tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?)

Harry Gindi comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8862)

Harry Gindi — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:41:52 -0700

@Bryan: No, I have a saved copy of the strangest meta discussion ever (or at least the funniest). It was deleted, so I saved the page for posterity.

Ryan Budney comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8861)

Ryan Budney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:07:27 -0700

Have you ever wondered what's inside that keeps us together?
Have you ever wanted to take that knife and discover?

bbischof comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8860)

bbischof — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:50:36 -0700

This has evolved into possibly the strangest meta discussion ever.

Kevin Lin comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8846)

Kevin Lin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:02:03 -0700

When the day is long / And the night, the night is yours alone / When you're sure you've had enough / Of math, well hang on

Harry Gindi comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8845)

Harry Gindi — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:49:12 -0700

@Yemon: That reminded me of:

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown / and things seem hard or tough / and people are stupid, obnoxious, or daft / and you feel that you've had quite enough...

bbischof comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8844)

bbischof — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:01:42 -0700

Yemon Choi comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8843)

Yemon Choi — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:51:59 -0700

When you're weary / Feeling small / When tears are in your eyes / I will dry them all / But probably not on Math Overflow

bbischof comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8842)

bbischof — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:33:04 -0700

From that list it appears that many people on MO find math difficult, and when frustrated with some aspect of it, they look for support from those who have braved the fires... Who knew?

Ryan Budney comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8839)

Ryan Budney — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:30:42 -0700

It seems like about 1 in 10 soft questions address aspects of this question:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/35880/how-to-escape-the-inclination-to-be-a-universalist-or-how-to-learn-to-stop-worry

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/15901/what-does-it-take-to-run-a-good-learning-seminar

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/19356/how-has-what-every-mathematician-should-know-changed

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/33033/how-much-reading-do-you-do-before-you-attack-a-problem

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/24526/good-papers-books-essays-about-the-thought-process-behind-mathematical-research

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/4499/cures-for-mathematicians-block-as-in-writers-block

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/12638/taking-lecture-notes-in-lectures

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/26892/how-do-you-find-out-the-latest-news-in-fields-other-than-your-own

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/9799/how-much-work-does-it-take-to-be-a-successful-mathematician

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/1812/learning-new-mathematics

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/25624/source-of-wisdom-on-how-to-improve-the-ratio-of-time-feeling-fulfilled-to-time-fe

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/451/advice-on-doing-mathematical-research

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5139/how-have-mathematicians-been-raised

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/34215/how-do-professional-mathematicians-learn-new-things

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/28686/what-would-be-good-to-know-before-starting-my-undergraduate-studies-to-become-a-g

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/3951/memorizing-theorems

theojf comments on "How Do You Go About Learning Mathematics?" (8837)

theojf — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:14:45 -0700

I feel like MO has already had plenty of questions that are isomorphic to http://mathoverflow.net/questions/37794/how-do-you-go-about-learning-mathematics , although I don't feel like hunting some down. I do think that MO should have one or two questions in this direction, but not too many. In the short term, my approach is simply not to abstain from the actual question.