Street-Fighting Math

开始时间: 04/22/2022 持续时间: 7 weeks

所在平台: EdxArchive 课程类别: 其他类别 大学或机构: MITx 授课老师： Isaac Chuang Sanjoy Mahajan

课程主页: https://www.edx.org/archive/street-fighting-math-mitx-6-sfmx

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*Note - This is an Archived course*

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Too much mathematical rigor teaches rigor mortis: the fear of making an unjustified leap even when it lands on a correct result. Instead of paralysis, have courage: Shoot first and ask questions later. Although unwise as public policy, it is a valuable problem-solving philosophy and the theme of this course: how to guess answers without a proof or an exact calculation, in order to develop insight.

You will learn this skill by mastering six reasoning tools---dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, pictorial reasoning, taking out the big part, and analogy. The applications will include mental calculation, estimating population growth rates, understanding drag without differential equations, singing musical intervals to estimate logarithms, approximating integrals, summing infinite series, and turning differential equations into algebra.

Your learning will be supported by regular readings that you discuss with other students, by short tablet videos, by quick problems to help you check your understanding, by weekly homework problems, review and and a final exam. You will work hard, and, by the end of the course, have learned a rough-and-ready approach to using mathematics to understand the world.

All required readings are available within the courseware, courtesy of The MIT Press. A print version of the course textbook, Street-Fighting Math, is also available for purchase. The MIT Press is offering enrolled students a special 30% discount on books ordered directly through the publisher’s website. To take advantage of this offer, please use promotion code SFM30 at The MIT Press. 

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FAQ

• Do I need to buy a textbook?
  • Back in 2010, MIT Press agreed to publish the textbook, *Street-Fighting Mathematics*, under a free license (in print and online).
  • Thus, the book is legally available all over the internet, including on this course platform.
  • As a registered student in this course, you can also purchase a printed book from MIT Press at a discount.
• Do you often get into street fights?
  • The last time was in high school, when I was attacked for being “different” and suspended for fighting back.
  • However, in my problem-solving fights (and now that I’m older!), I regularly use reasoning tools and we’ll do the same in this course.

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This is a past/archived course. At this time, you can only explore this course in a self-paced fashion. Certain features of this course may not be active, but many people enjoy watching the videos and working with the materials. Make sure to check for reruns of this course.

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