Street-Fighting Mathematics

Street-Fighting Mathematics PDF Author: Sanjoy Mahajan
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262265591
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
An antidote to mathematical rigor mortis, teaching how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works—don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions. This engaging book is an antidote to the rigor mortis brought on by too much mathematical rigor, teaching us how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge—from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool—the general principle—from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest. Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems. Street-Fighting Mathematics will appear in print and online under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share Alike license.

Street-Fighting Mathematics

Street-Fighting Mathematics PDF Author: Sanjoy Mahajan
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262265591
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
An antidote to mathematical rigor mortis, teaching how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works—don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions. This engaging book is an antidote to the rigor mortis brought on by too much mathematical rigor, teaching us how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge—from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool—the general principle—from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest. Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems. Street-Fighting Mathematics will appear in print and online under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share Alike license.

No Walls and the Recurring Dream

No Walls and the Recurring Dream PDF Author: Ani DiFranco
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735225184
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A memoir as fierce, freewheeling, and passionate as her music." --O, the Oprah magazine A memoir by the celebrated singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman's eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani's coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence--from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to question established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has inspired and challenged more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams.

Daily Warm-Ups: Problem Solving Math Grade 2

Daily Warm-Ups: Problem Solving Math Grade 2 PDF Author: Mary Rosenberg
Publisher: Teacher Created Resources
ISBN: 142063576X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Solving word problems requires both strategy and skill. When confronted with a problem, students need to figure out how to solve the problemand then solve it! The 250 exercises in each book help students learn a variety of strategies for solving problems as well as grade-specific math skills.

Daily Warm-Ups: Problem Solving Math Grade 3

Daily Warm-Ups: Problem Solving Math Grade 3 PDF Author: Mary Rosenberg
Publisher: Teacher Created Resources
ISBN: 1420635778
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Solving word problems requires both strategy and skill. When confronted with a problem, students need to figure out how to solve the problemand then solve it! The 250 exercises in each book help students learn a variety of strategies for solving problems as well as grade-specific math skills.

Motel of the Mysteries

Motel of the Mysteries PDF Author: David Macaulay
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547770723
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

NCLEX-RN For Dummies

NCLEX-RN For Dummies PDF Author: Patrick R. Coonan
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470098562
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
NCLEX-RN For Dummies is essential for any nursing candidate who wishes to join the workforce as soon as possible... and who wants to increase their score on the NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses). Featuring a companion CD-ROM with an extra practice test, this friendly guide provides readers with a point-by-point review of typical test questions, helping them hone their skills in each of the different phases of the nursing process covered in the exam. It also provides savvy test-taking tips and practice exams. Patrick R. Coonan, EdD, RN (Garden City, NY), is a Professor and Dean of Adelphi University's School of Nursing. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Uneducated Guesses

Uneducated Guesses PDF Author: Howard Wainer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400839572
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
What statistical evidence shows us about our misguided educational policies Uneducated Guesses challenges everything our policymakers thought they knew about education and education reform, from how to close the achievement gap in public schools to admission standards for top universities. In this explosive book, Howard Wainer uses statistical evidence to show why some of the most widely held beliefs in education today—and the policies that have resulted—are wrong. He shows why colleges that make the SAT optional for applicants end up with underperforming students and inflated national rankings, and why the push to substitute achievement tests for aptitude tests makes no sense. Wainer challenges the thinking behind the enormous rise of advanced placement courses in high schools, and demonstrates why assessing teachers based on how well their students perform on tests—a central pillar of recent education reforms—is woefully misguided. He explains why college rankings are often lacking in hard evidence, why essay questions on tests disadvantage women, why the most grievous errors in education testing are not made by testing organizations—and much more. No one concerned about seeing our children achieve their full potential can afford to ignore this book. With forceful storytelling, wry insight, and a wealth of real-world examples, Uneducated Guesses exposes today's educational policies to the light of empirical evidence, and offers solutions for fairer and more viable future policies.

The Serpent's Mark

The Serpent's Mark PDF Author: Robert Lipscomb Duncan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780312034245
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Las Vegas. Three bodies have been found, clearly the victims of a serial killer. The police are baffled and there are no clues to the identity of this dangerous psychopath with messianic delusions.

Phase Transitions in Machine Learning

Phase Transitions in Machine Learning PDF Author: Lorenza Saitta
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139496530
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Phase transitions typically occur in combinatorial computational problems and have important consequences, especially with the current spread of statistical relational learning as well as sequence learning methodologies. In Phase Transitions in Machine Learning the authors begin by describing in detail this phenomenon, and the extensive experimental investigation that supports its presence. They then turn their attention to the possible implications and explore appropriate methods for tackling them. Weaving together fundamental aspects of computer science, statistical physics and machine learning, the book provides sufficient mathematics and physics background to make the subject intelligible to researchers in AI and other computer science communities. Open research issues are also discussed, suggesting promising directions for future research.

In Quest of the Universe

In Quest of the Universe PDF Author: Theo Koupelis
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 0763768588
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 638

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Book Description
Designed for the nonscience major, In Quest of the Universe, Sixth Edition, is a comprehensive, student-friendly introduction to astronomy. This accessible text guides readers through the development of historical and current astronomical theories to provide a clear account of how science works. Koupelis' distinct explanations acquaint students with their own solar system before moving on to the stars and distant galaxies. This flexible approach allows instructors to arrange the modules to fit their own course needs. With numerous interactive learning tools, the Starry Night planetary software package, and stunning visuals and up-to-date content, In Quest with the Universe, Sixth Edition is an exciting overview of this ever-changing discipline.