My teenage daughter asked me the same question many months ago and, despite my background in science, I was stumped! Of course, I knew that you need it for science if you wanna go that direction, but what if you don't? This video really nails it: It helps you getting into the habit of thinking in a systematic way! And then to think I have been saying the same thing about studying at university for years!
@@OverlordOfNerds yep and that's where the more important questions should be addressed. Why do we need to push and put pressure to the kids on subject that they're not interested and are stressed out because of it?
You know even before thinking about the optimization my immediate instinct was that the area that was covered that is covered is bullet hole is totally unecessary the engine is supposed to blow up if bullets hit on it.And the fuel tanks can probably take alot more damage before blowing up or something.Probably the result of watching a lot of engineering videos.
Math would be amazing if they werent taught that way. If they were taught as part of actual physical examples. I am a mechanical engineer, I use math every day at work, but i always hated them with a passion.
Up and Atom Not so much. It might have to do with how math is taught in my country, but from what i can see, it is the same around the world. You start with intuitive things (John has 3 apples and Maria gives him another 4 apples) but then they become this arbitrary monster. I know a lot of people that new how to solve integrals just because they had to but only realised what an integral actually is in university. However my experience is not a representative sample.
no I know what you mean. I remember in high school i thought math was easy because it was "just a bunch of rules". Pretty sure most students don't really know what they're doing when they're taking derivatives and performing chain rules.
As an English teacher, I get the, "When will I need this" question a lot. And it's just like you're saying: in a sense they won't. They won't need to chart out plot or solidify their ideas for the theme of a work, but just like you're saying for math, these skills will enhance their lives. The world becomes a richer environment for us to live in when we know how it is put together and how it works. Great video. Thanks for getting people to think. I love it.
Some math is oké, but I still don't know why I had to learn so much about integrals, differentials, and last but not least about 30 rules concerning the use of sinus, cosinus and tanges. On the other hand, some statistical arithmatic made me a lot wiser.
I love this video and the case you present. I completely agree. When I hear the same question, I also like to point out that a HUGE amount of the things we learn in school are not going to be directly required on the job or "on the streets." For example, right from kindergarten we learn things like how to color in the lines, how to play a xylophone, and how to string beads on yarn. I've never had a job that required any of these things, nor has someone "walked up to me on the street" (as students like to put this scenario) and demanded I demonstrate one of these things. Yet these lessons are excellent ways to develop skills as a child and become a more capable and practiced full human being.
I agree! I guess the feeling is especially strong in mathematics because it seems so alien to every day life. But as you said, I have never needed to string beads on yarn but for some reason the question doesn't arise in those instances.
It’s funny how many people are agreeing with you about the importance of math and education, in general. However, this comment section and the others like it are like the planes returning with all the bullet holes in the fuselage-we’re missing the ones that are actually getting shot down! I’d like to hear some comments from students who think math and education is useless! They represent the planes getting shot down!
The things you learn in kindergarten or elementary school don't require a lot of time to learn. Math such as Algebra, calculus take so much time to learn, and take time away from learning things that are practical and useful in everyday life.
So I definitely used to be one of those "when am I ever going to use maths" people. Fast-forward a few years and I'm reading papers based on set theory and working my own piece that looks at a messy mix of maths and stats towards a general theory of Congressional roll-call votes. I'm never going to be a full-blown mathematician or statistician but, by learning the logic underlying those fields, I'm a much better social scientist, educator, and consumer of information. And, also, math and physics is also just pretty dang cool-- as many of your videos easily points out. This collaboration was a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying going through and checking out everyone's videos!
Haha oh, so did I. Pretty sure everyone in my maths class was one of those people. That's why I wanted to make this video. And even if you're not going to be a mathematician, maths is so cool! If only teachers taught more of the conceptual stuff behind the exercises than just focusing on rote learning, that would be great. I'm just about to go through the playlist!
Math can be very useful in programming, at least some kinds -- game programming is especially math heavy. I use a lot of math to mod Minecraft (especially algebra, geometry, set theory, and graph theory), and even have used even more when tinkering with making my game or engine (then the calculus and linear algebra come into play) -- not to mention that algorithms fundamentally are math and designing them is also what makes programming fun.
I taught for years math quite successfully. And have a degree in physics. I highly disagree. The logic of math should be taught, not the endless useless drills and exercises. It can very much be done, but schools would have to completely change their curriculum
Great vid!! I loved the intro bit with the chalkboard and the take-away message :-) Also, the faint spotlight you added to the background has added a lot of depth to the shot. Huge improvement!
I have never understood maths above simple calculation. I was "bottom of the class" in maths for years, and since I left school (to become a journalist) I have avoided maths as much as possible. I don't think I've missed anything, it's never been "important" to me. I've certainly never needed it (apart from some very simple calculation from time to time). There are other ways of exercising and using the mind.
Brain development and staying sharp is big with me. Although I love physics, the math involved sometimes gets difficult to weather I get through the hard mathematics by doing a couple of things: 1. Simply thinking to myself I'm improving my overall brain cognition. 2. Knowing that in order to be "find things out deeply" since I'm insatiably curious, I have to understand the mathematics behind physical phenomena (I aspire to be a PHd physicist). I think the key for educators is to teach people to think of their personal drivers, in other words their "why," to find the significance of mathematics and science in general. If they're into sports, appeal to that as you've done here. If they're into fashion, appeal to that. Mathematics is everywhere and we should always strive to understand the things that makes us ask questions. Loved your video!
Thank you! I agree. During my physics degree math was definitely very taxing and I tried to avoid it if I could. But some things you simply can't understand without doing the math (basically all of quantum physics lol). You miss out on some amazing and wonderful things if you try to avoid it. But math is also very useful just in itself. I think it's because it's so abstract that it is difficult to see the end goal or what you are doing when you solve all these equations and learn techniques. Which is a shame, but it's also just the nature of it.
This needs to be told every kid in primary school and high school. I wasn't the best at math and didn't appreciate it, only as I got older I understood why its important.
Great video, again 😄 The problem with maths is that it takes a lot to become fluent enough to use it as a « natural tool », without even thinking, but when you can do it, it is very powerful, allowing you to easily recognize trends and patterns and even more, to formalize them like : « uh, this behaves like an exponential » and to think further (what can possibly be the reason for this particular behavior).
Fantastic practical explanation! Math is a fully immersive and reflective discipline that is unmatched, and can be applied to anything. I find myself wanting to circle back to things I didn't understand so that I can develop more as a thinker.
Well said. I have found myself using things I didnt even realize I had learned in school. Its a shame we have lost so much curiosity, as a group. Life is so much richer when you keep asking questions.
I wish math had been taught this way when I went to college. Engineering school would have been much more pleasant, my professors made it about as enjoyable as a root canal. I actually enjoy math and use it daily in my work as an electrical engineer. Thank you for the wonderful videos. By the way I had the same look in class as the one in your video. Keep up the awesome work!
If my teacher thought math this way I would have enjoyed the story very well. Then after the actual math class starts. As usual, it will be some mumbo jumbo that don't fit in my brain cells. 😄
Came here from Joe Scott. Math was my minor subject at university. And apart from giving me the opportunity to meet my (then future) wife, I think having an understanding about math helps me in my daily life by letting my take up and evaluate anything that has to do with numbers really quickly and without having to put hard mental work into it. Which is quite useful if you read stuff like news articles with some numbers they took from who knows where and use to make you feel a certain way. Or if you read so called statistics done by anti-vaxxers on their websites...
This is one of those rare videos I'm going to show my kids when they are just old enough for the message to sink in. Thank you for your awesome videos!
