[ytygg775]

I applaud your effords. But unfortunately, this perpetuates the notion that this is what math is. It's mundane calculations, best done by a machine. Nobody even underatands why it's meaningful to multiply matrices like that.

How come that high school math is full of this stuff, like doing manual matrix multiplications over and over, but not a single mathematical proof?

Society would really benefit from people training logical reasoning, which is what a mathematical proof is. Rather that than a manual matrix multiplication.

Heck, even most of my SWE colleagues can't even write down a real proof.

[lukew3]

Thanks. I don't believe that math is simply learning how to perform calculations. However, I also don't think that I'm in the best position to teach students how to understand why they do these calculations. It is entirely up to teachers and those who create curriculum to teach students why these calculations work. This project simply gives teachers another tool to help students solidify their what they have learned.

[ranting-moth]

Don't let the naysayers grind you down. Your project is very useful for what it is! You can't please everybody but in this case you're doing a pretty good job.

[_the_inflator]

I love your Repo. It is fun to solve these tasks and to have an abundance of these is even more compelling.

I love Math and this is sort of casual gaming.

[Herbstluft]

This sentiment probably stems from an incredibly privileged place.

Mathematicians and people who are/were good at math are always quick to disregard the "boring" math.

First I'd like so make it clear that I agree with you.

However, in reality, all this stuff is seen as a prerequisite to get to "the good stuff". Real world education systems have this gatekeeper in place for everyone who isn't exceptional.

So while I absolutely share your sentiment, I find it very misplaced (and a bit distasteful) here for a tool that can actually just help real world self learners overcome those barriers. Self learners that just want to learn the basics from ground up are already often ignored by the whole math community.

Math is exercising, that is something high school math and university math very much have in common.

Had OP posted a generator for proof based exercises and problems, I guarantee you some mathematician would've showed up to rant just as much about how trivial undergraduate level proofs are ;)

[zamadatix]

Funny, I always took it to the inverse - the ones naturally good at math loved these kinds of exercises (and got even better as a result) and the other kids hated the exercises since they took forever, were difficult, and they couldn’t understand why it mattered they became good at them. Making it more relevant is helpful to both groups but more so the ones that didn’t already have a reason to be interested no? Either way as long as you can convince them practice is a good thing you’re golden.

[sylogizmo]

I'd wager that a typical math homework felt like a grind to everyone sooner or later, depending on overall load and topic, so the attitude towards it would be as personal as with anything else. I was never one of those IMO-level exceptionals, though scored OK nationally, and hated doing essentially same problem 50 times in a row. My friends were chiller on average, but I never noticed any skill-loathing relation.

[zrobotics]

One thing though, doing exercises (or problems, whatever you want to call them) is extremely helpful for actually learning math. For your matrix example, I had a very excellent teacher for linear algebra and one of the most helpful things they did was spend the first few weeks of the course teaching manual calculation and actually forcing us to do the manual calculations. At the time this felt like a total waste of time, since after all that is what computers are for, right? However, actually doing the calculations helped greatly to reinforce my memory for matrix manipulation and what is actually occurring.

Yes, proofs are a powerful part of mathematics, but they aren't at all the only goal. For someone like a machinist, proofs seem entirely impractical and like a waste of effort. My high school geometry class was heavily proof based, and most of the people in my class couldn't understand why we were doing these exercises. As a result, they didn't actually learn many of the helpful tricks from intro geometry that can help with things like machining or carpentry. In fact, I'd talked to someone who was in that class that now runs a cabinetmaking shop and they mentioned feeling cheated in high school due to our geometry class. I thought it was very well taught, but I ended up doing a BS in math. I was surprised that we ended up with very different views of the same class >10 years later.

Plus, even after MS level math courses, I can appreciate the need to do exercises. I look at them the same way as practicing playing an instrument. Sure, you can intellectually understand everything about a performance, but the only way to learn is through practice. I haven't had to touch 3d calc in a hot minute, but an upcoming side project will need that. First thing I am doing is (legally acquiring) some undergrad textbooks and solution guides and working through problems before comparing results. Yes, I can do proofs, but going through a worked example and comparing results is an excellent way of learning.

[ytygg775]

> Yes, proofs are a powerful part of mathematics, but they aren't at all the only goal.

Ultimately, they are.

[_the_inflator]

Just a reminder: Proofs are usually stuff for a master course.

I think these short outburst of calculations are helpful and fun. I for example host a private website for sub/add/mult/div tasks and consider them as same sort of casual gaming, solving these "math problems" in the shortest time possible.

Author's great repo inspired me to add more stuff. I like it.

[zrobotics]

I realize you may not want to share it, but if you have some sort of resource you could point me at I'd appreciate it, since I also like doing basic arithmetic as a mental game. I view it as similar to the type of casual timekilling that one would do with sudoku or minesweeper, but at least semi-productive in that I'm building mental arithmetic skills. If you feel inclined to share the source so I could run my own instance, I can be reached at my username + google's mail service.

[mode80]

You might like catmath.io. Unless you hate cats.

[ytygg775]

> Just a reminder: Proofs are usually stuff for a master course.

And that's my criticism. If more people in society cared why something is true, we wouldn't have falsehoods abound all around us that are obviously wrong and logically screamingly incorrect.

Matrix multiplication is an uninportant detail. Modus ponens is what holds everything together. But rarely anybody can handle the latter, nor even has heard of it.