Mar

21

An accessible Calculus book and Benjamin Franklin’s secret passion

Filed Under Suggested reading | 5 Comments

It has been a while since my last book recommendation. I’ll take the opportunity of the Easter longer weekend to write about two books that were recently released and I just finished reading. The first one is an atypical Calculus book, while the second one is a popular mathematics title which is historical and biographical in nature.

The first book is The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus.

Before I even start talking about the actual book, let me just tell you that this is a steal. I don’t know what the publisher was thinking, but a 750 page, recently published book on Calculus never sells for such a low price. On Amazon it sells for $16, which is a ridiculously low price for this 5 star tome. The average Calculus book is far from cheap, so this excellent guide is a pure bargain. Now, let’s talk about the content of the book.

I’m very exigent when it comes to Calculus books and usually like a very formal and rigorous style. Most people don’t. Many tend to like accessible books that speak to them in plain English. And this book is marketed as such. This is supposed to be an extra aid, on top of a regular textbook, to make Calculus more accessible. However, it stands on its own, thanks to its comprehensiveness and clarity. If commonly adopted Calculus books puzzle you, or if you are studying on your own, this is the book for you. Every step is clearly explained and it doesn’t fail when it comes to covering all the pre-requisites/fundamentals. Thanks to its style and approach, pretty much anyone who’s willing to learn, will. I’d even recommend it to high school students who wish to learn more about this subject, because I don’t think they would have any trouble following along. The tone is informal, friendly and often even funny, making it one of the least boring math books I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it to those who are struggling and would like to really understand the subject.

The second book is Benjamin Franklin’s Numbers: An Unsung Mathematical Odyssey.

Most geeks admire Ben Franklin, and not only for patriotic reasons. He was a brilliant, vibrant mind who made contributions to several fields. There isn’t a lack of biographies about the man. Or even good ones at that. What this short (and sweet) book does though, is to cover Franklin as a mathematician, a side of the genius that is often hidden or disputed. This hardcover focuses on Magic Squares and Franklin’s contribution to this field, even though he wrongly considered them as enjoyable, but useless in practice. Benjamin Franklin’s Numbers: An Unsung Mathematical Odyssey is filled with mathematical puzzles and will be a pleasure to read for those who can appreciate small challenges and the historical importance of Pasles’ research.

Jan

23

Getting Math help in realtime

Filed Under Math Websites | 1 Comment

Chances are that in the process of learning (or re-learning) mathematical concepts you will often find yourself in need of some clarification. That’s normal and nothing to be ashamed of. It actually means that you are absorbing something new and challenging. This can become an issue, particularly if you are self-taught and therefore don’t have the help of a “formal” teacher to give you authoritative answers. Sometimes you can find clarification along the way as you learn more about a given topic. Other times you are stuck with an exercise, but are still able to verify the solution with the help of a CAS. But what happens when you really have questions and you can’t find answers on your own?

Sure you can Google and with a bit of luck and skill find a helpful page. You may even decide to ask your question in a forum or in a proper newsgroup. However none of these resources are particularly interactive. There are many advantages which derive from a direct “realtime” conversation with other mathematically inclined people who are ready to provide assistance. There is an excellent Math chat that you can join if you want to ask for advice or get help on any mathematical subject. Below you’ll find the details needed to access it from your IRC client:

Server: irc.freenode.net
Channel: #math

If you are new to IRC and don’t have a client, you can use this web based interface to access it. In general though I do advise that you get a good client and familiarize yourself with the system. These are a few free clients that I recommend:

Windows: XChat 2
Mac OS X: Colloquy
Linux: XChat

Be friendly and respectful, don’t expect to be spoon-fed, and you’ll find this an invaluable resource. Occasionally you may even spot me there. :)

Dec

4

Where Math-Blog is headed

Filed Under Math Education | 4 Comments

Since I began this blog, and from the time when the first of its posts started to grow in popularity, I’ve simultaneously received numerous emails from people who are deeply interested in math. If we exclude entirely nonsensical and almost comical rants from folks whose sanity is, at best, questionable, the overwhelming majority of emails are heart warming letters from people who’ve either just discovered, or rediscovered their love of math, and have found this blog to be inspirational. Receiving these letters has helped me think about my editorial line and the overall aim of this blog.

It started as a personal blog and evolved into a site which openly welcomes contributions. This much is certainly true, yet I couldn’t help but ask myself, where is Math-Blog really going? There are plenty of mathematical resources out there on the web, if you know where (and how) to search for them. What’s the point then of this blog’s existence, I couldn’t help but ponder. Aside from my own desire to speak about my great passion for mathematics, I found in these letters all the motivation and reason I needed to make Math-Blog even more prominent amongst online math resources. For you see, there is, in fact, a little known world of people who secretly - or admittedly - have a deep fascination with mathematical subjects, though for one reason or another, didn’t actually end up becoming professional mathematicians. These people have all sorts of skill levels, but more often than not, they’re in need of some catching up (or refreshing) when it comes to the basics of mathematics.

Math can be a lifelong journey of discovery, even for those whose day job has nothing to do with mathematics or who may have fared poorly in an academic math setting. I know people who’ve spent the last 10 years studying Calculus, Real and Complex Analysis, Algebra and Number Theory on their own from advanced university textbooks, purely for the pleasure of learning, and now they’re highly skilled mathematicians - despite their lack of formal mathematical certification (or having never published a single math paper in a peer reviewed journal). This world of mathematicians who approach math out of love, not as a profession, like to be inspired, guided, and helped, especially at the beginning of their journey.

Thinking about all of these points helped me to realize that Math-Blog is capable of becoming an important reference point, a place that is essentially a world of “math for the rest of us”. This is the direction that I’d like to give to Math-Blog, and while I’m aware of the fact that it’ll require more frequent posting on my part and also the creation of introductory material (which I intend to prepare/do from now on), I’m happy to produce such a mathematical environment out of this site. And for those readers who may actually be studying to become, or currently are, a mathematician, or if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and are a high school student, don’t worry, just hang in there and I assure that there’ll be plenty of mathematical fun to be had by all.

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