Mathematics Fries My Brains

Which is best?

Poll ended at Fri Oct 09, 2020 11:09 am

Pure Mathematics
3
38%
Cheesy Mathematics
2
25%
Bacony Mathematics
0
No votes
Sod Mathematics
1
13%
Pub
2
25%
 
Total votes: 8

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Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Brian Peacock » Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:09 am

I didn't respond well to my mathematical education. I enjoyed my sciences but there was something about mathematics - or at least the way it was taught to me - that never seemed to answer a kind of fundamental question for me. That question was: "Why?" Getting no answer to that soon turned into: "Why bother?"

Performing mathematical operations in physics or chemistry classes seemed to address fundamental questions about real things in the real world, things like forces and reactions etc, but the abstract nature of mathematics in isolation was something I couldn't relate to, even if trains leaving cities or water running out of baths were things I understood in the real world. That was frustrating. In the end mathematics lessons became a chore - a subject in which I just did what I was told to take an exam without any interest or enthusiasm. As a result most of my mathematics just went away when I was no longer obliged to do it. I don't think that was an uncommon experience for my generation.

However, an interest in art and coding has forced me to address my long-standing mathematical deficiencies. By developing an interest in generating images programmatically I've encountered certain problems that I could only solve mathematically. Animating pixels around a canvas -- moving a red square from over there to over here etc -- forced me to delve into geometry; creating more complex image objects and manipulating and transforming them on the canvas forced me to delve into more knotty areas like algebra, sets and distribution.

It's been this alignment of mathematics with my other interests which finally began the process of building a mental framework for mathematics, which is to say that addressing the "How?" questions I've encountered has led me to a growing appreciation of some of the mathematical principles I could never get to grips with as a lad.

I now have the feeling that the "Why?" question I was asking mathematics in my youth, while understandable, was probably the wrong place to start. Mathematics kind of 'just is' isn't it? As a means of exploring structure, relationship, and/or pattern it offers tools to describe the apparent interplay of order and chaos we encounter in the real world - but it is not the real world itself. In that sense mathematics has a kind of cohesion and straightforward simplicity all of its own - a system to abstract certain kinds of information into more comprehensible forms of information. If somebody had explained mathematics to me in those terms when I was at school I still don't think I would have got it though.

Here's an interesting one...

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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by laklak » Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:45 pm

We don't need none of yer pointy headed maffs. All we need is adds and take-aways. Maybe goesinta and times for some people. That were good enough for me Da and his Da before, and it's good enough for me.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by pErvinalia » Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:48 pm

I used to love maths. Then I discovered Calculus.
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by laklak » Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:52 pm

I was OK with entry level calc but blew a tire on differentials. Thermodynamics knocked me out of engineering and into computer science.
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by pErvinalia » Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:07 pm

I did advanced maths and advanced physics at university for a year. Came to my senses and swapped to biology.
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Alan B » Tue Sep 08, 2020 6:59 pm

I like collecting books and one them was book on calculus (it was cheap - and not the begginers stuff).
Anyway, years later a friend visited with her 13 yo son. He found this book and began to leaf through it. He stopped for a few minuets at a page and then exclaimed, "Oh, that's how you do it.". He later got his MSc in maths and might go for a maths PHd.
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by rainbow » Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:31 am

laklak wrote:
Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:52 pm
I was OK with entry level calc but blew a tire on differentials. Thermodynamics knocked me out of engineering and into computer science.
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Brian Peacock » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:50 am

Breakfast maths...

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There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Brian Peacock » Sat Oct 03, 2020 5:02 pm

Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here.

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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

Frank Zappa

"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
.

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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by macdoc » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:20 pm

There was a maths section in here that completely freaked me out.

watch the bit on the Benford Curve

Digits section….I am officially gobsmacked
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law

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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Brian Peacock » Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:39 pm

:tup:

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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

Frank Zappa

"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by macdoc » Sun Oct 04, 2020 2:38 am

I tell you Benford's Law has me questioning the reality I thought I knew. It might be law based in observation but I want to know WHY! :banghead: :read:
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Brian Peacock » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:21 am

Numberphile have a good explanation of it in terms of probabilities, but the fact that it works whatever base you're in is still a bit... you know... wow!
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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

Frank Zappa

"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by macdoc » Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:49 am

Thanks. Might actually be useful in this US election hot mess. :begging:
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Re: Mathematics Fries My Brains

Post by Brian Peacock » Sat Oct 10, 2020 2:38 pm

Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here.

.

"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

Frank Zappa

"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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