Honestly calc 2 and diff eq were my favorite classes and Ik those aren’t super high level math classes but it was just very interesting to learn all those processes for solving
Thanks you, Jade. I'm a private pilot and former EAA member who used to fly experimental (amateur-built) aircraft. And had an interest in statistics. One of the statistical stories I read about involved the question of where to add armor for carrier-based fighters. They were being shot up in the engine compartment and the fuel tanks but some were still making it back for landing--or sometimes ditching near the carrier and being rescued. But not a single plane had been shot in the empenage (tail cone) where the elevator cable pulley was located. If you lose your elevator the nose pitches down and you crash into the sea. So that's one of the places where they added armor. It was practical because the empennage is so small it involved little weight penalty. I once saw a British aerobatic pilot (Manx Kelly, sponsored by Players--as in "Players Please") lose his elevator while performing a Cuban Eight in Corona CA (early 1970's). He did not survive.
I understand that mathematics may help with reasoning and critical thinking, but to make it like a tool to see who is more intelligent is flawed. I mean what if in a hypothetical situation a young student dislikes math and isn't naturally good at it, thus making her GPA drop. But in other fields like art and English, she excells at it. So after graduation and applying for an art college, she gets declined because of her low GPA which was caused by her inability to pass math classes during school. Math is a pill that when taken the right amount, can be useful, but when overdosed, it will impair students to be successful . Making higher math like calculus and trigonometry an obligation to credit requirements is irrational and useless. Which is ironic because math was supposed to teach to rationalize.
@Mohammed Elmouhsine The point still stands. They're two of the most difficult courses a student's final year of secondary school math may hold, yet also two of the most commonly seen throughout American and European school systems. They are the highest forms of math available to most people throughout their final year. Ergo, 'higher' math.
The point isn’t to obligate the learning of something they’ll never use. It’s to familiarize them with mathematics that was invented 400 years ago! The average joe doesn’t know how google works, how weather behaves, or the algorithms used by tik tok, Facebook, or amazon, much less about how money is managed around the world by quantitative hedge funds and investment banks. People should be aware of how all of these things work
There's people like me whose GPA was lower because of art, literature, history. We should definitely make art and English not mandatory then, right? And gym too, when are you going to use those squats in real life?
2 things: fyoo suh laazh is how you are supposed to pronounce fuselage. The most vulnerable part of the plane I think would be the pilot, since if the engine is shot out, there is still a chance the plane can be landed (or ditched) safely. With no pilot, that doesn't seem likely.
This is an awesome video. I have a math minor, computer science major, but I never understood why everyone needed to learn math. My wife passed College Algebra with a failing grade (a very high F), because I was friendly with her teacher (having the majority of my classes in his department) and begged him to pass her. (She needed that one class to graduate and it was her last semester) So I guess I see why it's important we try to understand math. I don't think it should be a requirement for us to pass.
I'm a math tutor and get this question from students all the time. My typical reply goes something like this: "It's not a matter of WHO uses it; it's a matter of the utility of mathematics in general. We have math to thank for the modern world full of amazing technology in which we live. Math is among the MOST practical tools ever developed by humanity. Since we can never know for sure which students will grow up to apply math toward the benefit of society, we need to make sure all students are at least given the chance. Better to know it and not need it than to need it and not know it." Humanity on the whole needs mathematics in order to thrive, make progress, and accomplish our goals. Being a student in math class means being a part of something larger than yourself -- it's part of being human. (Speaking from experience: most students have a difficult time arguing their way out of that one!😂)
i get that we need to learn numbers and and multiplication etc. but after 6th grade it just gets more complicated and harder to memorize. its not like im going to remember it after 2 years of not doing it.
Well, it depends. Most of the time math is taught as a collection of nonsensensical rules and formulas. That doesn't develop your thinking at all. So I disagree.
Sorry I'm replying a month later. It's true that, while math may include logical thinking, it does inevitably have some rote learning. Hell, that's true for most science subjects, like having to memorize scientific laws and principles. But it's about the way you APPLY those formulas. If all you had to do was memorize the formulas and use them without thinking twice, math would be the easiest subject ever. There's different, unique and creative ways to use those formulas, it's not the same question over and over again. And there's also the fact that there's certain conditions of when NOT to use those formulas. If you keep practicing these questions, you'll definitely become more open minded and start to use more brainpower.
When I started to take math more seriously, I realized that my thought process was becoming sharper, I’m not a smart person at all, but I’m starting to develop skills that I never thought I was capable of.
So nice to be able to enjoy a a math/science documentary without being distracted by unnecessary, annoying background music - therefore I will subscribe. Thank you for your informative, enjoyable lecture Jade - please keep it up.
Maths - Only helps in increasing understand potential and solving in daily life Physics - Does what maths does + actually helpful more in daily life + is everywhere around us + new technologies and inventions could be made So overall if you taught people advanced physics .. it will help them in what math does + other benefits too So what I want to say is dont teach advanced integrals and differenciation or other concepts that are not applied in our daily life Instead teach advanced physics. Right?
Software like Maxima, Geogebra, MathCad etc helps a lot with skipping the boring part of math, by symbolically or numerically solving the equations, leaving us with the fun part: building models and interpreting results. Always heated solving equations, computers can do that in most cases 😉
I would not be able to watch this video without my phone ,breaking the EM waves into 0's and 1's(Fourier Transform).. because of mathematics,So, it is useful ! Normal people dont see that beacuse they are not breaking the waves into 0's and 1's by themselves.. computers do that that's why most people think maths isn't useful but deep down we all know.. math is everything
I am an electronics engineer and now I develop software for image processing. My problem is precisely the opposite: the maths I learned in school is far too simple for my everyday needs and I always have to make research. For a simple brightness and contrast adjustment, I encountered a problem of fractional functional iteration. For high dynamic range imaging, the most effective and efficient approach is to solve constrained optimization problems with millions of unknowns. Noise reduction is often formulated as a nonlinear partial differential equation. Speed is important, therefore Remez and Padé approximations are all over the place. When teaching print to my students, I had to show plots of 6-dimensional functions. I used 4-dimensional Gaussian quadrature to estimate the error un a 3D reconstruction. Mathematical models of photographic film often involve hypergeometric functions. And in a program that reduces the atmospheric turbulence in photos taken from a long distance, I had to use e Fox-Wright function, which is a hypergeometric function generalized 2 times. And finally, since human vision is involved, physiology and psychology also have an impirtant role.
I agree with the video, but the argument feels pretty weak. As a college student in my fourth semester of calculus, there are loads of actual uses for the concepts of what I'm learning. Will I ever need to know how to anything that wolfram alpha could do for me irl. No. And in fact, the second half of differential equations is essentially nullifying the usefulness of the first half by giving us Laplace transformations to solve differential equations. I don't feel like I've wasted my time with the nitty grittyness of calc though. But this is only because I love the process of doing math. If I hated math, I would not feel satisfied at all with my time in math classes in terms of the ratio work:usefulness. If you don't like math, math will suck. Be prepared and assess if stem is really a field that you want to dedicate your life to.
I had exactly these thoughts in my early maths classes. But pretty soon I found I was using bits of this stuff designing radios. Now, many years later, I have used all of it and much more designing components of spacecraft, from communications to experiments. I would be lost without an ability to do advanced maths. Now of course I don't have to perform the actual calculations - Mathcad, Matlab etc do that stuff for me. But I still need to understand what the correct calculation is. And most of all I need sufficient insight to recognise a right answer from a wrong one.
