|
As a long retired structural engineer I was interviewed for a school project the other day by a pair of fourteen year olds. Embarrassing. 'Nuff said.
However I can still remember the almost spiritual feeling when my maths teacher demonstrated Euler's Identity. I doubt if I could recreate the derivation but you've prompted me to try.
Thank you.
|
|
|
|
|
I had a teacher in grade 12 prove that over time the moon's orbit will settle down so that one face always faces Earth. It was simple, elegant, and fitted on one board. It was probably the first proof I saw that caused a fairly big shift in my brain. Something went 'click' and that was it for me.
Good times, eh?
cheers
Chris Maunder
|
|
|
|
|
I tried that a few years ago with my own introductory college-level maths book - Boas' Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences. I found it tougher going than the first time around, but - to my surprise (and pride  ) - I could still do most of the problems.
I graduated almost 30 years ago.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
Great book. I started on chapter 3 and after 3 pages I still understand everything. Math is fun sometimes.
jhaga
|
|
|
|
|
I didn't yet. But after your post I am afraid to experience the same pain.
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Maunder wrote: Anyone else opened that box past glories and been slapped with the reality that yes, that stuff was and still is hard work?
To me that happened when I started at the university. I got slapped straight in the face with a frying pan.
That was my punishment for having gone through my school years without needing put in any effort at all.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
|
|
|
|
|
Same here, up to the last year of high school I used to get 90...95% of the maximum number of points without ever having to study or open a book, life was really easy.
Higher education to get an engineering degree turned out to be a big surprise!
In the end I did manage to acquire the degree within the foreseen time without re-exams etc... but it took quite a bit of effort which I was not used to.
|
|
|
|
|
I know exactly what that means...  
That's why I wrote down my thoughts when I was understanding things, because I knew that my memory won't keep it for the future.
But thanks to my notes I am able to get through most of the stuff way easier than it would have been without them.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
You're obviously smarter than I am.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
|
|
|
|
|
Easier than without them doesn't necessarily means easier than you
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
Forty years after high school, I am now asked to teach high school geometry to a kid. Starting this week.
No dusty old books, but fresh PDF books available in the public domain.
|
|
|
|
|
When moving house, I came across my exam papers from my first year at Uni. I didn't understand the words in some of the questions, let alone knowing how to answer them. I didn't even bother looking at the later years.
|
|
|
|
|
I've had similar experiences with calculus and digital control theory. I stumbled onto a library book that is a good alternative to my college books Barron's E-Z Calculus. It's based on a somewhat juvenile story, but it does the job. Having plenty of college calculus in my distant past, this was a great refresher, and I'm sure I learned things I never really understood the first time around. It's an enjoyable approach to getting back up to speed. I've since downloaded a digital version of the book which is a great goto when riding on a plan (when we get to do that again). Good luck.
|
|
|
|
|
I needed a FFT implementation for an AI audio project a few years ago.
Thinking I could do it from the math got me into my old books.
Clapping the first book closed, I sneezed away the dust, and was cured in a hot minute.
CP articles and 3rd party libs are not for the lazy, they're for the pragmatic.
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
"I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
|
|
|
|
|
I've never gone back to my old math books, but I've been absolutely certain that if I tried, I'd find myself to be very, very rusty. It's not like riding a bicycle...
|
|
|
|
|
I assume I still have mine on a shelf somewhere. For me, it is the Anatomy and Physiology books and history books. I find the aches and pains drive me to reinvestigate the names of the muscles that hurt or the battles referenced by politicians in their rambling speeches. When I do pull out a math book, it is driven by the need to calculate the amount of seed needed to seed a lawn or the geometry to calculate the height of a tree.
|
|
|
|
|
I would be in the same place, but had a girlfriend and then my kids who needed help with Calculus, so it's not so dusty. My bugaboo is Quantum Mechanics and Gravitation. I just got a book on Quantum Computing to help me get back into it.
|
|
|
|
|
I recommend going back until you get to the easier stuff.
Remember that "Algebra" was created to simplify calculus (By standardizing many rules/approaches/etc).
By the time I finished Calc 4... My Algebra was pretty IMPRESSIVE. I minored in math, so I kept going. (My last math class: "Concentric Geometries in Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Spaces" is WELL beyond me today, and was a bit of struggle).
Also, bear in mind that we TEACH Calculus at roughly the same speed as it was DEVELOPED. Kinda insane, but not really when you think about it.
University was a Floating IQ Test. Since in the USA, businesses were NOT ALLOWED to test IQs to do their hiring. They used Universities as a proxy. In the end, what you learned was NOT as important as what you chose and how you did when you applied yourself. Interviewers then look for nuances, like how you handle failure, etc. To avoid getting the super-geeky cry babies that don't play well with others (while other companies, like TI, would lap some of those up for fun, LOL).
|
|
|
|
|
"The slope of a curve" haunts me to this day. My book: Forgotten Calculus. I now just watch my dog lean into curves while we're driving.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
|
|
|
|
|
Down to just my CRC Math Handbook.
|
|
|
|
|
I got rid of my math books decades ago (except for the 16th edition CRC). And wouldn't you know it, I got involved in embedded devices that do a fair amount of audio processing. The DSP coding peaked my interest so I picked up a few books on it (really like the Richard Lyons book!). Was fun to learn new stuff but boy I sure wish I remembered all the math I took in college.
|
|
|
|
|
Nope - Bessel functions are still as meaningless to me now as then, as is the wave-function of a quantum particle constrained to the surface of a sphere (one of the questions in the exam for my second year quantum mechanics course - I was mentally scarred by that...).
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
|
|
|
|
|
I recently dug out my Calculus and Linear Algebra books out for my 16 year old who is just starting Calculus this semester with hopes of doing well enough to take Linear Algebra in a year. I looked over the books before I gave them to him and I realize that other than moral support I will be of no help to him in any of his future math. The difference with my experience is an additional 19 years of math memory loss. Glad to have a son who is academically much smarter than the old man, we just need to work on the common sense part of it all.
|
|
|
|
|
I'm afraid that with maths it really is a case of 'use it or lose it'. I'm sure if you persevere then in a few months time it will suddenly seem much easier.
|
|
|
|
|
Oh, yes, I have done that. i was surprised just how much I had forgotten and just how long it is taking to get partly "back into" the Maths....however I am now 72, but that should not be a real problem.
So I am very rusty in Maths and now need to keep reading for the next months to refresh. This will be necessary, since I want to read about AI/ML.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
