Reflections on 1,000 Days of Math

Reflections on 1,000 Days of Math gmays.com

I finally hit 1,000 days of doing math daily! Early on in my journey I was a lot more aggressive with my XP targets, but settled into a low-volume rhythm as my goals evolved. I worked from MF1 (Math…

86 points•gmays•7 days ago•37 comments•

#math #reflections #early #finally #lot #journey #aggressive #daily

37 comments

hyperfuturism4 days ago

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.

OgAstorga4 days ago

Well if you learn about financial engineering you can come up with a wider range of investing propositions but even that won’t necessarily translate to better portfolio returns.

OP is not aware of what he is not aware of (as we all are).

wanderlust1234 days ago

Surprised they spent 1000 days on math and still don’t understand correlation is not causation

liendolucas4 days ago

I think the question to be asked about this post should be: "How many things can you solve by yourself outside the platform you are currently using?".

I have the feeling (though I could be wrong) that you might very well sort out the exercises and problems that are presented in the platform, but what about tackling for example Project Euler? How far can you go with the knowledge that you acquired from this platform after 3 years of daily usage?

Please note that I'm not trying to diminish the value of the mentioned platform but I believe that tackling problems that force you to hit your head on the wall and/or figuring out things by yourself with maybe some books, makes you learn in a completely different and richer way.

maxall44 days ago

This is a view I strongly agree with. While the “worked example effect,” which is apparently a key part of the platform, does seem to accelerate learning compared with discovery based learning [0], I do not think the learning achieved by the regurgitation of another person’s ratiocination is nearly as useful or rich as learning acquired by discovery. In my view, the best way to fully and completely understand something is to come to it in your own mind.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worked-example_effect

tptacek4 days ago

OK, as long as you're clear that this is an indictment of basically all ordinary undergraduate math instruction.

rahimnathwani4 days ago

If you want to do this, there are at least two ways:

A) use the AoPS books, which present exercises before explanations, and expect students to attempt them first, or

B) Use Math Academy the way my son does: skip the explanation and worked example and immediately attempt the first problem. Only if stuck go back to the explanation and example.

(B) isn't what Math Academy recommended, presumably because you might be able to solve the problems in the current lesson, but still miss out on something else the lesson is supposed to teach you.

willmeyers4 days ago

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.

har7774 days ago

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.

stephen_cagle4 days ago

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.

Pearse4 days ago

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?

tptacek4 days ago

Isn't this more or less true of the whole undergraduate college calc syllabus? Like, I had the same thought grinding on trig integrals: "these problems seem super artificial", and I gather they basically are, and I guess closed-form solutions to arbitrary random integrals all sort of are? But that's not Math Academy's doing, or any kind of "teach to the test"; I went through these same problems with both my kids as they did STEM degrees at Illinois, and that's the actual material.

har7774 days ago

I disagree with this take though I've seen the same criticism online a lot before I signed up. I found myself understanding stuff the more I did it. And MathAcademy makes you do a lot of problems on repeat. I also used gpt for stuff MathAcademy didn't explain well.

But the platform does have its issues. I should probably do a writeup someday.

drivebyhooting4 days ago

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.

mettamage4 days ago

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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