What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

Agnishom · 2015-02-07 14:02:55

David · 2015-02-07 14:08:06

In school.

bobbym · 2015-02-07 17:33:48

By being taught by someone else.

Olinguito · 2015-02-07 20:54:10

By being taught by someone else in school.

Last edited by Olinguito (2015-02-07 20:56:05)

Bob · 2015-02-07 21:36:25

By being taught by someone else in school, who actually teaches things incorrectly.

Bob

David · 2015-02-07 21:37:18

I will go with bob.

bobbym · 2015-02-08 07:58:41

Hi;

I was going to say the now defunct program to teach mathematics by osmosis. Back in the seventies a group of biophysicists all of which despised mathematics took 100 textbooks ( in mathematics of course ) and liquefied them in high speed blenders. I remember this because the company that employed me at the time made the blenders. They were really nice blenders. Anyway, they then immersed for 72 hours 100 students at the university in the gooey math liquid. 100 students that acted as the controls were given 5 dollars and sent to see The Godfather at the cinema of their choice. One week later the 200 students were given a test on the material. The students that had been immersed in the math goo scored significantly higher than the controls.

Sadly, it was later discovered that the blenders had done a poor job of liquefying the books and the pages had stuck to their exposed skin. The math goo immersed students just had to read the answers off their arms and the back of the neck of the guy in front of them.

theshire · 2022-08-28 17:55:32

From books written in Bourbaki-style! -- I am not on 'very friendly terms' with algebra; yet I like the book of B. L. Van der Waerden. Now take any oh so modern book -- say about group theory, with several pages of notation and what not ... horrible. I think Gauss said / wrote: "We need notions, not notations!" (btw, you can sing that on "another brick in the wall" :-)).

Last edited by theshire (2022-08-28 18:11:05)

Agnishom · 2022-10-10 06:44:54

Do lay-people really teach themselves mathematics using Bourbaki books?

Jai Ganesh · 2022-10-10 23:35:50

I had to look up.

Bourbaki :

Nicolas Bourbaki is the collective pseudonym of a group of mathematicians, predominantly French alumni of the École normale supérieure - PSL (ENS). Founded in 1934–1935, the Bourbaki group originally intended to prepare a new textbook in analysis. Over time the project became much more ambitious, growing into a large series of textbooks published under the Bourbaki name, meant to treat modern pure mathematics. The series is known collectively as the Éléments de mathématique (Elements of Mathematics), the group's central work. Topics treated in the series include set theory, abstract algebra, topology, analysis, Lie groups and Lie algebras.

Bourbaki was founded in response to the effects of the First World War which caused the death of a generation of French mathematicians; as a result, young university instructors were forced to use dated texts. While teaching at the University of Strasbourg, Henri Cartan complained to his colleague André Weil of the inadequacy of available course material, which prompted Weil to propose a meeting with others in Paris to collectively write a modern analysis textbook. The group's core founders were Cartan, Claude Chevalley, Jean Delsarte, Jean Dieudonné and Weil; others participated briefly during the group's early years, and membership has changed gradually over time. Although former members openly discuss their past involvement with the group, Bourbaki has a custom of keeping its current membership secret.

The group's name derives from the 19th century French general Charles-Denis Bourbaki, who had a career of successful military campaigns before suffering a dramatic loss in the Franco-Prussian War. The name was therefore familiar to early 20th-century French students. Weil remembered an ENS student prank in which an upperclassman posed as a professor and presented a "theorem of Bourbaki"; the name was later adopted.

The Bourbaki group holds regular private conferences for the purpose of drafting and expanding the Éléments. Topics are assigned to subcommittees, drafts are debated, and unanimous agreement is required before a text is deemed fit for publication. Although slow and labor-intensive, the process results in a work which meets the group's standards for rigour and generality. The group is also associated with the Séminaire Bourbaki, a regular series of lectures presented by members and non-members of the group, also published and disseminated as written documents. Bourbaki maintains an office at the ENS.

Nicolas Bourbaki was influential in 20th-century mathematics, particularly during the middle of the century when volumes of the Éléments appeared frequently. The group is noted among mathematicians for its rigorous presentation and for introducing the notion of a mathematical structure, an idea related to the broader, interdisciplinary concept of structuralism. Bourbaki's work informed the New Math, a trend in elementary math education during the 1960s. Although the group remains active, its influence is considered to have declined due to infrequent publication of new volumes of the Éléments. The collective's most recent publication appeared in 2016, treating algebraic topology.

I think the answer to the question is given here.

666 bro · 2022-10-25 00:07:46

Agnishom wrote:

What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

I think worst way to learn mathematics is not developing encouraging mindset within students or learners which results in hatred/dislike of the subject what do i believe is that math is like a language in which one could build things by using ,understanding the systems using it.Im currently pursuing bachelors in statistics and mathematics , there are many mistakes that i've commited while learning mathematics and best way to learn mathematics is through understanding and observing the mistakes.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-10-25 01:04:23

I don't think there is worse way.

The best -

The three Is - Intuition, Intelligence, and Improvement - I think that is sufficient in Mathematics.

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2015-02-07 14:02:55

What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#2 2015-02-07 14:08:06

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#3 2015-02-07 17:33:48

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#4 2015-02-07 20:54:10

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#5 2015-02-07 21:36:25

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#6 2015-02-07 21:37:18

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#7 2015-02-08 07:58:41

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#8 2022-08-28 17:55:32

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#9 2022-10-10 06:44:54

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#10 2022-10-10 23:35:50

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#11 2022-10-25 00:07:46

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

#12 2022-10-25 01:04:23

Re: What do you think is the worst way to learn mathematics?

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