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Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

khanacademy.org

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Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#31

Post by 3dFlatLander »

I'd like to add a very personal comment to this discussion. I have very bad vision. So much so that in school, I couldn't see the board even when sitting as close as possible. As a result, I'd end up creating notes from a synthesis of what the teacher was saying and what I read in the book as the lesson was going on. This usually didn't work out, and my math skills suffered.

This website helped me fill in the gaps of knowledge I had. Actually being able to see the problem being done while given instructions was a great help.

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#32

Post by plinkplonk »

coffeemug wrote: post #15

I found that the best way for me to internalize a particular subject in hard science is to follow its history by reading the original papers. It's a hard way to do it, but it helps you understand the motivation, the progression of ideas, and the rigor that went into it. Anything else doesn't quite work for me - I feel like I "sort of" understand, but five minutes after I close the textbook (or the YouTube video) the…

"I found that the best way for me to internalize a particular subject in hard science is to follow its history by reading the original papers."

I've often wondered why math programs (and books) aren't structured this way, explaining the historical context, reproducing the original papers (or explaining the arguments or proofs in the paper if the original happened to be in Latin or whatever), with a section on how the paper helped move the field forward and so on. It doesn't necessarily have to sacrifice rigor to do this, and a s amatter of fact I suspect a "walk the path (taken by the innovators)" approach coupled with strict rigor would make for some awesome books (and get more people interested).

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#33

Post by Skriticos »

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #3
chaosmachine wrote: post #2

I found this while doing some research on collision detection algorithms. All math classes should incorporate game programming, I sure would have paid more attention.

Isn't this a classic case of "What works for me must work for everyone." ?? Not everyone is interested in games, not everyone is interested in programming. One source of motivation should not be forced on everyone, there should be a wide range.

I agree. The most effective method would probably be to select various topics of practical usage for maths. That way the likelihood of finding interesting topics for all at one point or the other would increase very much. This would also help the kids to get a little more perspective of how the world actually works, which might benefit them.

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#34

Post by pbhjpbhj »

chaosmachine wrote: post #18
billswift wrote: post #16

Buying good textbooks to learn from is a lot more cost effective than spending on the high-speed internet connections that is needed to download even a short video in any reasonable time. This "resource" is only useful to already have high-speed internet access.

A month of high speed internet is cheaper than a single text book in many countries. Considering there's probably 40 textbooks worth of material on this one page alone, nevermind the rest of the internet, I'd say priorities should be on providing internet access.

OLPC + Khan Academny videos = win.

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#35

Post by Tim_M »

ahlatimer wrote: post #8

I used their videos on youtube while taking a linear algebra course last semester when I needed an extra lesson on a particular topic. I highly recommend them. Everything I saw was presented in a clear, well articulated matter that made it much, much easier to understand than just reading something out of a book.

I have not tried his videos yet but I would highly recommend http://www.youtube.com/user/patrickJMT#g/u also.

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#36

Post by RiderOfGiraffes »

plinkplonk wrote: post #32
coffeemug wrote: post #15

I found that the best way for me to internalize a particular subject in hard science is to follow its history by reading the original papers. It's a hard way to do it, but it helps you understand the motivation, the progression of ideas, and the rigor that went into it. Anything else doesn't quite work for me - I feel like I "sort of" understand, but five minutes after I close the textbook (or the YouTube video) the…

"I found that the best way for me to internalize a particular subject in hard science is to follow its history by reading the original papers." I've often wondered why math programs (and books) aren't structured this way, explaining the historical context, reproducing the original papers (or explaining the arguments or proofs in the paper if the original happened to be in Latin or whatever), with a section on how the…

Frequently the historically motivated path is too long or creates too much baggage. It's not always the case, granted, and sometimes the historical development does give you the motivation, but you're still asking for a gifted teacher, and that's rare.

A gifted teacher can teach with or without the historical perspective, and in my experience a clean, direct presentation with appropriate motivation and context is usually better.

Again, not everything works for everyone.

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#37

Post by plinkplonk »

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #36
plinkplonk wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I found that the best way for me to internalize a particular subject in hard science is to follow its history by reading the original papers." I've often wondered why math programs (and books) aren't structured this way, explaining the historical context, reproducing the original papers (or explaining the arguments or proofs in the paper if the original happened to be in Latin or whatever), with a section on how the…

Frequently the historically motivated path is too long or creates too much baggage. It's not always the case, granted, and sometimes the historical development does give you the motivation, but you're still asking for a gifted teacher, and that's rare. A gifted teacher can teach with or without the historical perspective, and in my experience a clean, direct presentation with appropriate motivation and context is usu…

"but you're still asking for a gifted teacher, and that's rare."

Fair enough. Maybe a gifted teacher can write a book :-)

"Again, not everything works for everyone."

I agree. There are a lot of texts which ignore the history. It would be great to have a few which retraced the paths.

Re: Need to refresh your math skills? From basic algebra to calculus and beyond.

#39

Post by hexis »

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #38

I make this comment every month: There needs to be a comprehensive site that aggregates all the educational videos on the net (lectures, conference talks, screen casts, simple instruction,etc.).

For better or worse, that site is google.com
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