Ask HN: What made you fall in love with mathematics?
Was it a problem, a book, a course or a teacher?
2 comments
It is very hard to pinpoint a single moment. Rather I would like to list a few books that I feel showed me that mathematics can be beautiful and interesting.
1. Measurement by Paul Lockhart
2. An Infinite Descent into Pure Mathematics by Clive Newstead (available @ https://infinitedescent.xyz/). It taught me basic discrete math and proof writing.
3. Apostol's Calculus Vol 1. It is just so beautiful.
1. Measurement by Paul Lockhart
2. An Infinite Descent into Pure Mathematics by Clive Newstead (available @ https://infinitedescent.xyz/). It taught me basic discrete math and proof writing.
3. Apostol's Calculus Vol 1. It is just so beautiful.
+1 For Measurement.
I was never into math until I discovered math comes bundled with proofs and that math is an actual coherent body of knowledge and not some ad-hoc collection of bullshit problems about trains leaving two points and optimizing chicken coops. I was terribly uneasy with math facts presented as self-evident at pre-college level. Most students never seemed to have this sense that something was off and didn't add up which made it all worse. Math proofs alleviated this feeling. To this day I am more interested in reading clever proofs than the statements they prove. Though, these days proving math statements to me is like going to a hardware store, picking up various tools, gadgets, potions and jerry-rigging a structure held together by a scotch tape.
tldr: I discovered math when I discovered a book on writing math proofs by Nancy Rodgers[0]
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Learning_to_Reason/NuN2...
tldr: I discovered math when I discovered a book on writing math proofs by Nancy Rodgers[0]
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Learning_to_Reason/NuN2...