It doesn’t matter ultimately if you can perform the calculation, you need to be able to know how to *set up the problem* or even *recognize which calculation to do*
Math has tons of applications. If the purpose of mathematics in schooling was to train reasoning ability, then replacing math courses with logic courses should be advocated for by your reasoning. Your argument also has a flaw since somebody who disagreed could just respond "then why don't you exercise the reasoning faculty of children by having them do activities that are both reasoning intensive AND directly applicable?"
Thanks for the perfect video. I am a teacher of mathematics and physics. You know, every person, when he gets on a plane, believes that the plane will take him safely to where he needs to be, everyone who drives a car believes that it will take him safely to where he wants to go, everyone believes that economists will calculate a fair salary for him, whether old age pension. Every day, we rely on a PC or a mobile phone, or on the correct exact time. Etc. As you can see, everyone just believes. But there are people (scientists, technicians...) who initially believed that such a thing was possible, but then they realized their dreams into our everyday reality. I hate celebrities who publicly state that they never needed math or physics. Yes, it is a tragedy when those people who do not understand mathematics or physics at all make majors of people who are experts in math and physics. How can they objectively assess the amount of work done by mathematicians, physicists, technicians...?Finally, I will mention the old Indian saying that all evil comes from human stupidity. Eliminate human stupidity and you eliminate evil and therefore wars. (that could be the motto of the misses:-)) Although we will not completely eradicate stupidity through education, we will at least limit it.
I think the basic gist of this video works for me. I would point out notation like integrals symbol are not math. Math is human cognition that uses various technologies to ‘count’. From that it seems to me this observation offers insight about what to do mathematically as you apply to the fighter example. From a neuro scientific standpoint linking math to thought is an open question. A starting place might be subitizing or perhaps comparing various counting species of animals. Mathematical notation is one guesstimate of how to externally express internal counting if you will.
Mechatronics engineer here, no, not me nor my professor(s) are using math other than university curriculum. And personally, students should not waist their youth by hammering them with how complicated math could be. It is like training with 100kg dumbbells. Some may do it but its the wrong way to train 🚉. However, it becomes really really simple (a matter of plug and play) once you use it. Have you ever made your own rendering engine? That can optimize your product?
Interesting video, but I still wish I didn’t have to spend 1/3 of my life doing stuff that I’ll never use. There are other ways to build the same type of thinking skills such as puzzles, watching videos, and even video games.
Hmm. You are so adorable. I have read Jordan Ellenberg's book twice. I should read it again as I am forgetful and it is full of worthwhile ideas. It really is a great book and I am very pleased to see you promoting it. A long time ago I spent almost twelve years of my life teaching high school math at a small community college. I answered the question: "When will I ever use this math?" with blunt honestly. I told my students that they would probably never use any of it. Certainly my pre-nursing students could expect NEVER to have to prove a trigonometric identity while practicing as a nurse. However, proving trigonometric identities is fun. That is why we do it. For the fun of it. Also, because I will not give you a passing mark in the course until you prove them and you will never get into your nursing program without a passing mark in my course. So, even if it does not seem like fun, make it fun. My students were fine with this. I was enthusiastic about my teaching as I believe mathematics is beautiful and fun. I liked giving students some understanding and mastery. By doing so they become independent. They can see that truth is something that is part of reality and not just something made up by someone with the biggest gun. I also liked to show them that with practice and understanding they could become competent and confident with respect to any mathematics they might someday encounter.
Of what use is tennis, chess, bridge or math? Tennis keeps one's body fit but injuries often occur if one plays long and hard enough. Chess, bridge, and math keep one's mind fit but many adherents do experience mental breakdowns if one practices them long and hard enough. However, unlike chess and bridge, math can sometimes (but not always) be useful in improving or diminishing the basic conditions of living. Calculus has proven very useful in engineering improvements in living (transportation, refrigeration, electricity, computers, internet, etc.) but, sadly, also in the making of weapons. However, Fermat's Last Theorem seems to have very little effect on the lives of non-mathematicians, as interesting and exciting as it is to me.
I never truly said “when will this be useful too me” but I wish that someone would assess how much math is being taught. Im not a person to argue with learning (I love Learning, I do a lot of history, English, and science on my own spare time for fun) but the amount of math were learning is used later in university for fields that it is needed in. I guess that’s truly why they teach it all. So they don’t have to go over it in university for those who have peeked interests in the science field and of course “Math”
I wish I had you for a math teacher! My math teachers who used "practical examples" held my attention better than teachers who would drone on about theory.
mathematics cultivates the right mindset and aptitude for solving problems , the mentality with which you attack maths problems can be the mentality with which you attack your personal life problems.
There are a few mathematicians who realize that what is being taught is actually just the mechanics of math and not really the reasoning and concepts behind it. I excelled in math in college and won half a dozen junior math contests in high school and agree with changing our math programs to focus on the concepts of math rather than the mechanics of manipulating equations. We all use math and calculus every day when we drive our cars: how much speed and acceleration are needed to safely go around a corner, how hard to push the brake pedal to come to a complete stop at a stop light, how much further can I travel with the amount of gas in my tank etcetera. How about estimating the time for the water to fill our hemispherical bathroom sink? Delivering unit impulses to metallic fastening devices (hammering nails).
I want to learn math from the beginning for precisely this reason. To be a better thinker and problem solver. Not done math for a very long time in my 30s
Just came across you channel as a random YT recommendation .. watched one and now I'm hooked and subbed!! Your content is brilliant. Keep up the great work.
Even the shapes of relatively familiar everyday objects rely on math; for example, if you want to make a box of a certain volume that consists of as little material as possible, then you can do that by taking a bunch of partial derivatives and finding the x- and y-values from those solutions.
@@FffXdhgf Yes, but one specific shape will require as little material as possible for a given volume, and this is interesting from an economical perspective. For example, a closed cuboid box will have minimum material when all sides have the same length.
I’m studying history and oriental studies and I’ve never came across situation, where I thought I absolutely needed maths but I understand your points. Great video btw 👍
genie: aalambana.. You have three wishes.. me: I wish there was no maths genie: Your wish is granted. You have no more wishes. Moral of the Story: Math is important
U didn't change my mind, i have no passion nor a desire to learn maths and yet the school system forces me to master it. For me the maths that are actually important is in primary school, the rest are all useless (if you don't want to be scientists, engineer, etc.). Reasoning and critikal thinking, in my opinion, is sharpened more in sosiologi and history, which i am already currently learning. So at least for now i dont know why im learning math and what for, and i hope the school system changes for future students in my country.
Well i am super convinced that every one should learn math but i presume it would be better to practice it solving real life problems than just keep doing integrals and memorize formulas that help you along the way almost in every single math problem just this is the way i think math should be taught , few days ago i asked my self why do we care about parabolas and guess what ,the answer was parabolas are used to model lots of real life applications ,satellite dishes take the shape of parabola and of course there is a reason , when signals hit the dish all of them have been directed to the focus to be collected there , that is just one example as an electrical engineer math is used all the time to model things Yeah your accent is so nice it seems to be it is British
The problem is more that we are being taught the wrong branch of math. Basic statistical concept are very useful. A bit of logic training in analysis(proofs) is helpful. But the current tendency is pushing calculus, which is not nearly as useful. I suspect it have to do with calculus being considered the classical real/high tier math that is the building block of many fields should you want to go beyond the basic level. But as most people don't need to go beyond the basic level in any of those field... it's just wasteful.
You don't need to know everything, and you CAN'T know everything, but you really should know at least SOMETHING that takes some effort to know. Math is one of those options. There are many other options as well. A lot of young people, at least in America, are hoping they don't need to know something that takes some effort to know. Some mature out of this phase, and some sadly don't.
