my opinion, it makes it sound very amateur and unprofessional.

> "Check this shit out:"

Could be "Consider this example:"

> Now get ready for some crazy shit. Using your...

Now for something even more interesting. Using your...

Re: No bullshit guide to math and physics

#130

Post by madhadron » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 3:12 PM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #66

madhadron wrote: post #48

I hesitated to post this, since I think clearer, shorter, better written textbooks are an admirable goal, and I keep a (short) list of good text books I have found over the years. But based on the preview on the website, I'm going to keep referring those who ask me to Gelfand's wonderful basic math texts instead (Algebra, Method of Coordinates, Functions and Their Graphs, Trigonometry -- anyone who wants further poin…

Thanks for pointing to Gelfand. I'd never heard of him. Intriguing that University of Chicago assigns these texts. (Heads up— there's no contact info in your profile).

Really? I see an email address. Odd.