Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Description
Classical mechanics is full of paradoxical phenomena, which Professor Kung demonstrates using springs, a slinky, a spool, and oobleck (a non-Newtonian fluid). Learn some of the physical principles that make everyday objects do strange things. Also discussed (but not demonstrated) is how to float a cruise ship in a gallon of water.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Description
Search for the solutions to classic geometric puzzles, including the vanishing leprechaun, in which 15 leprechauns become 14 before your eyes. Next, scratch your head over a missing square, try to connect an array of dots with the fewest lines, and test yourself with map challenges. Also learn how to ride a bicycle with square wheels.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Description
Consider the oddity of the long-multiplication algorithm most of us learned in school. Discover a completely new way to multiply that is graphical--and just as strange! Then analyze how these two systems work. Finally, solve the mystery of why negative times negative is always positive.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Description
"If there is something in life you want, then just make it happen!" Following this advice, learn to solve polynomial division problems that have negative terms. Use your new strategy to explore infinite series and Mersenne primes. Then compute infinite sums with the visual approach.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Description
Ponder a question posed by mathematician Georg Cantor: what makes two sets the same size? Start by matching the infinite counting numbers with other infinite sets, proving they're the same size. Then discover an infinite set that's infinitely larger than the counting numbers. In fact, find an infinite number of them!
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Description
Drawing on the bizarre conclusions from the previous lecture, reach even more peculiar results by mapping all of the fractions (i.e., rational numbers) onto the number line, discovering that they take up no space at all! And this is just the start of the weirdness.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2016.
Description
Inspired by a question about the Fibonacci numbers, probe the power of graphs. First, experiment with scatter plots. Then see how plotting data is like graphing functions in algebra. Use graphs to prove the fixed-point theorem and answer the Fibonacci question that opened the lecture.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
The order in which you do simple operations of arithmetic can make a big difference. Learn how to solve problems that combine adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, as well as raising numbers to various powers. These same concepts also apply when you need to simplify algebraic expressions, making it critical to master them now.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
Continue your study of math fundamentals by exploring various procedures for converting between percents, decimals, and fractions. Professor Sellers notes that it helps to see these procedures as ways of presenting the same information in different forms.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
Advance to the next level of problem solving by using variables as the building blocks to create algebraic expressions, which are combinations of mathematical symbols that might include numbers, variables, and operation symbols. Also learn some tricks for translating the language of problems (phrases in English) into the language of math (algebraic expressions).
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
A more versatile approach to writing the equation of a line is the point-slope form, in which only two points are required, and neither needs to intercept the y axis. Work through several examples and become comfortable determining the equation using the line and the line using the equation.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
Investigating more real-world applications of linear equations, derive the formula for converting degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit; determine the boiling point of water in Denver, Colorado; and calculate the speed of a rising balloon and the time for an elevator to descend to the ground floor.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
When two lines intersect, they form a system of linear equations. Discover two methods for finding a solution to such a system: by graphing and by substitution. Then try out a real-world example, involving a farmer who wants to plant different crops in different proportions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
For those cases that defy simple factoring, the quadratic formula provides a powerful technique for solving quadratic equations. Discover that this formidable-looking expression is not as difficult as it appears and is well worth committing to memory. Also learn how to determine if a quadratic equation has no solutions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
Much of what you've learned about linear and quadratic expressions applies to adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing polynomials. Discover how the FOIL operation can be extended to multiplying large polynomials, and a version of long division works for dividing one polynomial by another.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2009.
Description
When one polynomial is divided by another, the result is called a rational function because it is the ratio of two polynomials. These functions play an important role in algebra. Learn how to add and subtract rational functions by first finding their common divisor.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Description
Investigate a puzzle that defied some of the most brilliant minds in mathematics: the Monty Hall problem, named after the host of Let's Make a Deal! Hall would let contestants change their guess about the location of a hidden prize after revealing new information about where it was not.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Description
While some statistics are deliberately misleading, others are the product of confused thinking due to Simpson's paradox and similar errors of statistical reasoning. See how this problem arises in sports, social science, and especially medicine, where it can lead to inappropriate treatments.
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