Now I can die in Peace. Btw, i tried clearing my Applied Maths paper for 2 years...didnt happened. So i quit studies. But i still miss physics. Not Maths ;-)
Love the new background! Also this chapter reminds me of a chapter in "Thinking, Fast and Slow" about regression to the mean. If you haven't read it I highly suggest it :) Also, great video!!
Think of it this way, reality is an ocean and you need a boat to sail it. Your boat is made of your knowledge, wisdom, creativity and some other things. The more knowledge and wisdom you have, the better your boat. Creativity helps organize and make stuff.
Hey,, that's the same analogy I use in my high school math classes I teach (except I say push-ups and running laps around the soccer field instead of weight- training and cones). Anyway, great video. I am going to show it to my classes tomorrow.
The title ‘ why you need to learn maths ‘ me who literally figured that 9x2 is 18 and 9x3 is 27 meaning the first letter goes up and the second letter goes down same for 8 multiplication but 2 -
The plane analogy while mostly right was partially flawed. The idea of the planes getting hit more often center mass, and that being the issue was based off of an assumption that “is most likely a decent factor” that center mass is what would be aimed for by shooting a loads of ammunition or “vectors” at. So there might be a chance the center of the aircrafts did indeed on average see more holes. Incidentally with those factors it could be a plausible assumption that the majority of the downed planes also received the same location ratio of damage. What the guy you were talking about was assuming, is that every square inch of the plane had an equal probability of being hit. There for his conclusion of where the surviving plans were not hit, is what signified a grater ratio of downed planes. Either case could be correct. I guess it comes down to how accurate the gunners were.
I think unless you are going to become an engineer or STEM student, you will never use that level of math. You would do just fine with technical math, business math, or math for the trades. Yes, some of these courses do use algebra, but at algebra I or maybe II. But most just use math below the algebra level. They say you use algebra everyday but don't realize it and that is true. But, numbers are used instead of letters (variables). Square roots, signed numbers and a few other subjects in algebra I may be useful, but not all of the other operations. Geometry and Trigonometry can be done without higher levels of algebra. I have been successful at using what I have indicated for 30 years and never had a problem not using the whole algebra I course. I worked as an electrician and electronic technician. I have never been without a calculator in my pocket. Calculus should be reserved for those going on to college.
advanced Math, you will not use in you daily life....but you will indirectly say with your diploma to you future Boss, like "If i could learn advanced university Math be sure i can learn job you offer me now..." and one more thing with benefits of doing math is learning how to learn think in several steps in future...to know risks etc
Phew, so glad you referenced 'How Not to Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg. I've read it and was watching thinking 'hope she credits the Ellenberg book, because this is mostly from that book". And you did. Great book, I highly recommend it.
I have shared this video to many of my friends that even they could understand why we learn mathematics problem and where we gonna use them ! Very unique video ! Best wishes for ur new videos 💐💐💐💐💐💐
If you learn math, you will have the confidence to learn science, and science explains how the world really works. That damn equals sign means when you make an argument on the one side, you damn well better prove it on the other.
Mathematics is just the highest abstraction of all problems...but what’s a problem? Life is about being in a certain state and working toward a better state and avoiding a worse state. The difference between the current state (given) and the desired state (objective) is what all problems are. The path between those two states is the solution. States are assigned values in order to determine which states are desirable and which states are not desirable (abhorrent ,for the linguists). Your emotions are responsible for assigning these values and that’s about the extent of their usefulness in problem solving. The rest of problem solving occurs in the cerebrum. The cerebrum has a singular purpose: solve problems. Guess how the cerebrum solves problems: mathematics. Mathematics isn’t the symbols we use to generalize ideas that span many different and distinct instances of reality. Mathematics is the concepts those symbols represent. This is why humans have so many words for relationships between different kinds of ideas: similes, metaphors, allegories, allusions, analogies, mnemonic devices, and others. Neurons abstract reality to make processing easier. Colors don’t exist. A they are merely symbols to represent various frequencies of light. Odors and flavors don’t exist. They are merely symbols to represent various chemical reactions. All of these symbols are possible through variations/differences/distinction...variables. Humans learn trigonometry and calculus before they learn their first letter. How do you think depth perception is possible? The question isn’t “when am I ever going to use this?” because your brain uses it subconsciously all the time already. Millions of distinct calculations are conducted every third of a second (P300 wave). The actual question is, “When am I ever going to need to use it consciously?” You never NEED to use mathematics consciously, but life is much easier if you do. Remember, your brain is designed to solve problems, and mathematics is the ultimate abstraction of solving all problems.
My physics professor posed a problem: if you have a large army and you need to invade an enemy strong hold, but there are 8 paths which all will crumble if you send your whole army across any of them, what do you do? If you can answer that, then you can answer a very similar problem: if radiation can kill the cancer cells of a tumor, but that radiation will also destroy all the healthy tissue along its path, what do you do? Two, obviously, different instances of reality, but they both abstract to the same idea: split your forces/radiation across multiple paths to converge at the same point.
I sort of agree, but problems arise when people opting to go to a school to study something that doesn't use math past algebra, can't go because they got bad grades in calculus. Like should a language interpreter fail to enter a university for getting a D- in pre-calc in high school? In my college a philosophy liberal arts major student needs to take 10 physics classes! Like, c'mon.
interesting video. but, i think an example of set theory would have been better to come up with the missing planes and the integrals perhaps for figuring out the amount of armor, to show people how it's useful
I wish someone would have told me that 20 years ago, in a convincing and believable way. Like you did.. Too late for me, but thanks.... Actually putting real effort in math class was not pointless, after all. Having a more powerful brain is always worth the effort, no matter how hard it seems at the time you are doing the heavy lifting
My teenage daughter asked me the same question many months ago and, despite my background in science, I was stumped! Of course, I knew that you need it for science if you wanna go that direction, but what if you don't? This video really nails it: It helps you getting into the habit of thinking in a systematic way! And then to think I have been saying the same thing about studying at university for years!
haha now you can show her this video! I'm interested to hear what she has to say :)
Math is also the reason for millions of suicides
@@TheAmazingRaptor It is not maths, it is pressure from the education system
@@OverlordOfNerds yep and that's where the more important questions should be addressed. Why do we need to push and put pressure to the kids on subject that they're not interested and are stressed out because of it?
You know even before thinking about the optimization my immediate instinct was that the area that was covered that is covered is bullet hole is totally unecessary the engine is supposed to blow up if bullets hit on it.And the fuel tanks can probably take alot more damage before blowing up or something.Probably the result of watching a lot of engineering videos.
Math would be amazing if they werent taught that way. If they were taught as part of actual physical examples. I am a mechanical engineer, I use math every day at work, but i always hated them with a passion.
haha a mechanical engineer that hates math? that's unusual :)
Up and Atom Not so much. It might have to do with how math is taught in my country, but from what i can see, it is the same around the world.
You start with intuitive things (John has 3 apples and Maria gives him another 4 apples) but then they become this arbitrary monster.
I know a lot of people that new how to solve integrals just because they had to but only realised what an integral actually is in university. However my experience is not a representative sample.
no I know what you mean. I remember in high school i thought math was easy because it was "just a bunch of rules". Pretty sure most students don't really know what they're doing when they're taking derivatives and performing chain rules.
@Joel Penley biased math teacher agreeing with you
@@upandatom (a+b)2=a2+2ab+b2
What I do with this in my life?????????????
As an English teacher, I get the, "When will I need this" question a lot. And it's just like you're saying: in a sense they won't. They won't need to chart out plot or solidify their ideas for the theme of a work, but just like you're saying for math, these skills will enhance their lives. The world becomes a richer environment for us to live in when we know how it is put together and how it works. Great video. Thanks for getting people to think. I love it.
haha yeah but by the time you've said all that they've stopped paying attention...
