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Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

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Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#1

Post by dataduck »

Hi all,

Would anybody like a free, eight-week course of maths (or related fields: see below) lessons?

About me: I've been tutoring up to A-level mathematics and physics for about 10 years now. I would have thought of trying to teach maths to HN as teaching grandma to suck eggs, but this comment thread (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2737510) led me to believe there are at least a few HNers who don't have calculus etc. as part of their toolbox, and Steve’s flamboyant OSCON talk (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2811818) got me thinking there might be quite a few who would like it. FWIW, I've a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's in machine learning.

What you get: Eight one-to-one hour-long lessons on any mathematical subject(s) of your choosing.

Who qualifies: Exactly one person who wants to, based on the following criteria:

1) You ask for something I can actually teach you. I've a lot of experience teaching maths and physics up to A-level standard (see the UK bit in here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Further_Mathematics), and I know some linear/vector/matrix algebra, more advanced differential equations, some machine learning and statistics well enough to teach with some brushing up. I'm slightly more likely to pick someone who wants something I can teach really well rather than something I can just about teach. You can ask for anything, though; bonus points for asking for something I didn’t know people wanted.

2) You can be available at a regular time each week which I can accommodate, ideally sometime between 9:00 and 13:00 BST (8:00-12:00 GMT) on a weekday from late August

3) You provide a compelling case of how this will help you, particularly if it would be hard to get this kind of help elsewhere. I.e. you may find some mathematics useful to your coding / business / love life; you know why better than me.

Again, apologies if slightly better than high-school maths seems like a trivial thing to arrogantly parade in front of the extremely smart and well-educated people at HN, it just occurred to me there might be a few people who might want it.

(EDIT FOR CLARITY) TL;DR: Free online lessons! Apply in this thread.

Re: Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#2

Post by ColinWright »

Clickables:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2737510

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2811818

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Further_Mathematics

========

ADDED IN EDIT: WTF - I got a downvote for this?!?

From http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

    Resist complaining about being downmodded.
    It never does any good, and it makes boring
    reading.
(breathe deeply - calm - don't complain - does no good - breathe deeply - screw 'em - don't bother making life easy for people who follow - don't cross-reference - don't point to previous discussions - don't try to help - just, don't bother - not worth it - go to a calm place and chill)

========

FURTHER EDIT: Now had more upvotes - thanks. I must remember that HN has a wide-range of participants, and that while many may appreciate the cross-referencing, etc, some don't. If they get there first, you get a downvote.

I still don't understand why the downvote though. There's been a long tradition on HN of adding the clickables. Maybe someone is new and doesn't know that, maybe they're just quick on the trigger finger. Don't know. It just feels, unpleasant. Genuinely makes me not want to be here.

Re: Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#4

Post by Robin_Message »

ColinWright wrote: post #2

Clickables: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2737510 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2811818 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Further_Mathematics ======== ADDED IN EDIT: WTF - I got a downvote for this?!? From http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. (breathe deeply - calm - don't complain - does no good - breathe dee…

There's an upvote. Perhaps it was seen as karma-whoring or unhelpful; personally I think it's great when someone puts in a helpful set of clickables, thanks!

Re: Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#5

Post by dataduck »

ColinWright wrote: post #2

Clickables: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2737510 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2811818 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Further_Mathematics ======== ADDED IN EDIT: WTF - I got a downvote for this?!? From http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. (breathe deeply - calm - don't complain - does no good - breathe dee…

Well, I upvoted you. Thanks for posting clickables, I'm actually not sure how (do you just put HTML tags in the text?) So, hope that cancels out.

Re: Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#8

Post by dataduck »

open wrote: post #3

Honest question. Why specifically just math and not physics or machine learning since those are also things you've specialized in?

1) Much more practice at teaching maths and physics, and it's much fresher in my mind, so I reckon you'll get higher quality out of me that way.

2) I expect more demand for maths than physics

3) A lot of physics and machine learning is maths anyway; particularly with machine learning, the bit of it I'm good at is more mathematical (statistics, bayesian inference, etc). When I took my MSc, the coding exercises were always harder for me (lack of background and formal training) but some of the mathematics was stuff that I'd actually been teaching for years. I seriously doubt I can teach anyone here much about implementing, well, anything, but if you want to get a good idea of probability theory and Bayesian inference, I'm more useful.

For clarity, though: I'm offering anything you request that I also think I can fulfil. Edited original post to make it a bit clearer.

Re: Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#9

Post by ColinWright »

dataduck wrote: post #5
ColinWright wrote: post #2

Clickables: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2737510 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2811818 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Further_Mathematics ======== ADDED IN EDIT: WTF - I got a downvote for this?!? From http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. (breathe deeply - calm - don't complain - does no good - breathe dee…

Well, I upvoted you. Thanks for posting clickables, I'm actually not sure how (do you just put HTML tags in the text?) So, hope that cancels out.

You can't make clickable links in submissions - it would be too easy for spammers. URLs in comments automatically get linked, and there's a long tradition of adding a comment to a submission to make the URLs clickable.

From: http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

    How do I make a link in a question?

    You can't. (This is to prevent people from using this
    method as a way of submitting a link, but with their
    comments in a privileged position at the top of the
    page. If you want to submit a link with comments, just
    submit it, then add a regular comment.)
You may also wish to read the unofficial FAQ by the erstwhile jacquesm:

http://jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ

Re: Offer HN: Free Maths Lessons

#10

Post by edkennedy »

dlazar wrote: post #7

Please record these sessions and upload them to YouTube, so they'll help more than just one person. Thanks for volunteering.

Yes, I agree. Heck you could take popcorn.js and make a course out of it like one HN user did with his Django101.com idea. I am not available during those times on the weekday, otherwise I would certainly apply.
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