Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Language
English
Description
We commonly define the Pythagorean theorem using the formula a2 + b2 = c2. But Pythagoras himself would have been confused by that. Explore how this famous theorem can be explained using common geometric shapes (no fancy algebra required), and how it’s a critical foundation for the rest of geometry.
Series
Great Courses volume 9
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Logic is intellectual self-defense against such assaults on reason and also a method of quality control for checking the validity of your own views. But beyond these very practical benefits, informal logic—the kind we apply in daily life—is the gateway to an elegant and fascinating branch of philosophy known as formal logic, which is philosophy’s equivalent to calculus. Formal logic is a breathtakingly versatile tool. Much like a Swiss army...
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Professor Benjamin introduces the ABCs of math appreciation: The field can be loved for itsapplications, itsbeauty and structure, and itscertainty. Most of all, mathematics is a source of endless delight through creative play with numbers.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
While some statistics are deliberately misleading, others are the product of confused thinking due to Simpson's paradox and similar errors of statistical reasoning. See how this problem arises in sports, social science, and especially medicine, where it can lead to inappropriate treatments.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Put your dots-and-boxes machine to work solving long-division problems, making them easy while shedding light on the rationale behind the confusing long-division algorithm taught in school. Then watch how the machine quickly handles scary-looking division problems in polynomial algebra.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Delve into Bertrand Russell's profoundly simple paradox that undermined Cantor's theory of sets. Then follow the scramble to fix set theory and all of mathematics with a new set of axioms, designed to avoid all paradoxes and keep mathematics consistent - a goal that was partly met by the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Discover the timeless riddles and paradoxes that have confounded the greatest philosophical, mathematical, and scientific minds in history. Stretching your mind to try to solve a puzzle, even when the answer eludes you, can help sharpen your mind and focus - and it’s an intellectual thrill!
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Investigate a puzzle that defied some of the most brilliant minds in mathematics: the Monty Hall problem, named after the host of Let's Make a Deal! Hall would let contestants change their guess about the location of a hidden prize after revealing new information about where it was not.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Delve into decision trees, which are graphs that use a branching method to determine all possible outcomes of a decision. Trees for continuous outcomes are called regression trees, while those for categorical outcomes are called classification trees. Learn how and when to use each, producing inferences that are easily understood by non-statisticians.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Inspired by a question about the Fibonacci numbers, probe the power of graphs. First, experiment with scatter plots. Then see how plotting data is like graphing functions in algebra. Use graphs to prove the fixed-point theorem and answer the Fibonacci question that opened the lecture.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
Negative numbers are often confusing, especially negative parenthetical expressions in algebra problems. Discover a simple visual model that makes it easy to keep track of what's negative and what's not, allowing you to tackle long strings of negatives and positives--with parentheses galore.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Leap into puzzles and mind-benders that teach you the rudiments of game theory. Divide loot with bloodthirsty pirates, ponder the two-envelope problem, learn about Newcomb's paradox, visit the island where everyone has blue eyes, and try your luck at prisoner's dilemma.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Professor Benjamin begins his discussion of mathematical proofs with intuitive cases like "even plus even is even" and "odd times odd is odd." He builds to more complexproofs by existenceandinduction, and ends with a checkerboard challenge.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Explore the origins of one of the oldest branches of mathematics. See how geometry not only deals with practical concerns such as mapping, navigation, architecture, and engineering, but also offers an intellectual journey in its own right—inviting big, deep questions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Multiple linear regression lets you deal with data that has multiple predictors. Begin with an R data set on diabetes in Pima Indian women that has an array of potential predictors. Evaluate these predictors for significance. Then turn to data where you fit a multiple regression model by adding explanatory variables one by one.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Language
English
Description
Conclude the course by examining more types of number sequences, discovering how rich and enjoyable the mathematics of pattern recognition can be. As in previous lessons, employ your reasoning skills and growing command of algebra to find order - and beauty - where once all was a confusion of numbers.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Visit the land of topology, where one shape morphs into another by stretching, pushing, pulling, and deforming - no cutting allowed. Start simply, with figures such as the Möbius strip and torus. Then get truly strange with the Alexander horned sphere and Klein bottle. Study the minimum number of colors needed to distinguish their different regions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Classify all different types of four-sided polygons (called quadrilaterals) and learn the surprising characteristics about the diagonals and interior angles of rectangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, and more. Also see how real-life objects—like ironing boards—exhibit these geometric characteristics.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Continue the work of classification with triangles. Find out what mathematicians mean when they use words like scalene, isosceles, equilateral, acute, right, and obtuse. Then, learn how to use the Pythagorean theorem to determine the type of triangle (even if you don’t know the measurements of the angles).
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Language
English
Description
Discover that by following basic rules on how to treat coefficients and exponents, you can reduce very complicated algebraic expressions to much simpler ones. You start by using the commutative property of multiplication to rearrange the terms of an expression, making combining them relatively easy.
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