Fun historical walk through of math.
A great way to learn history. Fun!
And first post ever on an 8 year old show!
Hey TankerToad,
This was not a lot of fun for me. When I first saw it described on Netflix, I was very anxious to see it, but it turned out to be a disappointment to me.
Perhaps I should begin with some personal background information about myself. I was never any great math student, but I certainly could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Plane geometry was a joy because I could "see" how it could be applied to use in life. Algebra I was not difficult, but it was not so easy to see its life applications as I could see with Geometry. I managed to get past Algebra II, but it was difficult, and I really had no clue as to how it would be used. Trigonometry was also difficult, but I did appreciate understanding the relationships between the lengths and angles of a right triangle. In fact, in later years I frequently used trig functions to calculate angles of right triangles in construction work.
My wife has always been less of a math person than I, but somehow we had two daughters who were both far more gifted than their parents were in math. Our youngest daughter actually teaches math in high school, but I give up when I try to learn higher math from her. I guess we all have our limitations.
I watched the first episode in this show, and I was frustrated with it. I did understand the basic math he covered, but I thought he went about it far too quickly. When he went on, his descriptions were simply too fast and too little for me to comprehend. I know how to use the Pythagorean theorem as well as apply it to basic life, but this show just did not do a good job of explaining it.
It is frustrating to have to say I quit after watching the first episode, but I do not think the subject was done well. The history part of the development of math was interesting, but I think that could also have been better. Like I said earlier, I know I have my own personal limitations.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
@Dave Wile - From your comments it seems you thought this 4-part series was intended to teach math, or at least to more thoroughly explain the concepts along the way.
After watching it I didn't see it that way at all. To me it was only intended as a survey of the rich history of Mathematics and some clues as to how different key branches of Mathematics came about. Some by necessity for the business and political environment at the time, and some from sheer fun and excitement of invention.
Unlike how you describe yourself, I am a Maths and Science guy, all through college and graduate school I understood and enjoyed Mathematics and generally made straight-A's. But never gave any thought to how the various Mathematical approaches were developed. I enjoyed this 4-part series, each succeeding part takes us to a more modern time and closer to the Mathematics that make our everyday world possible in modern times.
If the subject was not interesting to you then you did well to stop after part 1. But parts 2, 3, and 4 continue to survey the development of important Mathematics approaches and applications.
But it is a survey, not a Mathematics course. And like any survey its focus is a function of the author, in this case Marcus du Sautoy. If a different prominent Mathematics Historian made a similar series I have no doubt it would have a quite different focus and content.
I like to say, about a program like this, appreciate it for what it offers and don't knock it for what it doesn't offer. No program can be all things to all viewers.
..*.. TxMike ..*..
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
I never thought I would understand algebra, but for some reason I really forced myself.
I knew that math had a purpose and from the little I understood I really wanted to "get"
it, so I forced myself.
Part of it was my study habits, I never used to do the homework, thinking that I would
just remember what I learned and saw in class. That is big mistake, and I would tell
anyone in a any math class, if you do all the homework, especially if you do all the
homework twice, you will get an "A" in the that class ... it is almost as simple as that.
But, I took beginning algebra 3 times, and intermediate algebra two or three times,
I cannot remember. Colege algebra the same I think ... a mixture of algebra and
trig. It was not until I got into calculus and physics that this all started to make sense,
and from then on I got all "A"s and even found that during tests I got problems and
concepts that others missed. They say, it is in calculus that you really start to
understand algebra ... and the key is abstract thinking ... very important.
That said, I am always looking for some book where someone can explain math in a
historical perspective, almost an evolution of mathematical ideas. We see in this series
how slow mathematics evolved and it is a shame that we do not have a way to teach
math so that everyone can get it ... it is not that hard, but it is the key to reasoning,
and subconsciously teaches us how to be critical and employ tools that we need to
be able to see past ordinary perception in the deeper realities of the world.
While I understood the concepts of the program, I totally agree with you. If this does
not teach concepts to people and make them want to learn more then it has failed.
It is a lot like my English teacher used to say what the whole idea of Literature is about,
being able to join the club and knowingly wink at those who have read the same books
and learned the same ideas and frames of reference ... is short another elitist institution.
I am now in the very first episode and I while I am glad someone is making an effort
to populatrize the subject of math, I to am disappointed in the superficiality of this series.
One thing you might want to look at is a series from way back called "Mechanical Universe".
Some of them are here - https://www.learner.org/resources/series42.html - but they are
fairly dry in presentation ... still some of them are very good, and they go into a lot cool
things on the, animating the algebra in equations.