#math tag

[peronasghosts]

genuinely sooo excited to do my math homework tomorrow. it’s going to be so interesting <3

[sandanth]

Well, I haven't told this to yall but I finished this book about Pre-University Maths (T), it took 5-6 months in total to finish all of it

im so proud of myself rn

[alewyren]

possibly a hot take but I think a lot of people are way too comfortable with STEM illiteracy.

Thing is, the way math and science are often taught in compulsory education sucks. Way too much time spent on busywork largely made redundant by modern technology, not enough time spent understanding concepts--frankly, I’m beginning to wonder if splitting math and physics into two separate subjects is a mistake, because you really can’t understand one without the other. Straight up, modern technology has made the busywork part of math mostly obsolete. Doing basic operations over and over again, memorizing formulas without any insight into their deeper meaning, is boring.

And sure, some people who struggle with STEM have actual learning disabilities that make it difficult if not impossible to process basic math operations. I don’t mean to throw those people under the bus here. But nearly every person I’ve met who’s said they’re “just not a math/science person” was actually, like, fine at it. They were just taught it terribly. I remember my mom complaining about how she was taught trigonometric ratios and had no idea what they could ever be used for, then proceeded to have her mind blown when I explained that they can directly measure gravity on a slope. You really don’t need to be an intellectual to learn math/science, you just need to be properly told what the hell you’re doing and why.

The needlessly stressful grading system also plays a huge part in discouraging people, frankly. Mistakes related to number-crunching details (ie: forgetting a minus sign) have very little to do with how well you understand the concepts, and time constraints make it worse. And some teachers are just straight up assholes who will give you a 0 for not showing your work exactly the way they want even if you clearly show enough to prove you understand the concepts (forever holding a grudge against my calculus I professor for this). None of this means you’re bad at math. Hell, I’m good at math but still don’t get, like, super amazing grades.

And it sucks that so many people get taught badly and then discouraged, because honestly? Math and science are cool as shit. Math is literally the language of the physical world, and once you learn enough to really start broadening your understanding, it will come up in ways you never could have expected (my physics coursework once saved an entire batch of pasta, I am dead serious). And the scientific method itself is applicable to all avenues of life. Seriously, if nothing else, learn how to not only cite sources, but vet their credibility.

And look, okay, I’m not gonna force you to do something you hate. But the problem is that STEM subjects come up all the time in life, and so many people don’t know how to engage with them properly. This is how you get pseudoscience MLMs, or faulty studies that get disseminated to push political agendas. Or on a more mundane level, why billions of people around the world use the internet every day and don’t know the first thing about cybersecurity. People want the security of a strong scientific grounding, but aren’t independently driven or encouraged to engage with the subject properly.

And yeah, I think we do need to restructure STEM education from the ground up, but broadly my point is this: if you’re living in a country that speaks a language you don’t understand, it’s generally advisable to try to learn as much of that language as possible. We all live in the physical world. We all use technology. Why are we so content to rely on other people to be our interpretors?

(obligatory khanacademy plug in case I’ve struck a nerve with anyone reading--great resource to brush up on subjects completely free! I would not have been able to pass calculus without it lmao)

[daisychainsandbowties]

Hi, hello! I was wondering if you'd be okay with sharing any titles for math theory books you're really into? I'm considering a shift in my teaching and would like to brush up on some more. I just finished "Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism" but I realized I've been focusing a lot on stats/machine learning/society. I'm open to anything, just want to round out more of my self-studying. I'm starting "Meeting the Universe Halfway" soon (well again, because I wasn't in the right headspace for it before lol).

i’ll preface this by saying i don’t really read incredible quantities of commercial nonfiction about mathematics. usually i pick up something from the university library or just blunder up to one of the math profs & they send me away with a pat on the head and a nice little book to read. plus my interest is more in physics than pure math.

these are basically the ones i’ve read on kindle because it’d be amazing if i ever wrote down the titles of books i read but i don’t

not all are really strictly math books but they’re usually trying their best. the singh & strogatz books i liked because they’re fun & give that autistic thrill of reading information you already know but in a different way.

i love the riemann hypothesis & while the sautoy book isn’t the best ever exploration of it i still had a good time. zero is interesting, more history than math but smth smth the newton quote standing on the shoulders of giants. but more seriously math history is also fascinating

chaos theory obviously slaps, fractal geometry one is more of a ref & pretty old but fascinating. reminds me of constructal theory in terms of just straight-up being fun to consider. obv yao is a fields medalist.

