The Math Instinct

Author : Keith Devlin
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0786736186
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Math Instinct written by Keith Devlin and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-29 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are two kinds of math: the hard kind and the easy kind. The easy kind, practiced by ants, shrimp, Welsh corgis -- and us -- is innate. What innate calculating skills do we humans have? Leaving aside built-in mathematics, such as the visual system, ordinary people do just fine when faced with mathematical tasks in the course of the day. Yet when they are confronted with the same tasks presented as "math," their accuracy often drops. But if we have innate mathematical ability, why do we have to teach math and why do most of us find it so hard to learn? Are there tricks or strategies that the ordinary person can do to improve mathematical ability? Can we improve our math skills by learning from dogs, cats, and other creatures that "do math"? The answer to each of these questions is a qualified yes. All these examples of animal math suggest that if we want to do better in the formal kind of math, we should see how it arises from natural mathematics. From NPR's "Math Guy" -- The Math Instinct will provide even the most number-phobic among us with confidence in our own mathematical abilities.

Author : Keith J. Devlin
Publisher : Turtleback Books
ISBN 13 : 9781417780655
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Math Instinct written by Keith J. Devlin and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2006-05-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Public Radio's "Math Guy" explains why humans possess a remarkable capacity for "natural" math while offering words of confidence for the multitudes who are afraid of math.

Author : Keith Devlin
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 9780465016198
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Math Gene written by Keith Devlin and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2001-05-17 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is math so hard? And why, despite this difficulty, are some people so good at it? If there's some inborn capacity for mathematical thinking—which there must be, otherwise no one could do it —why can't we all do it well? Keith Devlin has answers to all these difficult questions, and in giving them shows us how mathematical ability evolved, why it's a part of language ability, and how we can make better use of this innate talent.He also offers a breathtakingly new theory of language development—that language evolved in two stages, and its main purpose was not communication—to show that the ability to think mathematically arose out of the same symbol-manipulating ability that was so crucial to the emergence of true language. Why, then, can't we do math as well as we can speak? The answer, says Devlin, is that we can and do—we just don't recognize when we're using mathematical reasoning.

Author : Keith Devlin
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 0465018963
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Unfinished Game written by Keith Devlin and published by . This book was released on 2010-03-23 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the mid-seventeenth century, scholars generally agreed that it was impossible to predict something by calculating mathematical outcomes. One simply could not put a numerical value on the likelihood that a particular event would occur. Even the outcome of something as simple as a dice roll or the likelihood of showers instead of sunshine was thought to lie in the realm of pure, unknowable chance. The issue remained intractable until Blaise Pascal wrote to Pierre de Fermat in 1654, outlining a solution to the "unfinished game" problem: how do you divide the pot when players are forced to.

Author : Andreas Nieder
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262354322
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Brain for Numbers written by Andreas Nieder and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our intuitive understanding of numbers is deeply rooted in our biology, traceable through both evolution and development. Humans' understanding of numbers is intuitive. Infants are able to estimate and calculate even before they learn the words for numbers. How have we come to possess this talent for numbers? In A Brain for Numbers, Andreas Nieder explains how our brains process numbers. He reports that numerical competency is deeply rooted in our biological ancestry; it can be traced through both the evolution of our species and the development of our individual minds. It is not, as it has been traditionally explained, based on our ability to use language. We owe our symbolic mathematical skills to the nonsymbolic numerical abilities that we inherited from our ancestors. The principles of mathematics, Nieder tells us, are reflections of the innate dispositions wired into the brain. Nieder explores how the workings of the brain give rise to numerical competence, tracing flair for numbers to dedicated “number neurons” in the brain. Drawing on a range of methods including brain imaging techniques, behavioral experiments, and twin studies, he outlines a new, integrated understanding of the talent for numbers. Along the way, he compares the numerical capabilities of humans and animals, and discusses the benefits animals reap from such a capability. He shows how the neurobiological roots of the brain's nonverbal quantification capacity are the evolutionary foundation of more elaborate numerical skills. He discusses how number signs and symbols are represented in the brain; calculation capability and the “neuromythology” of mathematical genius; the “start-up tools” for counting and developmental of dyscalculia (a number disorder analogous to the reading disorder dyslexia); and how the brain processes the abstract concept of zero.

Author : Betsy Franco
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416918612
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematickles! written by Betsy Franco and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-07 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of poems written in the form of mathematical problems and grouped according to seasonal themes.

