Reflections on 1,000 Days of Math

hyperfuturism 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I am quite sure that learning math has nothing to do at all with investments doing well. Would be a classic example of having made money, but getting the reason for why wrong.

The markets have been uponly since 2020 in general, so no surprise if one were invested, especially in technology, that one would have done well.

	▲	wanderlust123 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Surprised they spent 1000 days on math and still don’t understand correlation is not causation

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har777 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have to shout out MathAcademy(the same platform the author is using). It's pretty darn good. I did like 2 hours a day for 90 days and went from Math Foundations I(70% completed) to Math Foundations III(74% completed). The pace of improvement was very fast.

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stephen_cagle 29 minutes ago | parent [-]

I have not detected anything wrong with mathacademy, it does what it says on the tin. With that said, I stopped using it myself as I felt that my ability to "find the slope intercept form of blankety blank" did not actually translate to any deeper understanding of math than I had before.

I think mathacademy is excellent for developing the skills necessary for solving the problems on mathacademy (which largely are the problems on math exams).

But if your goal is understanding rather than application, then mathacademy is more similar to duolingo than it is to language immersion. You can go quite far in mathacademy (and much of performative mathematics) without really having thought about anything. It is procedure learning rather than understanding.

	▲	Pearse 22 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I'm sorry if this is a not a good question but as some one who never really had a good relationship with maths. How do I get to a stage where I can just do math for the sake of understanding it.. to enjoy working on it. I'm happy to "just do it" but is there some branch of match that might feel familiar and less removed from the real world?
	▲	drivebyhooting 17 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Maybe the trick is taking the question and writing lecture notes / delivering the explanation as a teacher. Surely explaining it is much better than just solving the question and tap tap tap.

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willmeyers 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I remember your 500 days of math post! I'm curious if along the journey you took time to apply new concepts you learned in a larger project or lab? I've never used Math Academy, but does it just give articles/videos and then exercises? Congrats on the dedication, that's a lot of work especially with kids.

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mettamage 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I like his vibe. I guess it helps that I've been doing MA as well, although not daily. I'll get back to it soon though.

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the_real_cher 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Lost me when he said 'between now and when I started Math Academy my investments have done exceptionally well, to the extent that I became financially independent in my late 30s.'

Seems like a shill for Math Academy.

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drivebyhooting an hour ago | parent [-]

It reminds me of Newton. You know, the guy who “invented” calculus. He lost a fortune investing.

	▲	Arun2009 41 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		This is a recurring pattern. Einstein also lost a lot of money in bad investments. And we have the more recent example of Long-Term Capital Management debacle.

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jdw64 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm a bit lacking intellectually, and I wonder if learning more math would make me a more intellectual person.

	▲	tapland 41 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Reading would probably help the most. Read some classics, don't worry too much about the plot beforehand, dive in. Gives a ton of new ways to look at the world.

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monospacegames 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm sorry but I can't help but be critical. This seems more like an advertisement for a duolingo-for-math than a serious personal undertaking. I am not sure if this level of proficiency is something you want to boast of at the end of 1000 days of self-directed study, regardless of what level you started at. Do you think you'd be better or worse off with just doing two days a week with a personal tutor?

Also I am fairly certain that not taking a day off has hindered your progress rather than improved it. This is not a productive attitude and ritualizes the study instead of encouraging self-reflection.

	▲	jbotz an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Your criticism is poorly informed. Math Academy is definitely not a "Duolingo-for-Math". As a platform it's far from perfect, but as a program it's a serious and complete secondary school to undergraduate university math program, with excellent explanations, reinforced by well-thought out exercises. It's definitely competitive with the top-rated math textbooks in each of the areas it covers. As for the OP "not taking a day off"... for some of us ritualization is productive because it's what we need to stick with a difficult program. Maybe for you that's not the case. To each his own. (I have my own criticisms of Math Academy: The platform should be more flexible in pacing and allow repeating sections. It should have built-in spaced-repetition features. And the company is uncommunicative and aloof. I'd be willing to overlook most of these faults at a lower price-tag, but for what they charge it really rubs me the wrong way.)
	▲	Glemmlko an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		In what country do you live that a personal tutora two days a week is financial compareable ?!