Dr. Grimes reminds me of my trigonometry teacher in 11th grade, Ms. Baugh, who asked the class one time, in all seriousness, after our grumbling about the amount of trig homework she assigned, “Don’t you just do math problems for fun?” The answer was a resounding “No.” Me thinks Dr. Grimes would’ve answered “Yes.”
Infinity is evidently quite large.
JewelSeptember 21, 2020, 12:29 PM
I was innumerate until I was a senior in high school. I was sent to the dumb jock class to learn basic math. By the end of my last year, I not only loved math, but wanted more. Our teacher was the football coach. Our team sucked on the field, and so did the band in the stands, but the man could explain math. Later, much later, I discovered Khan Academy and Bach. Bach is pure math.
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHQ2ybTejU
Now, even later in my life, I have discovered the fun of mental math, via Audible, with a series of lectures on calculation from left to right, and this is what we started teaching the boy in the homeschool.
ChrisSeptember 22, 2020, 6:40 AM
Mental math is awesome. Our boys learned it in the German school system. Then we came back to the States and “show your work” math classes. The teachers wouldn’t accept mental math answers, with no work shown. I asked the boys to demonstrate what they were doing. It blew me away.
Rob MuirSeptember 22, 2020, 9:05 AM
This is a great video. It reminds me of a conversation that Richard Feynman reportedly had with a young Henry Bethe. RF told HB that there were twice as many numbers as numbers. HB said that there were not and RF said name a number. HB did and RF just doubled that. That went on for a bit until HB realized that there was no largest number. RF said that is the concept of infinity. The exchange is recreated in the film Infinity with Matthew Broderick.
In grad school, I took a class on Real Analysis from a Brit who reminds me of this guy. I think that we already understood those two types of infinity, and then he introduced us to the Cantor set which has some really strange properties. He showed us how this set is uncountably infinite, nowhere dense, and topologically closed. That was completely counterintuitive. After that class, I really got interested in fractal geometries which offer much the same kind of properties.
I wasn’t and am not that interested in pure math, so engineering is more my thing. When things go uncountable in hardware or software, you generally end up melting down.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Ah noes lots uh numbrs.
22
9
38
45
50
762
308
R u shaykin in ur bootz yit?
Will there be a test? My brain hurts.
Dr. Grimes reminds me of my trigonometry teacher in 11th grade, Ms. Baugh, who asked the class one time, in all seriousness, after our grumbling about the amount of trig homework she assigned, “Don’t you just do math problems for fun?” The answer was a resounding “No.” Me thinks Dr. Grimes would’ve answered “Yes.”
Infinity is evidently quite large.
I was innumerate until I was a senior in high school. I was sent to the dumb jock class to learn basic math. By the end of my last year, I not only loved math, but wanted more. Our teacher was the football coach. Our team sucked on the field, and so did the band in the stands, but the man could explain math. Later, much later, I discovered Khan Academy and Bach. Bach is pure math.
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHQ2ybTejU
Now, even later in my life, I have discovered the fun of mental math, via Audible, with a series of lectures on calculation from left to right, and this is what we started teaching the boy in the homeschool.
Mental math is awesome. Our boys learned it in the German school system. Then we came back to the States and “show your work” math classes. The teachers wouldn’t accept mental math answers, with no work shown. I asked the boys to demonstrate what they were doing. It blew me away.
This is a great video. It reminds me of a conversation that Richard Feynman reportedly had with a young Henry Bethe. RF told HB that there were twice as many numbers as numbers. HB said that there were not and RF said name a number. HB did and RF just doubled that. That went on for a bit until HB realized that there was no largest number. RF said that is the concept of infinity. The exchange is recreated in the film Infinity with Matthew Broderick.
In grad school, I took a class on Real Analysis from a Brit who reminds me of this guy. I think that we already understood those two types of infinity, and then he introduced us to the Cantor set which has some really strange properties. He showed us how this set is uncountably infinite, nowhere dense, and topologically closed. That was completely counterintuitive. After that class, I really got interested in fractal geometries which offer much the same kind of properties.
I wasn’t and am not that interested in pure math, so engineering is more my thing. When things go uncountable in hardware or software, you generally end up melting down.