Hacker News

matthewsinclair
Terence Tao explains 6 essential mathematical concepts [video] youtube.com

stillpointlab5 minutes ago

I've heard it said that true understanding is demonstrated when someone can explain difficult concepts well. Tao manages to convey complex ideas without making me feel like he is condescending to me. His depth of understanding is unmistakable.

My changes to his list would be s/Geometry/Topology/ and I might have found a place for logic and type theory. I am especially glad he brought to mind Dynamics since that is a field I know I need to pay more attention to.

Great video, we're lucky to have this kind of content so easily and widely available.

esalmanan hour ago

I respected Terence Tao but since listening to his "Mathematics in the age of AI" talk, I've become a fan. I have had nobody else explain so succinctly what is the purpose of Mathematical research, why it matters, and why it is so important to preserve the ways we do math. Even more importantly, I feel it resonates so well with every other field AI is taking over.

SMEbooop31 minutes ago

Yeh; I mean he's still just a dude, not gonna glaze him, but IMO early public ed should really just focus on math and basic physical experiment design for kids

Save specialization in other fields for later in life. Most fields jargon are bolted on top the physical geometry, color gradient, and additive/subtractive behavior in the natural world anyway.

iTokioan hour ago

Numbers

Algebra

Geometry

Probability

Analysis

Dynamics

I loved this talk, but these concepts are like an attempt at dimensional reduction of math research, science, the academics knowledge.

I would have loved to have his thoughts on the mathematical mind, the process, how to reason, infer vs deduct, abstract, prove..

I don’t really know, what are the primitives, essential concepts of math reasoning?

Isamuan hour ago

So… numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, analysis, dynamics are not the primitives or essentials ?

bobajeffan hour ago

I really enjoyed this video (watched it the other day). It makes me feel like it's possible for me to understand the math that I'm currently trying to understand.

laybak2 hours ago

this is great foundational content! I also enjoyed his earlier appearance on 3Blue1Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdOXS_9_P4U

matthewsinclairop3 hours ago

Apologies for the typo. I’ve asked mods to fix it.

matthewsinclairop3 hours ago

Looks like it’s been fixed. Thanks.

pixelpoet3 hours ago

At least spell his name correctly, my goodness...

Terence Tao.

dang3 hours ago

Can't believe we missed that. Fixed now. Thanks!

1294763 hours ago

[flagged]

femiagbabiaka3 hours ago

It was expected that people without established credibility would be looked down on for using AI, but it's been weird to see people with all the credibility in the world lose it for embracing AI.

[deleted]3 hours agocollapsed

orf3 hours ago

What credibility has he lost?

femiagbabiaka2 hours ago

To sensible people? None. But the amount of criticism of his work that boils down to "he uses AI" is undeniable.

orf2 hours ago

Can you share some of the criticism? I’ve not seen any from anyone real.

pfdietz2 hours ago

It's weird to believe he's lost credibility.

nutjob22 hours ago

Tao gives or takes credibility from AI, not the other way around.

Agentus2 hours ago

i blinked and read terrence howard. i was like good god

stuxnet79an hour ago

For those not in the know, Terrence Howard's dreams of a career in Astrophysics were eviscerated after Neil Degrasse Tyson reviewed his "Theory of Everything" paper [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uLi1I3G2N4

hn-front (c) 2024 voximity
source