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from the how-to-learn-mathematical-thinking dept.
Technology Review is running an unusual book review -- books about learning math, pure math, not applied math, https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/24/1071371/book-reviews-math-education/
The author admits to being adrift,
As a graduate student in physics, I have seen the work that goes into conducting delicate experiments, but the daily grind of mathematical discovery is a ritual altogether foreign to me. And this feeling is only reinforced by popular books on math, which often take the tone of a pastor dispensing sermons to the faithful.
An initial attempt led to a MasterClass by a "living legend of contemporary math", but the master is seated in a white armchair with no blackboards, pens or paper and does not enlighten.
A side story covers a writer for the New Yorker who plans a year to go back and learn the high school algebra/geometry/calculus that escaped him, but mostly fails. For backup he has a niece who is a math professor...but after months without getting it, he complains. Her answer?
"For a moment, think of it as a monastic discipline. You have to take on faith what I tell you." Where his niece and others see patterns and order, he perceives only "incoherence, obfuscation, and chaos"; he feels like a monk who sees lesser angels than everybody around him.
I won't spoil the end, but the author does make some progress with books by mathematician and concert pianist Eugenia Cheng, starting with "Cakes, Custard and Category Theory", where each chapter starts with an analogy to baking.
Unfortunately, for the SN audience, the article does not include any car analogies...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday June 11 2023, @03:26PM (2 children)
School is seen as vocational training for the workplace.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday June 11 2023, @07:14PM
My workplace actively encourages us to innovate, both products and our internal processes.
The real test is continuing to do what is required to collect the paychecks as the decades roll by and you watch 90% of the innovations sit on the shelf while the most active 5% of process innovations swing back and forth in one reorganization after another.
It's nice to be non-redundant. I keep trying to cross train my skills to others but the more I do that the more essential I seem to become.
🌻🌻🌻🌻✌️ [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2023, @12:33AM
Sounds correct.
Shut up. Sit at a desk. Accept you are being graded. When the angry man at the front yells at you, bow your head. "Because I say so" is all the motivation you need.