The Joy of Mathematics

For fun in the evenings, Ian and I have been watching a series of lectures called "Joy of Mathematics". The lectures are taught by Arthur T. Benjamin, Ph.D. They are wonderful! I especially enjoyed the lecture on the Fibonacci series of numbers, and Ian got a kick out of the lecture on Algebra. (He gets it!) All the lectures are in plain English, and Dr. Benjamin makes them easy to understand.

Dr. Benjamin gives excellent examples on how things work and why. (For example,"Think of a number between 1 and 10. Triple it. Add 6. Then triple again. Now take your answer, probably a two-digit number, and add the digits of your answer. If you still have a two-digit number, add those digits again. You should now be thinking of the magical number 9. The reason this works is based on algebra and the fact that the digits of any multiple of 9 must sum to a multiple of 9.")

I learned how to square any number ending in 5 without a calculator. And how to multiply any two-digit number by 11, yes, without a calculator. Ian thinks it's amazing. I think it is really, really cool.

It is obvious as we are watching the lectures that Dr. Benjamin loves Mathematics as much as I do. I am thoroughly enjoying them!

Michael said...I wonder if that DVD is available for rent some time in the future???

Serena said...

You could 'rent' it from me. :) I'll let you borrow it when I'm done. It's really interesting!