I hate math!

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Muse
Funny you say that. I got no such warning, but I remember my Intro to Topology class at the university. It was absolutely my worst math class ever. I passed it but I was absolutely never comfortable that I had a grasp on what it was all about, what it meant, what it was good for, what it was, really! It was very frustrating. There were far too many people in the class, to begin with - a pretty big lecture hall. I believe that the professor was famous and distinguished, and he may have even written the textbook. I studied the textbook and its theorems until I could grasp the proofs, but I had little if any sense of the whys and wherefores for them. I was musing about this just the other day. I think my confusion might have been mainly due to a failure of the text to present a perspective on how and why the field of mathematical topology developed. I think that the coursework for practically all the other areas of the mathematical sciences that I studied was purposefully imbued with a perspective on how and why that area of knowledge evolved and grew. I think that is instrumental in giving the student an understanding of a scientific discipline and in awakening his/her curiosity. They failed to even attempt to give me a sense of why and how the theorems of introductory topology even existed That's my theory, anyway! I had to think about this because when I eventually did get my degree, it was in mathematics.

Which book did you use?

I don't remember, but I believe the professor's name was Chern, a really famous guy who was teaching/etc. at Cal. There's a fair chance I still have the book downstairs but I'm not going down there tonight to find out - I had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago and am still on crutches. If I remember, I'll look in the morning and post back here.

I just did a Google search on "Chern" and the first hit is:

Biography of Shiing-shen Chern

He's a famous mathematician. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I think he tought my topology class.

Edit: My Google searchs indicate he was a VIP in modern mathematics, but I think he may have been a less than great teacher of topology at Cal, at least of Introductory Topology to an undergrad.

Edit 2: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I had Chern. I had no idea what a bigwig he was.

Considering Professor Chern's all-around understanding of the classical Chinese than average scholars, his profound understanding of the original Confucianism, his living the way Lao Tzu has advocated(self-effacement and humility) and his being a great thinker in mathematics, particularly in topology, his understanding of Lao Tzu was matchless.

From this site - Great Mathematician S.S.Chern & Lao Tzu

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Muse
Funny you say that. I got no such warning, but I remember my Intro to Topology class at the university. It was absolutely my worst math class ever. I passed it but I was absolutely never comfortable that I had a grasp on what it was all about, what it meant, what it was good for, what it was, really! It was very frustrating. There were far too many people in the class, to begin with - a pretty big lecture hall. I believe that the professor was famous and distinguished, and he may have even written the textbook. I studied the textbook and its theorems until I could grasp the proofs, but I had little if any sense of the whys and wherefores for them. I was musing about this just the other day. I think my confusion might have been mainly due to a failure of the text to present a perspective on how and why the field of mathematical topology developed. I think that the coursework for practically all the other areas of the mathematical sciences that I studied was purposefully imbued with a perspective on how and why that area of knowledge evolved and grew. I think that is instrumental in giving the student an understanding of a scientific discipline and in awakening his/her curiosity. They failed to even attempt to give me a sense of why and how the theorems of introductory topology even existed That's my theory, anyway! I had to think about this because when I eventually did get my degree, it was in mathematics.

Which book did you use?

It seemed to me that I had all of my old math textbooks from Cal, but couldn't recall having seen the topology book. I guess I have something of a block against it. I suspected I'd tossed it because of the bad experience I had in the class. However, looking this morning, there it was:

A Geometric Introduction to Topology by C.T.C. Wall

Wall taught at Cambridge and the University of Liverpool, and the book is copyright 1972.