so since I have given up on 'going to college' I am teaching myself higher math (good luck rite lol), because it actually interests me and I'd feel bad if I missed out on it.
It has been slow going so far because although I was good at pre-calc in high school, that was almost 3 years ago, so I barely remembered how to do even basic algebraic manipulations.
I found some online pre-calc/algebra reviews and tackled my calculus textbook's first chapter on finding differentials, and after a couple tries got 9/10 of the 'test' questions at the end correct. hocuspocus;
itt autodidactism
lol elementary mathematics
so are you using spivak or apostol
Quote from: youhavebeentold on September 29, 2011, 10:35:04 PM
lol elementary mathematics
so are you using spivak or apostol
I have apostol now (like it so far) and strang on the way, I'll be working through them simultaneously so as to review certain topics in one book after covering them earlier in the other. For all the praise spivak gets I don't think I will start with his books, they're pretty dry and extremely proof-heavy (not bad but I am focusing on learning application right now not proofs). his series on differential geometry and calculus on manifolds will definitely be ones I pickup, though, when I come to that.
that's not a test
life is a joke.
Quote from: silvertone on September 30, 2011, 02:15:55 PM
math is an abstraction.
language is equally an abstraction
Well congrats, learning is great no matter the method
Don't they teach calculus to 4th graders in Europe? Because that is a really good idea.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. FOR REAL.
but calculus sucks and i hate it
Quote from: ポ--,,ルの" on September 30, 2011, 05:52:47 PM
but calculus sucks and i hate it
I actually like calculus akudood;
[spoiler]It's even something I might do on my free time goowan[/spoiler]
god blu
god
I have nothing against you but we would never be friends in real life.
I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way n_n
so I'm alone
Quote from: silvertone on September 30, 2011, 05:20:33 PM
Don't they teach calculus to 4th graders in Europe? Because that is a really good idea.
It is, imagine how much more interested in math kids would be if calculus was introduced very conceptually and intuitively at a young age
I kind of envy the old days where grade school kids worked out of Euclid's Elements and were doing abstract algebra by high school, now all you hear is "ugh calculus is
impossible" (I haven't worked through the whole subject yet but the concepts of limits, integrals, differentials, set theory etc really don't take any stretch of the imagination to grasp) ... the textbooks used in high schools and colleges now (like Stewart's or Larson's) are fucking horrible, so I see why people get that impression
"lol why aren't the dumb kids today all smart like me"
Quote from: Sakamoto on September 30, 2011, 06:30:58 PM
"lol why aren't the dumb kids today all smart like me"
Great POST MODERN attak there. HEART Stabbing IRONY without provding NOThing TO The TABLe except an IMPLEid statment that You are notTN DUMB. . bravo *auideince calp alot *- [ i jus ddid the sam e thing udi d*+
Quote from: Sakamoto on September 30, 2011, 06:30:58 PM
"lol why aren't the dumb kids today all smart like me"
everyone has always been dumb
Quote from: vziard on September 30, 2011, 06:18:29 PM
I kind of envy the old days where grade school kids worked out of Euclid's Elements and were doing abstract algebra by high school, now all you hear is "ugh calculus is impossible"
Back then, New Math, the movement you are referring to, was widely criticized as
impossible by teachers, parents, and students alike.
Quote from: youhavebeentold on September 30, 2011, 06:55:07 PM
Back then, New Math, the movement you are referring to, was widely criticized as impossible by teachers, parents, and students alike.
I meant the
old days (early century). All I was saying was that there's more math to teach now than there was then, yet on average kids know less going into college now than they did then, so we're behind. it's sad to see most schools using shitty serialized macmillan and mcgraw-hill books designed and marketed by 'educational research' companies instead of teaching a more rigorous foundation based on the works of actual mathematicians.
Quote from: vziard on September 30, 2011, 07:15:38 PM
I meant the old days (early century). All I was saying was that there's more math to teach now than there was then, yet on average kids know less going into college now than they did then, so we're behind. it's sad to see most schools using shitty serialized macmillan and mcgraw-hill books designed and marketed by 'educational research' companies instead of teaching a more rigorous foundation based on the works of actual mathematicians.
plus the us tends to teach math through repetition of concepts: such as place value being reviewed through 1st to 4th grade, teaching addition with only two addends by kindergarden/1st grade... only moving to an arbitrary number of addends in second/third grade.
that's just a lot of time wasted that could have been used on teaching other concepts
it has gotten worse since no child left behind was passed... more review time must be scheduled
Quote from: youhavebeentold on September 30, 2011, 07:25:10 PM
plus the us tends to teach math through repetition of concepts
Throughout my entire K-12 education, I felt like almost the entire first half-year of every math class until pre-calculus was review and topics we were already taught n_u
and the other half of the year always felt like stuff I could at the time learn in a much shorter period
but public education in general is pretty slow, even outside math