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Comment by alexwestholm | Hacker News Reader

The author has rightfully directed his words at those considering becoming math majors. Consequently, he makes it clear that most basic math education is inadequate to really understand math and its practicality, but leaves as the only solution enrolling as a math student. This is a great call to action for students, but for the broader audience, it leaves me thinking the following:

My math background is clearly inadequate, and his description of mathematical reasoning sounds like something I'd like to be familiar with, so how do I get there? What's the route to the prize other than enrolling in Fordham's math program?

While the professor in question has no reason to answer this, at least on the Fordham website, I wonder what answers the HN crowd might have... thoughts?

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One series of articles which might serve as a start is Steven Strogatz's series which ran in the NY Times earlier this year:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/series/steven_strogatz...

It's written for a layperson (he starts with counting on Sesame Street) but nonetheless touches on some very advanced topics, and describes them in simple ways. It won't give you a firm foundation in mathematics (the articles are pretty short, and there are only 15 or so), but it might serve as a guide for which subtopics in particular pique your interest, and there are numerous references and suggestions for further reading. I believe he's collecting the articles in a longer book, hoping to publish it in 2012.

Thanks! This looks like an excellent way to ground the concepts in more concrete terms.

Very apt that you brought up Steven Strogatz. I took Prof. Strogatz's calculus for engineers class back in college (Spring 2004). If you like the way he discusses math curiousities in his NYTimes column, you'll surely enjoy his lectures as well!

In my life at least, it's been rare to come across a math professor/educator who pushes harder for understanding (connecting the dots) rather than knowledge (disjointed lists of equations and theorems). Mathematicians' laments aside, inspired teachers are already changing the way that some students -- albeit a small minority -- view the field of mathematics.

The author does imply that great teachers have a lot to do with it. At a later age, when one is out of school or almost out of school, one obviously needs to show more personal initiative. And a lot of people here and elsewhere have asked or written about how to best self-study mathematics. However, the importance of having a teacher is often not mentioned. Even if you are very self-motivated, a teacher can make an enormous difference by showing you the cool stuff that you might miss on your own. One can be very motivated about building a house by themselves, but might have only ever seen mud bricks, and hence will try to diligently build a house out of mud bricks. A proper teacher can illuminate and guide a student through the vast world of other things out there, just like someone trained in construction can show the self-motivated builder how to build a proper house.

Now, how does one find a teacher, you ask (especially when one has left school)? A few options I can think of:

* Go back to school.

* Participate in an appropriate online community.

* Reach out to professors or even students in nearby schools.

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