once upon a prime is very much pop science, but it’s cute. literature 🤝 math makes me happy. the last three i’m just cheating one is about my boy aristotle & my babies black holes & well, you know, physics. but physics kisses math on the mouth anyway

books:

fermat’s last theorem by simon singh

the code book by simon singh

infinite powers by steven strogatz

the joy of x by steven strogatz

the music of the primes by marcus du sautoy

zero by charles seif (not bad)

chaos by james gleik

the shape of a life by shing-tung yao

the fractal geometry of nature by benoit b mandelbrot

once upon a prime by sarah hart

the lagoon by armaund marie leroi

a brief history of black holes by dr becky smethhurst

the quantum universe by brian cox & jeff forshaw

a brief history of time + the theory of everything by stephen hawking

[woolooism]

hi hello i'm orion :)

🍂 any pronouns, aroace girlguy thing

🍁 2nd year mechanical engineering student

🍂 i like touhou and d&d! i reblog a lot of undescribed art, so be ready for this

🍁 my art blog: @orionidess

🍂 my computer sideblog: @hardware-ram

🍁 please tag reblog bait if we're mutuals (guilt-trippy posts like here, not reblog games)

if you're into math, physics, engineering or d&d, please interact with me! i'd like to get more STEM and nerdy mutuals :)

[ID: Dark red divider with moon and stars symbols /End ID] (credit)

[friendtutor]

Class 8 chapter 3 understanding Quadrilaterals solved problems

[siobhanromee]

there are infinite rectangles under a curve. trapezoids too. In case you didn't know

[littlelemontarte]

Whaaaat omg 😂 I got 12 omg

yeah, that's also a correct solution (or apparently according to op the solution you'd get if you'd plug it into wolframalpha for instance) - the ÷ symbol is informal and outdated. it would be less divisive with a / because that clearly signals what's the numerator and the denominator

[shinseifer]

"average cat owner spends 3 years in prison" factoid actualy just statistical error. average owner spends 0 years in prison. Miette's mother, who kicked her body like the football and went to jail for One Thousand Years is an outlier adn should not have been counted

[deathrattleofablasphemousorator]

I fucking love math

[siobhanromee]

So I thought it would be interesting to do some math. As of March 7th (8 hours into the poll and with over 17k votes):

36.7% of respondents have eaten pussy

56.1% of respondents have smoked weed

39.8% of respondents have stolen from walmart

These results are subject to change as the poll receives a wider range of responses, but these are fascinating results so far

polls are the most eye opening part of tumblr bc this whole time all the posts are like fuck yeah gay sex crime stealing steal from Walmart get high and eat pussy but every poll is like I will remain celibate as long as I live . Why are u all lying about eating pussy and smoking weed

[on-stolen-sunbeams]

"ok so this is a very general form, we're going to work out a more specific one in a minute"

no??? this general form is far more specific than any one that the professor that taught me mentioned???

(granted maybe that's why I'm studying the course on my own bc I am NOT going to be ready for next semester's following course unless I do a strong recap. regardless if I already took the class. not remotely the professor's fault I just didn't absorb as much as I ought to have.)

but in what world is that decently specific example too general? I'm not complaining bc I want to get better and this seems like a decent way to do so but I do think it's sorta a misnomer. this is like super basic stuff that I've gone over a while ago, and so far it's the part I could probably do in my sleep, so I really didn't think I could go any deeper tbh. but apparently i can. yikes. but also yay.

[woolooism]

concept: numbers iceberg chart but with actually relatively unknown numbers. with numbers that lie outside just number theory.

almost all number icebergs post put Graham's number and TREE(3) onto one of the lower tiers, and most people already heard about it. i want an iceberg that puts hypercomplex and surreal numbers on the chart, to name a few. i want to hear a youtuber explain what a quaterion is in just two minutes.

[friendtutor]

Class 8 Ex 2.4 chapter 2. Linear Equations in one variable solved problems

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

#2 and 3 are the large prime numbers it calculated (tag via @revelry-in-heresy )

The computer, which is widely used for playing solitaire[1], calculating large prime numbers[2][3], finding gay hook-ups[4], and organizing political extremism[5][6][7],