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by whimsicalism 1595 days ago
If you are just learning results and not proofs, I wouldn't really call that a "math" course.

If you are learning proofs, it is going to be a bit of a slog in the way that CS50, etc. can avoid.

1 comments

In my experience, if there's one thing missing in math pedagogy, it's that none of the math classes teach you how to think through and write proofs. I was personally fortunate that my high school math teachers made an effort, but that's not that common.

It'd be like if the first time you encountered the concept of an "essay" was when you took a history course in college. You'd have a rough time just understanding how to do the homework.

> it's that none of the math classes teach you how to think through and write proofs.

Formal logic is usually introduced in calculus and discrete math courses. Arguably though it could stand on its own especially if it was taught using modern computer proof assistants, which make the "structuring" of even fairly complex proofs very clear.