More than imp.,english definitely plays huge role in communicarion skill
right now theres a few billionaires that has math major. even elon musk has physics major. so the answer is simple. to be a billionaire.
I love learning maths but dont like learning english
we need language proficiency. look at how kids in school talk. dont know 50 words in total.
Some math is oké, but I still don't know why I had to learn so much about integrals, differentials, and last but not least about 30 rules concerning the use of sinus, cosinus and tanges. On the other hand, some statistical arithmatic made me a lot wiser.
It's practice for your logic circuits.
If someone asks you "when are you ever going to use this?" Proudly say: "Never! But... I am soooo damn great at it!"
I love this video and the case you present. I completely agree.
When I hear the same question, I also like to point out that a HUGE amount of the things we learn in school are not going to be directly required on the job or "on the streets." For example, right from kindergarten we learn things like how to color in the lines, how to play a xylophone, and how to string beads on yarn. I've never had a job that required any of these things, nor has someone "walked up to me on the street" (as students like to put this scenario) and demanded I demonstrate one of these things. Yet these lessons are excellent ways to develop skills as a child and become a more capable and practiced full human being.
I agree! I guess the feeling is especially strong in mathematics because it seems so alien to every day life. But as you said, I have never needed to string beads on yarn but for some reason the question doesn't arise in those instances.
It’s funny how many people are agreeing with you about the importance of math and education, in general. However, this comment section and the others like it are like the planes returning with all the bullet holes in the fuselage-we’re missing the ones that are actually getting shot down! I’d like to hear some comments from students who think math and education is useless! They represent the planes getting shot down!
The things you learn in kindergarten or elementary school don't require a lot of time to learn. Math such as Algebra, calculus take so much time to learn, and take time away from learning things that are practical and useful in everyday life.
Math as mental exercise is a great motivator. Use it or lose it!
haha I've unfortunately somewhat lost it :(
I requested you to make video on how to study maths, you didn't. Please do. Socratica
Math help people make a right discussion.
And the source of stress
Why would i even use it as motivator
Math motivates me to kill myself.
So I definitely used to be one of those "when am I ever going to use maths" people. Fast-forward a few years and I'm reading papers based on set theory and working my own piece that looks at a messy mix of maths and stats towards a general theory of Congressional roll-call votes. I'm never going to be a full-blown mathematician or statistician but, by learning the logic underlying those fields, I'm a much better social scientist, educator, and consumer of information. And, also, math and physics is also just pretty dang cool-- as many of your videos easily points out.
This collaboration was a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying going through and checking out everyone's videos!
Haha oh, so did I. Pretty sure everyone in my maths class was one of those people. That's why I wanted to make this video. And even if you're not going to be a mathematician, maths is so cool! If only teachers taught more of the conceptual stuff behind the exercises than just focusing on rote learning, that would be great.
I'm just about to go through the playlist!
@@sunchi11 you're an idiot.
Math can be very useful in programming, at least some kinds -- game programming is especially math heavy. I use a lot of math to mod Minecraft (especially algebra, geometry, set theory, and graph theory), and even have used even more when tinkering with making my game or engine (then the calculus and linear algebra come into play) -- not to mention that algorithms fundamentally are math and designing them is also what makes programming fun.
I taught for years math quite successfully. And have a degree in physics.
I highly disagree. The logic of math should be taught, not the endless useless drills and exercises.
It can very much be done, but schools would have to completely change their curriculum
oh wow well said, coming from someone with integrity too!
Great vid!! I loved the intro bit with the chalkboard and the take-away message :-) Also, the faint spotlight you added to the background has added a lot of depth to the shot. Huge improvement!
Thanks! Michael Moore from Brain Candy TV gave me the tip at vidcon!
I have never understood maths above simple calculation. I was "bottom of the class" in maths for years, and since I left school (to become a journalist) I have avoided maths as much as possible.
I don't think I've missed anything, it's never been "important" to me.
I've certainly never needed it (apart from some very simple calculation from time to time). There are other ways of exercising and using the mind.
nitwit
@@IkarimTheCreature Kindly refrain from abuse
Brain development and staying sharp is big with me. Although I love physics, the math involved sometimes gets difficult to weather I get through the hard mathematics by doing a couple of things:
1. Simply thinking to myself I'm improving my overall brain cognition.
2. Knowing that in order to be "find things out deeply" since I'm insatiably curious, I have to understand the mathematics behind physical phenomena (I aspire to be a PHd physicist).
I think the key for educators is to teach people to think of their personal drivers, in other words their "why," to find the significance of mathematics and science in general. If they're into sports, appeal to that as you've done here. If they're into fashion, appeal to that. Mathematics is everywhere and we should always strive to understand the things that makes us ask questions. Loved your video!
Thank you! I agree. During my physics degree math was definitely very taxing and I tried to avoid it if I could. But some things you simply can't understand without doing the math (basically all of quantum physics lol). You miss out on some amazing and wonderful things if you try to avoid it. But math is also very useful just in itself. I think it's because it's so abstract that it is difficult to see the end goal or what you are doing when you solve all these equations and learn techniques. Which is a shame, but it's also just the nature of it.
This needs to be told every kid in primary school and high school. I wasn't the best at math and didn't appreciate it, only as I got older I understood why its important.
@@user-hz9om2ry3h you really missed the message here.
In a simplified manner in primary school, but sure
Great video, again 😄
The problem with maths is that it takes a lot to become fluent enough to use it as a « natural tool », without even thinking, but when you can do it, it is very powerful, allowing you to easily recognize trends and patterns and even more, to formalize them like : « uh, this behaves like an exponential » and to think further (what can possibly be the reason for this particular behavior).
Fantastic practical explanation! Math is a fully immersive and reflective discipline that is unmatched, and can be applied to anything. I find myself wanting to circle back to things I didn't understand so that I can develop more as a thinker.
Well said. I have found myself using things I didnt even realize I had learned in school. Its a shame we have lost so much curiosity, as a group. Life is so much richer when you keep asking questions.
I wish math had been taught this way when I went to college. Engineering school would have been much more pleasant, my professors made it about as enjoyable as a root canal. I actually enjoy math and use it daily in my work as an electrical engineer. Thank you for the wonderful videos. By the way I had the same look in class as the one in your video. Keep up the awesome work!
If my teacher thought math this way
I would have enjoyed the story very well.
Then after the actual math class starts. As usual, it will be some mumbo jumbo that don't fit in my brain cells. 😄
The soccer analogy is perfect. Great video, as always!
everybody uses mathematics to play pool
The Problem is not about Math it's about the way they teach math, Great video thanks
Came here from Joe Scott. Math was my minor subject at university. And apart from giving me the opportunity to meet my (then future) wife, I think having an understanding about math helps me in my daily life by letting my take up and evaluate anything that has to do with numbers really quickly and without having to put hard mental work into it. Which is quite useful if you read stuff like news articles with some numbers they took from who knows where and use to make you feel a certain way. Or if you read so called statistics done by anti-vaxxers on their websites...
This is one of those rare videos I'm going to show my kids when they are just old enough for the message to sink in. Thank you for your awesome videos!
Alright. You changed my mind. :D
Not me
@@sunchi11 same
@@J0hnHenrySNEEDen Maybe if it's tought wrongly, but math isn't like that on its own.