Author : Reuben Hersh
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198027362
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book What Is Mathematics, Really? written by Reuben Hersh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-08-21 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most philosophers of mathematics treat it as isolated, timeless, ahistorical, inhuman. Reuben Hersh argues the contrary, that mathematics must be understood as a human activity, a social phenomenon, part of human culture, historically evolved, and intelligible only in a social context. Hersh pulls the screen back to reveal mathematics as seen by professionals, debunking many mathematical myths, and demonstrating how the "humanist" idea of the nature of mathematics more closely resembles how mathematicians actually work. At the heart of his book is a fascinating historical account of the mainstream of philosophy--ranging from Pythagoras, Descartes, and Spinoza, to Bertrand Russell, David Hilbert, and Rudolph Carnap--followed by the mavericks who saw mathematics as a human artifact, including Aristotle, Locke, Hume, Mill, and Lakatos. What is Mathematics, Really? reflects an insider's view of mathematical life, and will be hotly debated by anyone with an interest in mathematics or the philosophy of science.

Author : Brian Hayes
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262536072
Total Pages : 245 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Foolproof, and Other Mathematical Meditations written by Brian Hayes and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A non-mathematician explores mathematical terrain, reporting accessibly and engagingly on topics from Sudoku to probability. Brian Hayes wants to convince us that mathematics is too important and too much fun to be left to the mathematicians. Foolproof, and Other Mathematical Meditations is his entertaining and accessible exploration of mathematical terrain both far-flung and nearby, bringing readers tidings of mathematical topics from Markov chains to Sudoku. Hayes, a non-mathematician, argues that mathematics is not only an essential tool for understanding the world but also a world unto itself, filled with objects and patterns that transcend earthly reality. In a series of essays, Hayes sets off to explore this exotic terrain, and takes the reader with him. Math has a bad reputation: dull, difficult, detached from daily life. As a talking Barbie doll opined, “Math class is tough.” But Hayes makes math seem fun. Whether he's tracing the genealogy of a well-worn anecdote about a famous mathematical prodigy, or speculating about what would happen to a lost ball in the nth dimension, or explaining that there are such things as quasirandom numbers, Hayes wants readers to share his enthusiasm. That's why he imagines a cinematic treatment of the discovery of the Riemann zeta function (“The year: 1972. The scene: Afternoon tea in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey”), explains that there is math in Sudoku after all, and describes better-than-average averages. Even when some of these essays involve a hike up the learning curve, the view from the top is worth it.

Author : Philip Ball
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199780072
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Music Instinct written by Philip Ball and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-02 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhymes to rock, music has cast its light into every corner of human culture. But why music excites such deep passions, and how we make sense of musical sound at all, are questions that have until recently remained unanswered. Now in The Music Instinct, award-winning writer Philip Ball provides the first comprehensive, accessible survey of what is known--and still unknown--about how music works its magic, and why, as much as eating and sleeping, it seems indispensable to humanity. Deftly weaving together the latest findings in brain science with history, mathematics, and philosophy, The Music Instinct not only deepens our appreciation of the music we love, but shows that we would not be ourselves without it. The Sunday Times hailed it as "a wonderful account of why music matters," with Ball's "passion for music evident on every page."

Author : Jo Boaler
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118418271
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematical Mindsets written by Jo Boaler and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-10-12 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banish math anxiety and give students of all ages a clear roadmap to success Mathematical Mindsets provides practical strategies and activities to help teachers and parents show all children, even those who are convinced that they are bad at math, that they can enjoy and succeed in math. Jo Boaler—Stanford researcher, professor of math education, and expert on math learning—has studied why students don't like math and often fail in math classes. She's followed thousands of students through middle and high schools to study how they learn and to find the most effective ways to unleash the math potential in all students. There is a clear gap between what research has shown to work in teaching math and what happens in schools and at home. This book bridges that gap by turning research findings into practical activities and advice. Boaler translates Carol Dweck's concept of 'mindset' into math teaching and parenting strategies, showing how students can go from self-doubt to strong self-confidence, which is so important to math learning. Boaler reveals the steps that must be taken by schools and parents to improve math education for all. Mathematical Mindsets: Explains how the brain processes mathematics learning Reveals how to turn mistakes and struggles into valuable learning experiences Provides examples of rich mathematical activities to replace rote learning Explains ways to give students a positive math mindset Gives examples of how assessment and grading policies need to change to support real understanding Scores of students hate and fear math, so they end up leaving school without an understanding of basic mathematical concepts. Their evasion and departure hinders math-related pathways and STEM career opportunities. Research has shown very clear methods to change this phenomena, but the information has been confined to research journals—until now. Mathematical Mindsets provides a proven, practical roadmap to mathematics success for any student at any age.