Learn how to think the way mathematicians do – a powerful cognitive process developed over thousands of years. Mathematical thinking is not the same as doing mathematics – at least not as mathematics is typically presented in our school system. School math typically focuses on learning procedures to solve highly stereotyped problems. Professional mathematicians think a certain way to solve real problems, problems that can arise from the everyday world, or from science, or from within mathematics itself. The key to success in school math is to learn to think inside-the-box. In contrast, a key feature of mathematical thinking is thinking outside-the-box – a valuable ability in today’s world. This course helps to develop that crucial way of thinking.
Tutorial for Assignment 6
Skills You'll Learn
Number Theory, Real Analysis, Mathematical Logic, Language
Reviews
It was an amazing course! Lots of interesting content. The content is also explained really well, i found it really easy to understand. The assessments are a little challenging, but reasonably sized.
This course is great because it teaches you the foundations of mathematical thinking, namely how to write rigorous and concise proofs. I really enjoyed the course and would recommend it to a friend.
This week we complete our analysis of language, putting into place the linguistic apparatus that enabled, mathematicians in the 19th Century to develop a formal mathematical treatment of infinity, thereby finally putting Calculus onto a firm footing, three hundred years after its invention. (You do not need to know calculus for this course.) It is all about being precise and unambiguous. (But only where it counts. We are trying to extend our fruitfully-flexible human language and reasoning, not replace them with a rule-based straightjacket!)
Taught By
Dr. Keith Devlin
Co-founder and Executive Director
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