Honestly calc 2 and diff eq were my favorite classes and Ik those aren’t super high level math classes but it was just very interesting to learn all those processes for solving
0:47 the real problem is when propeller is not spining while flying by aeroplane
the animation at 4:17 had me laughing so hard hahaha. great video
Glad I could make you laugh Jabril :)
😂😂😂😂
Hey Jabrils this is really awesome to see you here before 2 years 🙄
Thanks you, Jade. I'm a private pilot and former EAA member who used to fly experimental (amateur-built) aircraft. And had an interest in statistics. One of the statistical stories I read about involved the question of where to add armor for carrier-based fighters. They were being shot up in the engine compartment and the fuel tanks but some were still making it back for landing--or sometimes ditching near the carrier and being rescued. But not a single plane had been shot in the empenage (tail cone) where the elevator cable pulley was located. If you lose your elevator the nose pitches down and you crash into the sea. So that's one of the places where they added armor. It was practical because the empennage is so small it involved little weight penalty.
I once saw a British aerobatic pilot (Manx Kelly, sponsored by Players--as in "Players Please") lose his elevator while performing a Cuban Eight in Corona CA (early 1970's). He did not survive.
I understand that mathematics may help with reasoning and critical thinking, but to make it like a tool to see who is more intelligent is flawed.
I mean what if in a hypothetical situation a young student dislikes math and isn't naturally good at it, thus making her GPA drop. But in other fields like art and English, she excells at it. So after graduation and applying for an art college, she gets declined because of her low GPA which was caused by her inability to pass math classes during school.
Math is a pill that when taken the right amount, can be useful, but when overdosed, it will impair students to be successful .
Making higher math like calculus and trigonometry an obligation to credit requirements is irrational and useless.
Which is ironic because math was supposed to teach to rationalize.
@Mohammed Elmouhsine The point still stands. They're two of the most difficult courses a student's final year of secondary school math may hold, yet also two of the most commonly seen throughout American and European school systems.
They are the highest forms of math available to most people throughout their final year. Ergo, 'higher' math.
@Mohammed Elmouhsine they are
The point isn’t to obligate the learning of something they’ll never use. It’s to familiarize them with mathematics that was invented 400 years ago! The average joe doesn’t know how google works, how weather behaves, or the algorithms used by tik tok, Facebook, or amazon, much less about how money is managed around the world by quantitative hedge funds and investment banks. People should be aware of how all of these things work
There's people like me whose GPA was lower because of art, literature, history. We should definitely make art and English not mandatory then, right? And gym too, when are you going to use those squats in real life?
2 things: fyoo suh laazh is how you are supposed to pronounce fuselage. The most vulnerable part of the plane I think would be the pilot, since if the engine is shot out, there is still a chance the plane can be landed (or ditched) safely. With no pilot, that doesn't seem likely.
This is an awesome video. I have a math minor, computer science major, but I never understood why everyone needed to learn math. My wife passed College Algebra with a failing grade (a very high F), because I was friendly with her teacher (having the majority of my classes in his department) and begged him to pass her. (She needed that one class to graduate and it was her last semester)
So I guess I see why it's important we try to understand math. I don't think it should be a requirement for us to pass.
What a great husband you are :)
I'm a math tutor and get this question from students all the time. My typical reply goes something like this: "It's not a matter of WHO uses it; it's a matter of the utility of mathematics in general. We have math to thank for the modern world full of amazing technology in which we live. Math is among the MOST practical tools ever developed by humanity. Since we can never know for sure which students will grow up to apply math toward the benefit of society, we need to make sure all students are at least given the chance. Better to know it and not need it than to need it and not know it." Humanity on the whole needs mathematics in order to thrive, make progress, and accomplish our goals. Being a student in math class means being a part of something larger than yourself -- it's part of being human. (Speaking from experience: most students have a difficult time arguing their way out of that one!😂)
This is now my favorite video of yours. True noble work you are doing with your channel! Much love
watch my maths videos.
this same problem was offered to me and it took me 1 second to come up with the same answer. The key is the planes that don't come back
i get that we need to learn numbers and and multiplication etc. but after 6th grade it just gets more complicated and harder to memorize. its not like im going to remember it after 2 years of not doing it.
So, it doesnt make sense
this is what I asked my teacher back in school and THIS is the answer I was expecting to keep me motivated...
It's always better having the knowledge and not need to use it than searching for knowledge when you are in the urge to solve a problem.
Well, it depends. Most of the time math is taught as a collection of nonsensensical rules and formulas. That doesn't develop your thinking at all. So I disagree.
Sorry I'm replying a month later. It's true that, while math may include logical thinking, it does inevitably have some rote learning. Hell, that's true for most science subjects, like having to memorize scientific laws and principles.
But it's about the way you APPLY those formulas. If all you had to do was memorize the formulas and use them without thinking twice, math would be the easiest subject ever.
There's different, unique and creative ways to use those formulas, it's not the same question over and over again. And there's also the fact that there's certain conditions of when NOT to use those formulas.
If you keep practicing these questions, you'll definitely become more open minded and start to use more brainpower.
When I started to take math more seriously, I realized that my thought process was becoming sharper, I’m not a smart person at all, but I’m starting to develop skills that I never thought I was capable of.
So nice to be able to enjoy a a math/science documentary without being distracted by unnecessary, annoying background music - therefore I will subscribe.
Thank you for your informative, enjoyable lecture Jade - please keep it up.
Maths - Only helps in increasing understand potential and solving in daily life
Physics - Does what maths does + actually helpful more in daily life + is everywhere around us + new technologies and inventions could be made
So overall if you taught people advanced physics .. it will help them in what math does + other benefits too
So what I want to say is dont teach advanced integrals and differenciation or other concepts that are not applied in our daily life
Instead teach advanced physics. Right?
You are so expresive explaining these concepts, great content as always.
Thank you so much!
@@upandatomi knew your channel would grow, great work!. How much subs you had when you uploaded this video?
Software like Maxima, Geogebra, MathCad etc helps a lot with skipping the boring part of math, by symbolically or numerically solving the equations, leaving us with the fun part: building models and interpreting results. Always heated solving equations, computers can do that in most cases 😉
I would not be able to watch this video without my phone ,breaking the EM waves into 0's and 1's(Fourier Transform).. because of mathematics,So, it is useful ! Normal people dont see that beacuse they are not breaking the waves into 0's and 1's by themselves.. computers do that that's why most people think maths isn't useful but deep down we all know.. math is everything
I am an electronics engineer and now I develop software for image processing. My problem is precisely the opposite: the maths I learned in school is far too simple for my everyday needs and I always have to make research. For a simple brightness and contrast adjustment, I encountered a problem of fractional functional iteration. For high dynamic range imaging, the most effective and efficient approach is to solve constrained optimization problems with millions of unknowns. Noise reduction is often formulated as a nonlinear partial differential equation. Speed is important, therefore Remez and Padé approximations are all over the place. When teaching print to my students, I had to show plots of 6-dimensional functions. I used 4-dimensional Gaussian quadrature to estimate the error un a 3D reconstruction. Mathematical models of photographic film often involve hypergeometric functions. And in a program that reduces the atmospheric turbulence in photos taken from a long distance, I had to use e Fox-Wright function, which is a hypergeometric function generalized 2 times. And finally, since human vision is involved, physiology and psychology also have an impirtant role.
I agree with the video, but the argument feels pretty weak. As a college student in my fourth semester of calculus, there are loads of actual uses for the concepts of what I'm learning. Will I ever need to know how to anything that wolfram alpha could do for me irl. No. And in fact, the second half of differential equations is essentially nullifying the usefulness of the first half by giving us Laplace transformations to solve differential equations. I don't feel like I've wasted my time with the nitty grittyness of calc though. But this is only because I love the process of doing math. If I hated math, I would not feel satisfied at all with my time in math classes in terms of the ratio work:usefulness. If you don't like math, math will suck. Be prepared and assess if stem is really a field that you want to dedicate your life to.
