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03 Aug 2011, 10:55 pm
Has anyone read the book Street-Fighting Mathematics by Sanjoy Mahajan? I saw it in the book store the other day and almost bought it. It is actually available as a free download from the MIT Press and I have begun to read it (though I think I will get a hard copy). It is actually seems to be a fairly interesting take on mathematics and problem solving. Here is an excerpt from the preface:
Quote:
Too much mathematical rigor teaches rigor mortis: the fear of making an unjustified leap even when it lands on a correct result. Instead of paralysis, have courage—shoot first and ask questions later. Although unwise as public policy, it is a valuable problem-solving philosophy, and it is the theme of this book: how to guess answers without a proof or an exact calculation.
Anyway it seems to have good engaging examples in it and gets you thinking a bit. And at ~150 pages it isn't too overwhelming either. I am someone that needs to go through and do exact calculations and proofs to be satisfied so I feel like I could learn something about the art of estimation this book!
I really haven't gotten very far in it yet and can't give a review or anything (perhaps later), just thought I'd share an interesting math book!
04 Aug 2011, 12:37 pm
