[HN Gopher] Masterclass on mathematical thinking
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Masterclass on mathematical thinking
Author : harmonicseq
Score : 37 points
Date : 2022-01-27 22:17 UTC (42 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (terrytao.wordpress.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (terrytao.wordpress.com)
| blinkingled wrote:
| Requires subscription to Masterclass to view the series. Not much
| info in the linked post -
| https://www.masterclass.com/classes/terence-tao-teaches-math...
| paulpauper wrote:
| there is a video about it. It's probably one of those things
| where it "teaches you how to think".
| forgotmyoldacc wrote:
| Comment section has some more information on why the course was
| made.
| paulpauper wrote:
| probably helps also to have a 1 in 100 million IQ too, but sounds
| like fun anyway. I am not sure how some of thee masterclasses are
| useful. Like the one by the astronaut . I don't plan on going
| into space anytime soon. Maybe Elon Musk would enjoy that one. No
| amount of videos will make even a typical PhD in math even as
| close to as good as him. It's 90% genes , 10% other factors.
| klyrs wrote:
| > It's 90% genes , 10% other factors.
|
| Do you have evidence to support these numbers, or the more
| general claim of genetic supremacy?
| NikolaeVarius wrote:
| Genes must have something to do with it. Take the case of
| Srinivasa Ramanujan
|
| No formal training in math. Made insane contributions to
| mathematics including solving "unsolvable" problems.
|
| > A child prodigy by age 11, he had exhausted the
| mathematical knowledge of two college students who were
| lodgers at his home. He was later lent a book written by S.
| L. Loney on advanced trigonometry.[18][19] He mastered this
| by the age of 13 while discovering sophisticated theorems on
| his own. By 14, he received merit certificates and academic
| awards that continued throughout his school career, and he
| assisted the school in the logistics of assigning its 1,200
| students (each with differing needs) to its approximately 35
| teachers.[14]: 27 He completed mathematical exams in half the
| allotted time, and showed a familiarity with geometry and
| infinite series. Ramanujan was shown how to solve cubic
| equations in 1902; he developed his own method to solve the
| quartic. In the following year, he tried to solve the
| quintic, not knowing that it could not be solved by radicals.
|
| If there was a method of raising kids like this
| "scientifically" , I bet a good portion of the worlds GDP
| would be put into this field of research
| paulpauper wrote:
| People will delay a dental procedure but they will not
| delay making their kids #1.
| paulpauper wrote:
| He was a demonstrating adult level math ability even at the
| age of 5. Also, he was genius level at other subjects too.
| How would it not be genetic. Think of how hard parents push
| their kids in today's super-competitive economy and high-
| stakes higher ed system, how many turn out even close to as
| talented as him?
| uoaei wrote:
| Is it really common opinion that TT is smart because of his
| genes? I would think having a helpful and engaged math-fluent
| father and lots of encouragement from an early age has way more
| to do with it. You can't seriously believe that an introduction
| into mathematical thinking from an early age and close advision
| from math-fluent parents is only 10% of the reason that TT is
| where he is today.
| umvi wrote:
| From the wiki:
|
| > Tao exhibited extraordinary mathematical abilities from an
| early age, attending university-level mathematics courses at
| the age of 9. He is one of only two children in the history
| of the Johns Hopkins' Study of Exceptional Talent program to
| have achieved a score of 700 or greater on the SAT math
| section while just eight years old; Tao scored a 760
|
| I think genetics have more to do with this level of
| achievement than encouragement from an engaged father. Tao
| has 2 brothers - why aren't they mathematical supergeniuses
| too? Either he was born with a brain that has extraordinary
| analytical ability, or he was born with an insane work ethic
| not commonly associated with young kids. But even then, are
| there reports of him having to work super hard to understand
| things? If you can do advanced algebra at age 5, I'd say your
| brain is something extraordinary. Whether the underlying
| reason for that extraordinary brain is due to genes or some
| other trigger, it likely was not mainly due to an
| "encouraging father", IMO.
| drexlspivey wrote:
| > Tao has 2 brothers - why aren't they mathematical
| supergeniuses too?
|
| The previous sentence from the one you quoted states that
|
| "Tao also has two brothers, who are living in Australia.
| Both formerly represented the country at the International
| Mathematical Olympiad"
| paulpauper wrote:
| Regarding his brothers, imagine if IQ is like a bunch of
| switches. TT was born with all his switches flipped 'on'
| out of some maximum. His brothers were born with most of
| them flipped on, as were his parents. Having high IQ
| parents increases the odds of more switches being flipped
| on, but having all of them flipped is still innate.
| [deleted]
| paulpauper wrote:
| I don't think you understand the difference between being
| good at math and being at his level. Good parents can make
| the difference between being good at math or mediocre at
| math, but not knowing higher level concepts at the age of 15
| or so . Or PhD at 22 or something. There are thousands of
| professors in the US even in math, how many produce super
| genius math kids with similar ability? Two 120-IQ parents a
| more more likely to produce a 110 IQ kids than someone with a
| 170+ IQ like TT; that is something else.
| michaelhah wrote:
| Probably getting to his level is highly genetically dependent
| but that's not what watching a Masterclass vid is about.
| Probably really interesting but I would likely forget to cancel
| and i am planning on living forever so I'd end up paying an
| infinite amount of money for this.
| paulpauper wrote:
| then what is it about then? listening to someone talk about
| their job? Can't you do that for free on YouTube?
| mindcrime wrote:
| I've never seriously considered subscribing to Masterclass, but
| this has gotten the gears turning in my head a little. So I'm
| curious: does anyone here subscribe, and could you comment on
| whether or not you feel like it's worthwhile, given the available
| content?
| Graffur wrote:
| My first reaction to this blog post was kind of negative because
| Master Class is not free. I watched the teaser video and it's
| actually pretty inspiring. As someone who has done undergraduate
| Computer Science level Math, but completely forgotten most things
| about Math except for simple Algebra, I am going to try this.
|
| The cost is EUR16/month which is cheaper than Netflix. I just
| cancelled my Spotify recently so this is affordable for me right
| now.
|
| EDIT: The problem I see with Master Class as a subcription
| service is... if you watch Master classes on everything you are
| getting a broad education rather than a deep dive. I guess it's
| more for entertainment though.
| forgotmyoldacc wrote:
| Seems like motivation porn more than education. Not that
| there's anything wrong with that, just knowing which one is
| which is useful.
| paulpauper wrote:
| You are not going to go from high school math to graduate level
| competency with this course, obviously.
| supernova87a wrote:
| Watching the trailer, makes me think that people who may enjoy
| this series will also enjoy a book called "Aha" by Martin Gardner
| (from probably 40 years ago)[0].
|
| It has a lot of amusingly illustrated insight problems that show
| you how thinking about a problem different simplifies answers a
| lot. It's probably aimed at young teens, but in fact the lessons
| there are some that even many adults probably have not come
| across before.
|
| [0] search your favorite, ahem, LIBrary GENeric source of books
| to find it.
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