A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
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Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#2"but later in college
when they finally get to hear all this stuff, they’ll really appreciate all the work they did in high
school.”
So painfully spot-on. My mathematical education was horrible. Meanwhile I had been writing code since I was a little kid. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized how much math I had been learning while programming. And worse, that I had been completely miseducated about what math actually is.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#3I thought I had been taking math my whole life until I finally took a math class.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#4I read this a couple weeks ago and decided to try and find a math book that incorporates some history in it. I found Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics with some great reviews.
I am working on an iPad app that pairs up people to mentor each other through books like this. It has video chat and a shared whiteboard, so it is ideally suited for discussing math. If anyone is interested in reading the book with someone, email me at bridger@understudyapp.com. I could really use some beta testers for the app!
If you have already read it, you could still mentor someone in it to review the material again.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#5"There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract. And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could all be having so much more fun."
As a Mathematician I've always identified as a creative person, yet struggle to convince "artsy" persons that what I do is creative. As soon as I utter the word math they convulse and shutter as if they were afflicted with a PTSD flashback. I try explaining what the idea involves and draw a diagram or three, but all they do is just nod and say "yeah, yup, okay.." Are the ideas of math that inaccessible to the general population when compared to a work of Art?
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#6I read this a couple weeks ago and decided to try and find a math book that incorporates some history in it. I found Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics with some great reviews. I am working on an iPad app that pairs up people to mentor each other through books like this. It has video chat and a shared whiteboard, so it is ideally suited for discussing math. If anyone is interested in reading th…
Check out this book as well.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#7I read this a couple weeks ago and decided to try and find a math book that incorporates some history in it. I found Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics with some great reviews. I am working on an iPad app that pairs up people to mentor each other through books like this. It has video chat and a shared whiteboard, so it is ideally suited for discussing math. If anyone is interested in reading th…
Sounds like an interesting idea. Learning is much easier if you can find someone equally interested and at your same level.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#8"There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract. And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could al…
"Are the ideas of math that inaccessible to the general population when compared to a work of Art?"
Yes, if only because many (if not most) don't want access. Been there, done that, got the medications to prove it.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#9I read this a couple weeks ago and decided to try and find a math book that incorporates some history in it. I found Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics with some great reviews. I am working on an iPad app that pairs up people to mentor each other through books like this. It has video chat and a shared whiteboard, so it is ideally suited for discussing math. If anyone is interested in reading th…
Check out this book as well. http://amzn.com/039306204X
Thanks! It is next on my list now.
Re: A Mathematician’s Lament (2002) [pdf]
#10I read this a couple weeks ago and decided to try and find a math book that incorporates some history in it. I found Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics with some great reviews. I am working on an iPad app that pairs up people to mentor each other through books like this. It has video chat and a shared whiteboard, so it is ideally suited for discussing math. If anyone is interested in reading th…
Journey through Genius is an absolutely fantastic book. I took History of Math from a professor in undergrad who had a conjecture named after him and this was his choice of textbook (along with a few other materials) for the course.