I had exactly these thoughts in my early maths classes. But pretty soon I found I was using bits of this stuff designing radios. Now, many years later, I have used all of it and much more designing components of spacecraft, from communications to experiments. I would be lost without an ability to do advanced maths. Now of course I don't have to perform the actual calculations - Mathcad, Matlab etc do that stuff for me. But I still need to understand what the correct calculation is. And most of all I need sufficient insight to recognise a right answer from a wrong one.
It doesn’t matter ultimately if you can perform the calculation, you need to be able to know how to *set up the problem* or even *recognize which calculation to do*
Math has tons of applications. If the purpose of mathematics in schooling was to train reasoning ability, then replacing math courses with logic courses should be advocated for by your reasoning. Your argument also has a flaw since somebody who disagreed could just respond "then why don't you exercise the reasoning faculty of children by having them do activities that are both reasoning intensive AND directly applicable?"
Thanks for the perfect video. I am a teacher of mathematics and physics. You know, every person, when he gets on a plane, believes that the plane will take him safely to where he needs to be, everyone who drives a car believes that it will take him safely to where he wants to go, everyone believes that economists will calculate a fair salary for him, whether old age pension. Every day, we rely on a PC or a mobile phone, or on the correct exact time. Etc. As you can see, everyone just believes. But there are people (scientists, technicians...) who initially believed that such a thing was possible, but then they realized their dreams into our everyday reality. I hate celebrities who publicly state that they never needed math or physics. Yes, it is a tragedy when those people who do not understand mathematics or physics at all make majors of people who are experts in math and physics. How can they objectively assess the amount of work done by mathematicians, physicists, technicians...?Finally, I will mention the old Indian saying that all evil comes from human stupidity. Eliminate human stupidity and you eliminate evil and therefore wars. (that could be the motto of the misses:-)) Although we will not completely eradicate stupidity through education, we will at least limit it.
I think the basic gist of this video works for me. I would point out notation like integrals symbol are not math. Math is human cognition that uses various technologies to ‘count’. From that it seems to me this observation offers insight about what to do mathematically as you apply to the fighter example. From a neuro scientific standpoint linking math to thought is an open question. A starting place might be subitizing or perhaps comparing various counting species of animals. Mathematical notation is one guesstimate of how to externally express internal counting if you will.
This isn't enough to convince anyone to like maths I think. 🙂 But I like your videos very much. You are too good and entertaining.
Mechatronics engineer here, no, not me nor my professor(s) are using math other than university curriculum.
And personally, students should not waist their youth by hammering them with how complicated math could be. It is like training with 100kg dumbbells. Some may do it but its the wrong way to train 🚉.
However, it becomes really really simple (a matter of plug and play) once you use it. Have you ever made your own rendering engine? That can optimize your product?
Interesting video, but I still wish I didn’t have to spend 1/3 of my life doing stuff that I’ll never use. There are other ways to build the same type of thinking skills such as puzzles, watching videos, and even video games.
Hmm. You are so adorable.
I have read Jordan Ellenberg's book twice. I should read it again as I am forgetful and it is full of worthwhile ideas. It really is a great book and I am very pleased to see you promoting it.
A long time ago I spent almost twelve years of my life teaching high school math at a small community college. I answered the question: "When will I ever use this math?" with blunt honestly. I told my students that they would probably never use any of it.
Certainly my pre-nursing students could expect NEVER to have to prove a trigonometric identity while practicing as a nurse. However, proving trigonometric identities is fun. That is why we do it. For the fun of it. Also, because I will not give you a passing mark in the course until you prove them and you will never get into your nursing program without a passing mark in my course.
So, even if it does not seem like fun, make it fun.
My students were fine with this. I was enthusiastic about my teaching as I believe mathematics is beautiful and fun. I liked giving students some understanding and mastery. By doing so they become independent. They can see that truth is something that is part of reality and not just something made up by someone with the biggest gun. I also liked to show them that with practice and understanding they could become competent and confident with respect to any mathematics they might someday encounter.
Of what use is tennis, chess, bridge or math? Tennis keeps one's body fit but injuries often occur if one plays long and hard enough. Chess, bridge, and math keep one's mind fit but many adherents do experience mental breakdowns if one practices them long and hard enough. However, unlike chess and bridge, math can sometimes (but not always) be useful in improving or diminishing the basic conditions of living. Calculus has proven very useful in engineering improvements in living (transportation, refrigeration, electricity, computers, internet, etc.) but, sadly, also in the making of weapons. However, Fermat's Last Theorem seems to have very little effect on the lives of non-mathematicians, as interesting and exciting as it is to me.
The problem with the planes was presented also in the book how not to be wrong.Good video!
I never truly said “when will this be useful too me” but I wish that someone would assess how much math is being taught. Im not a person to argue with learning (I love Learning, I do a lot of history, English, and science on my own spare time for fun) but the amount of math were learning is used later in university for fields that it is needed in. I guess that’s truly why they teach it all. So they don’t have to go over it in university for those who have peeked interests in the science field and of course “Math”
Thanks for the story and referencing "The Power of Mathematical Thinking". I know where to read next in my math journey :) .
Came here to find the answer
Ended up studying history!!
I wish I had you for a math teacher! My math teachers who used "practical examples" held my attention better than teachers who would drone on about theory.
mathematics cultivates the right mindset and aptitude for solving problems , the mentality with which you attack maths problems can be the mentality with which you attack your personal life problems.
If its about the problem solving of math why don't we just do that?
There are a few mathematicians who realize that what is being taught is actually just the mechanics of math and not really the reasoning and concepts behind it. I excelled in math in college and won half a dozen junior math contests in high school and agree with changing our math programs to focus on the concepts of math rather than the mechanics of manipulating equations. We all use math and calculus every day when we drive our cars: how much speed and acceleration are needed to safely go around a corner, how hard to push the brake pedal to come to a complete stop at a stop light, how much further can I travel with the amount of gas in my tank etcetera. How about estimating the time for the water to fill our hemispherical bathroom sink? Delivering unit impulses to metallic fastening devices (hammering nails).
I want to learn math from the beginning for precisely this reason. To be a better thinker and problem solver. Not done math for a very long time in my 30s
Just came across you channel as a random YT recommendation .. watched one and now I'm hooked and subbed!! Your content is brilliant. Keep up the great work.
Even the shapes of relatively familiar everyday objects rely on math;
for example, if you want to make a box of a certain volume that consists of as little material as possible, then you can do that by taking a bunch of partial derivatives and finding the x- and y-values from those solutions.
A box is a box
@@FffXdhgf Yes, but one specific shape will require as little material as possible for a given volume, and this is interesting from an economical perspective.
For example, a closed cuboid box will have minimum material when all sides have the same length.
I’m studying history and oriental studies and I’ve never came across situation, where I thought I absolutely needed maths but I understand your points. Great video btw 👍
genie: aalambana.. You have three wishes..
me: I wish there was no maths
genie: Your wish is granted. You have no more wishes.
Moral of the Story: Math is important
U didn't change my mind, i have no passion nor a desire to learn maths and yet the school system forces me to master it. For me the maths that are actually important is in primary school, the rest are all useless (if you don't want to be scientists, engineer, etc.). Reasoning and critikal thinking, in my opinion, is sharpened more in sosiologi and history, which i am already currently learning. So at least for now i dont know why im learning math and what for, and i hope the school system changes for future students in my country.
