4 ms·

Mathematics for the Liberal Arts (2020)

56 points by rfreytag 6y ago

fogof 6y ago
Looking over the syllabus, this seems like a good selection of subjects that are both mathematically rich and particularly relevant to social issues. With that being said, what are "Fractals Generated by Complex Numbers" doing here?
- SturgeonsLaw 6y ago
  Life itself is shaped like a fractal. A study of this geometry is a study of the shape of being. The machine elves will explain in more detail.
ReD_CoDE 6y ago
A hilarious book, when counts al-Biruni non-Persian Don't remember that those days Persia was the half of the world
a3n 6y ago
I notice that the open book that this course is based on was developed with some relationship to the Washington State community college system. I wonder if community college systems could save us from the tyranny of expensive commercial text books and their vicious cycle of edition after edition, causing perfectly good used books to not be "relevant" for next year's class. University professors are probably more incentivised to develop expensive traditionally published textbooks, both to keep up their prestige, and to trade on that prestige. Community college teachers probably have less natural prestige, and may thereby be more free to focus on student needs than their own. In any case, I've started reading through this course, and it's fabulous. https://lumenlearning.com/ https://lumenlearning.com/
- dan-robertson 6y ago
  Are expensive commercial textbooks an American thing or does it just depend on the university? I studied in the U.K. and I think we weren’t meant to be examined on things that weren’t either on the blackboard or in homework. A few lecturers had written their own books but they weren’t super expensive and no one bought them because the libraries had them and the material went on the blackboard anyway. I also feel like my professors wouldn’t want to teach a course that required an expensive textbook for moral reason, but maybe that’s just me thinking too highly of them.
  - a3n 6y ago
    Expensive commercial anything is an American thing. Textbooks. Education in general. Medical care. Rent vs income.
    - dan-robertson 6y ago
      Not all American weirdness is unique to America. Eg oftentimes Canada can be similar. Education in the U.K. is still pretty expensive, depending on what one considers the cost to be. Also Americans tend to have higher incomes than other countries so it isn’t necessarily shocking when some things are more expensive.
      - 7thaccount 6y ago
        How many other countries charge for the cost of pretty much any degree, the full salary of an electrical engineer that is several years into their degree? Like literally, if I put every penny into paying my degree off it would take over a year. That seems pretty excessive, when even in the US, you used to be able to work part time at a minimal wage job to pay it all off.
  - avogato 6y ago
    Expensive textbooks are the norm. Even worse, it's common now to package the book with a key for some online quiz service. You have to buy the brand new $100-200 book to get a valid key, so you can't try to get by with an old edition or share books.
    - enriquto 6y ago
      This is really shitty. How do students put up with that?
      - dan-robertson 6y ago
        And how do their professors justify the cost that their choices imply?
- waterheater 6y ago
  Depends entirely on the professor. Some professors develop their own textbooks and release them for free. https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/ https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/
snicker7 6y ago
Mathematics IS a liberal art!
- redwall_hp 6y ago
  Yep, as is any science major. Otherwise known as having a "traditional education" at a university level, as opposed to med school or an engineering or vocational program. It's closely linked to the idea of science in itself. As per Wikipedia [1]: > Liberal arts education (from Latin liberalis "free" and ars "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic program in Western higher education. Liberal arts generally covers four areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Its central academic disciplines include physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, literature, history, political science, sociology, psychology, and mathematics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_education
curiousllama 6y ago
I wrote out a snarky response to the implication that math isn't part of liberal arts, but then looked again at the link... This is actually a great course: it's math as a liberal art. Great course; odd title.
- jonsen 6y ago
  > odd title I don’t think so A (specific) Liberal Art for the (other) Liberal Arts

56 points by rfreytag 6y ago

Looking over the syllabus, this seems like a good selection of subjects that are both mathematically rich and particularly relevant to social issues. With that being said, what are "Fractals Generated by Complex Numbers" doing here?

SturgeonsLaw 6y ago
Life itself is shaped like a fractal. A study of this geometry is a study of the shape of being. The machine elves will explain in more detail.

ReD_CoDE 6y ago

A hilarious book, when counts al-Biruni non-Persian Don't remember that those days Persia was the half of the world

a3n 6y ago

I notice that the open book that this course is based on was developed with some relationship to the Washington State community college system. I wonder if community college systems could save us from the tyranny of expensive commercial text books and their vicious cycle of edition after edition, causing perfectly good used books to not be "relevant" for next year's class. University professors are probably more incentivised to develop expensive traditionally published textbooks, both to keep up their prestige, and to trade on that prestige. Community college teachers probably have less natural prestige, and may thereby be more free to focus on student needs than their own. In any case, I've started reading through this course, and it's fabulous. https://lumenlearning.com/ https://lumenlearning.com/

dan-robertson 6y ago
Are expensive commercial textbooks an American thing or does it just depend on the university? I studied in the U.K. and I think we weren’t meant to be examined on things that weren’t either on the blackboard or in homework. A few lecturers had written their own books but they weren’t super expensive and no one bought them because the libraries had them and the material went on the blackboard anyway. I also feel like my professors wouldn’t want to teach a course that required an expensive textbook for moral reason, but maybe that’s just me thinking too highly of them.
- a3n 6y ago
  Expensive commercial anything is an American thing. Textbooks. Education in general. Medical care. Rent vs income.
  - dan-robertson 6y ago
    Not all American weirdness is unique to America. Eg oftentimes Canada can be similar. Education in the U.K. is still pretty expensive, depending on what one considers the cost to be. Also Americans tend to have higher incomes than other countries so it isn’t necessarily shocking when some things are more expensive.
    - 7thaccount 6y ago
      How many other countries charge for the cost of pretty much any degree, the full salary of an electrical engineer that is several years into their degree? Like literally, if I put every penny into paying my degree off it would take over a year. That seems pretty excessive, when even in the US, you used to be able to work part time at a minimal wage job to pay it all off.
- avogato 6y ago
  Expensive textbooks are the norm. Even worse, it's common now to package the book with a key for some online quiz service. You have to buy the brand new $100-200 book to get a valid key, so you can't try to get by with an old edition or share books.
  - enriquto 6y ago
    This is really shitty. How do students put up with that?
    - dan-robertson 6y ago
      And how do their professors justify the cost that their choices imply?
waterheater 6y ago
Depends entirely on the professor. Some professors develop their own textbooks and release them for free. https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/ https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/

snicker7 6y ago

Mathematics IS a liberal art!

redwall_hp 6y ago
Yep, as is any science major. Otherwise known as having a "traditional education" at a university level, as opposed to med school or an engineering or vocational program. It's closely linked to the idea of science in itself. As per Wikipedia [1]: > Liberal arts education (from Latin liberalis "free" and ars "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic program in Western higher education. Liberal arts generally covers four areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Its central academic disciplines include physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, literature, history, political science, sociology, psychology, and mathematics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_education

curiousllama 6y ago

I wrote out a snarky response to the implication that math isn't part of liberal arts, but then looked again at the link... This is actually a great course: it's math as a liberal art. Great course; odd title.

jonsen 6y ago
> odd title I don’t think so A (specific) Liberal Art for the (other) Liberal Arts