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Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#31

Post by webwanderings »

This is such a great quote for everyone! No matter the age. No matter what one wants to do.

> “I’m not able to learn mathematics easily,” Talagrand tells ... “I have to work. It takes a very long time and I have a terrible memory. I forget things. So I try to work, despite handicaps, and the way I worked was trying to understand really well the simple things. Really, really well, in complete detail. And that turned out to be a successful approach.”

Just imagine. You may be super smart who gets things easily and right away. Or, you may be average. Using this philosophy in life, one can excel further.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#32

Post by sobriquet9 »

aaplok wrote: post #26
lukan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A language is something where people understand, they can use it in the real world (but french still can also be hated for example). But Math beyond the basics is perceived as unnecessary torture, with no practical use, one has to endure to get a diploma. So yes, my proposal would be to teach it more in a practical, applied way.

What about history? Don't people perceive it as even more unnecessary than maths? Shouldn't we expect to see all sorts of theories on how history should be taught in more practical ways if your explanation is correct? I'm only picking on history or languages as examples. I could have picked literature, or almost anything, really. A lot of what is taught at school isn't necessarily a bunch of super applied skills Ther…

History is not abstract. It does not give you generalizations, abstractions and models, just historical facts. Many of those facts are useful in understanding why things around you are the way they are.

The attempts to make history more "scientific", usually for religious or political reasons (e.g., explaining past events throgh class struggle), end up looking like propaganda.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#33

Post by lukan »

throwaway7489y wrote: post #30
lukan wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A lot of people are physically unfit and have traumatic sports education experiences" Good point, but I would argue more people are unfit for math, than unfit for sports education. (At least in europe) "There's no mainstream cultural recognition of scientists and science itself" With the exception of Einstein yes. And maybe Stephen Hawking. "The issue is entirely cultural." And yes it is, but I believe this can be c…

As a European who was unfit for sports, the social stigma is much worse. It is socially acceptable to be bad at maths, but you are looked down upon if you are overweight, lack coordination or are otherwise unfit. For me it was a self enforcing effect where it also impacted how I viewed myself and I did not feel confident enough socially. Obesity is one of the few remaining social stigmas that are "acceptable" to joke…

"It is socially acceptable to be bad at maths, but you are looked down upon if you are overweight, lack coordination or are otherwise unfit"

Yes, that is sadly often the case. My advise if you want to change something, find acticities that are fun. Everything with water is good, if you are overweight, but it seems, you likely would not like the public swimming pool. But there are offerings for water exercises especially for obese people. Being in a group helps ignore what others think. Otherwise there are hidden lakes for example. (Or get a private swimming pool if you have the funds)

Otherwise a (enforced) trampolin might be fun.

Good luck to you.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#34

Post by analog31 »

aaplok wrote: post #12
lukan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose for that to happen, the world needs better math lessons in school. Most have allmost traumatic experiences, so they now don't want to know anything about math at all. (I also only started to enjoy math, when I could apply it with programming, before it was not traumatic, but mostly boring, but we also did not cover any fun parts like Mandelbrot etc)

I'm always very confused by this. Why are maths lessons more traumatic than, say, history or biology or foreign language lessons? I mean learning lists of irregular verbs is not precisely most people's idea of fun. And yet only about maths do people speak with such dramatic language. There must be something beyond what's happening in schools themselves that makes people react this way. I just can't work out what it i…

This is kind of a rant, but I think we heap a whole bunch of expectations on math progress in school, that are unrelated to math and create a burnout atmosphere. There's a culture of fear surrounding math. Most adults, even people who are in supposedly technical occupations, outwardly hate math. Most can proclaim that they set their math aside after it got them through school.

Yet it's also chosen as an arbitrary measure for ranking children and gating their academic and career choices. Kids are "ahead" or "behind" in math. They're tutored during the summer and sent to cram schools. They're tested at every grade level. Math determines access to many fields of study in college. School districts are ranked by math scores.

We have some vague sense that math is important for something. Maybe it fosters intelligence or diligence, both of which are valuable I suppose. But never math for its own sake.

Disclosure: College math major.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#36

Post by cout »

kwant_kiddo wrote: post #7
mr_mitm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't know, Quanta Magazine is financed by Jim Simons (from Chern-Simons theory) who became known as a very successful hedge fund manager. I just love the idea that he's using a portion of his billions to fund a little non-profit math magazine.

it is a shame they don't do physical print through

I agree. Quanta is the sort of material I like to read during my morning coffee ritual before I start a day of screen time.

Are there any quality print magazines like it? I used to get Physics World a long time ago and have been looking for something in print to scratch that same itch.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#37

Post by haolez »

webwanderings wrote: post #31

This is such a great quote for everyone! No matter the age. No matter what one wants to do. > “I’m not able to learn mathematics easily,” Talagrand tells ... “I have to work. It takes a very long time and I have a terrible memory. I forget things. So I try to work, despite handicaps, and the way I worked was trying to understand really well the simple things. Really, really well, in complete detail. And that turned o…

I had a college friend that's super slow to learn. He would always get behind on classes and would not even get passing grades most of the time.

But! When he finally learned something new, he would never forget it. He would remember it in details, both the whys and the hows. I've always admired his skill.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#38

Post by throw_pm23 »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #16
mr_mitm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't know, Quanta Magazine is financed by Jim Simons (from Chern-Simons theory) who became known as a very successful hedge fund manager. I just love the idea that he's using a portion of his billions to fund a little non-profit math magazine.

The world could always use more people like that. Something something effective altruism. It doesn't even need to be altruistic. One would expect that out of sheer self-interest, one would look into propelling humanity forward by elevating and liberating as many people as possible, enabling the brightest of our species to solve the hardest problems and elevate humanity. Though accepting that one needs others to solve…

Yeah, Jeffrey Eppstein was also one that funded a lot of science and science journalism. Fuck effective altruism.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#39

Post by ketanmaheshwari »

cout wrote: post #36
kwant_kiddo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is a shame they don't do physical print through

I agree. Quanta is the sort of material I like to read during my morning coffee ritual before I start a day of screen time. Are there any quality print magazines like it? I used to get Physics World a long time ago and have been looking for something in print to scratch that same itch.

Communication of ACM (CACM) still prints magazines. They are reasonably good quality.

Re: Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

#40

Post by cout »

analog31 wrote: post #34
aaplok wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always very confused by this. Why are maths lessons more traumatic than, say, history or biology or foreign language lessons? I mean learning lists of irregular verbs is not precisely most people's idea of fun. And yet only about maths do people speak with such dramatic language. There must be something beyond what's happening in schools themselves that makes people react this way. I just can't work out what it i…

This is kind of a rant, but I think we heap a whole bunch of expectations on math progress in school, that are unrelated to math and create a burnout atmosphere. There's a culture of fear surrounding math. Most adults, even people who are in supposedly technical occupations, outwardly hate math. Most can proclaim that they set their math aside after it got them through school. Yet it's also chosen as an arbitrary mea…

I loved math in school and was even on the state math team. Sadly much of the math I learned in high school and even college I had to unlearn (the worst example being assuming everything is a normal distribution and reporting mean and standard deviation instead of looking at a histogram).
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