Math makes me go insane EVERYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH SCHOOL MAKES ME INSANEEE
The same exact question i asked myself during college.. Nice video..
haha I asked myself during high school
Well i am super convinced that every one should learn math but i presume it would be better to practice it solving real life problems than just keep doing integrals and memorize formulas that help you along the way almost in every single math problem just this is the way i think math should be taught , few days ago i asked my self why do we care about parabolas and guess what ,the answer was parabolas are used to model lots of real life applications ,satellite dishes take the shape of parabola and of course there is a reason , when signals hit the dish all of them have been directed to the focus to be collected there , that is just one example as an electrical engineer math is used all the time to model things
Yeah your accent is so nice it seems to be it is British
The problem is more that we are being taught the wrong branch of math.
Basic statistical concept are very useful. A bit of logic training in analysis(proofs) is helpful. But the current tendency is pushing calculus, which is not nearly as useful. I suspect it have to do with calculus being considered the classical real/high tier math that is the building block of many fields should you want to go beyond the basic level. But as most people don't need to go beyond the basic level in any of those field... it's just wasteful.
THANK YOU! I've been saying this for a long time.
I will definitely do that, right away as I am heading off to teach a physics class. Thank you so much for your inspiring films!
You don't need to know everything, and you CAN'T know everything, but you really should know at least SOMETHING that takes some effort to know. Math is one of those options. There are many other options as well. A lot of young people, at least in America, are hoping they don't need to know something that takes some effort to know. Some mature out of this phase, and some sadly don't.
Now I can die in Peace. Btw, i tried clearing my Applied Maths paper for 2 years...didnt happened. So i quit studies. But i still miss physics. Not Maths ;-)
The plane-example gives a wounderful argument.
Thanks for the book recommendation. Great read!
I want the coolness factor of just knowing i know that's probably not the best reason but math out of the stuff from school was my passion
Love the new background! Also this chapter reminds me of a chapter in "Thinking, Fast and Slow" about regression to the mean. If you haven't read it I highly suggest it :)
Also, great video!!
Thanks for the suggestion!
0:20 any questions? Me: Yeah wtf?
is that a sam o nella ref?
Think of it this way, reality is an ocean and you need a boat to sail it. Your boat is made of your knowledge, wisdom, creativity and some other things. The more knowledge and wisdom you have, the better your boat. Creativity helps organize and make stuff.
Thank you very much for the advice you shared with us from Somalia
Hey,, that's the same analogy I use in my high school math classes I teach (except I say push-ups and running laps around the soccer field instead of weight- training and cones). Anyway, great video. I am going to show it to my classes tomorrow.
The title ‘ why you need to learn maths ‘ me who literally figured that 9x2 is 18 and 9x3 is 27 meaning the first letter goes up and the second letter goes down same for 8 multiplication but 2 -
The plane analogy while mostly right was partially flawed. The idea of the planes getting hit more often center mass, and that being the issue was based off of an assumption that “is most likely a decent factor” that center mass is what would be aimed for by shooting a loads of ammunition or “vectors” at. So there might be a chance the center of the aircrafts did indeed on average see more holes. Incidentally with those factors it could be a plausible assumption that the majority of the downed planes also received the same location ratio of damage. What the guy you were talking about was assuming, is that every square inch of the plane had an equal probability of being hit. There for his conclusion of where the surviving plans were not hit, is what signified a grater ratio of downed planes. Either case could be correct. I guess it comes down to how accurate the gunners were.
I think unless you are going to become an engineer or STEM student, you will never use that level of math. You would do just fine with technical math, business math, or math for the trades. Yes, some of these courses do use algebra, but at algebra I or maybe II. But most just use math below the algebra level. They say you use algebra everyday but don't realize it and that is true. But, numbers are used instead of letters (variables). Square roots, signed numbers and a few other subjects in algebra I may be useful, but not all of the other operations. Geometry and Trigonometry can be done without higher levels of algebra. I have been successful at using what I have indicated for 30 years and never had a problem not using the whole algebra I course. I worked as an electrician and electronic technician. I have never been without a calculator in my pocket. Calculus should be reserved for those going on to college.
advanced Math, you will not use in you daily life....but you will indirectly say with your diploma to you future Boss, like "If i could learn advanced university Math be sure i can learn job you offer me now..." and one more thing with benefits of doing math is learning how to learn think in several steps in future...to know risks etc
Phew, so glad you referenced 'How Not to Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg. I've read it and was watching thinking 'hope she credits the Ellenberg book, because this is mostly from that book". And you did. Great book, I highly recommend it.
I have shared this video to many of my friends that even they could understand why we learn mathematics problem and where we gonna use them !
Very unique video ! Best wishes for ur new videos 💐💐💐💐💐💐
Thank you for sharing this! It means a lot and really helps :) Hope to hear from you again!
It doesn't make sense but to watch Jade always worth it.
If you learn math, you will have the confidence to learn science, and science explains how the world really works. That damn equals sign means when you make an argument on the one side, you damn well better prove it on the other.
Mathematics is just the highest abstraction of all problems...but what’s a problem?
Life is about being in a certain state and working toward a better state and avoiding a worse state. The difference between the current state (given) and the desired state (objective) is what all problems are. The path between those two states is the solution. States are assigned values in order to determine which states are desirable and which states are not desirable (abhorrent ,for the linguists). Your emotions are responsible for assigning these values and that’s about the extent of their usefulness in problem solving. The rest of problem solving occurs in the cerebrum. The cerebrum has a singular purpose: solve problems.
Guess how the cerebrum solves problems: mathematics.
Mathematics isn’t the symbols we use to generalize ideas that span many different and distinct instances of reality. Mathematics is the concepts those symbols represent. This is why humans have so many words for relationships between different kinds of ideas: similes, metaphors, allegories, allusions, analogies, mnemonic devices, and others. Neurons abstract reality to make processing easier. Colors don’t exist. A they are merely symbols to represent various frequencies of light. Odors and flavors don’t exist. They are merely symbols to represent various chemical reactions. All of these symbols are possible through variations/differences/distinction...variables.
Humans learn trigonometry and calculus before they learn their first letter. How do you think depth perception is possible?
The question isn’t “when am I ever going to use this?” because your brain uses it subconsciously all the time already. Millions of distinct calculations are conducted every third of a second (P300 wave). The actual question is, “When am I ever going to need to use it consciously?”
You never NEED to use mathematics consciously, but life is much easier if you do. Remember, your brain is designed to solve problems, and mathematics is the ultimate abstraction of solving all problems.
My physics professor posed a problem: if you have a large army and you need to invade an enemy strong hold, but there are 8 paths which all will crumble if you send your whole army across any of them, what do you do?
If you can answer that, then you can answer a very similar problem: if radiation can kill the cancer cells of a tumor, but that radiation will also destroy all the healthy tissue along its path, what do you do?
Two, obviously, different instances of reality, but they both abstract to the same idea: split your forces/radiation across multiple paths to converge at the same point.
Really great video! I loved the soccer analogy and the airplane story
I sort of agree, but problems arise when people opting to go to a school to study something that doesn't use math past algebra, can't go because they got bad grades in calculus.
Like should a language interpreter fail to enter a university for getting a D- in pre-calc in high school?
In my college a philosophy liberal arts major student needs to take 10 physics classes! Like, c'mon.
interesting video. but, i think an example of set theory would have been better to come up with the missing planes and the integrals perhaps for figuring out the amount of armor, to show people how it's useful
You only need plus, minus, times, and divide that’s it
You are really great at explaining things beautifully
I wish someone would have told me that 20 years ago, in a convincing and believable way. Like you did.. Too late for me, but thanks.... Actually putting real effort in math class was not pointless, after all. Having a more powerful brain is always worth the effort, no matter how hard it seems at the time you are doing the heavy lifting