Complicated math made easy for you?

October 3, 2004 7:41 PM

Mathfilter: Have you ever found any really, really good explanations of complicated mathematics topics online? Where "good" here gives higher marks for clarity, analogies, examples, and even aesthetics than for strict formal completeness, though that's not taken lightly either. (E.g.) [More inside]
posted by tss to education (9 comments total)

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posted by tss at 7:41 PM on October 3, 2004

Stephen Wolfram's Mathworld website is a pretty good compendium
posted by leotrotsky at 7:54 PM on October 3, 2004

I guess what I had more in mind were in-depth examinations, especially tutorials. Mathworld is a good resource, but I find it's more of a reference than a learning aid. Most of the more specialized entries require a lot of domain knowledge to be useful; some are downright telegraphic! Which is probably as it should be.

ob. nit: Mathworld is Eric Weisstein's baby, though it is on Wolfram's site.
posted by tss at 8:06 PM on October 3, 2004

Greg Egan's Foundations series is pretty good, though it's arguably more physics than math.
posted by Tlogmer at 9:09 PM on October 3, 2004

What you want is the famous series of mathematical visualizations developed by James Blinn at CalTech, located at Project Mathematics < www.projectmathematics.com>
posted by kk at 1:07 AM on October 4, 2004

if you're interested in godel's incompleteness theorem and related topics, this draft is pretty good. it's much less technical than most treatments, but not exactly aimed at the layman (it's more technical than godel, escher, bach, for example) (it corresponds to what you ask for, but i'm thinking it's probably not what you're expecting - sorry).
posted by andrew cooke at 4:31 AM on October 4, 2004

PurpleMath is good for algebra.
posted by jazon at 7:42 AM on October 4, 2004

Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics'

... sorry, couldn't resist...
posted by mkultra at 1:38 PM on October 4, 2004

Your linked SVD proof is no good because it ignores the irresistible fishbowl explanation, which I've since performed on dozens of happy students.
posted by neustile at 8:43 PM on October 4, 2004