I'm good at thinking with words and feelings, but when it comes numbers I get confused very quickly. But you don't have to be anti-intellectual just because you're stupid, and I want to learn about math, even if I can't actually DO math. Now that I'm well past getting beaten with the Numbers Stick in school I have grown romantic about the potential for beauty in numbers and logic. And it makes me sad that, due to my own dimness, I can't see it myself by doing math – like a tone deaf person trying to make music. I'm greedy, want to see a piece of it anyway – what it is that makes people get PHDs in math or get really into chess or EVE Online.
Are there any books about math or hard logic you would recommend to help someone "get it"?
by boomballoonmachine
3 Comments
E=mc^2 a Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2802.E_mc_
Flatland 🫓
It’s not hard logic, but I remember as a kid The Phantom Tollbooth finally making math seem meaningful and playful to me.
Also, when Alanna was struggling with algebra in the book of the same name by Tamora Pierce, I was like “girl, same” but then her teacher explained why she should care in two sentences better than mine had in a year. I still didn’t like math, but at least I had a better understanding for why I had to do my homework.