Capla comments on The "best" mathematically-informed topics? - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Capla 14 November 2014 03:39AM

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Comment author: Capla 14 November 2014 07:45:43PM *  0 points [-]

Where did you get the Khan Academy image? Could I see the full version?

A dependencies graph would be of great philosophical and practical interest.

After compiling a list of topics, the next step is to figure our what math underpins each one, and order them according to increasing assumed mathematical knowledge.

Comment author: coyotespike 15 November 2014 05:08:57PM 2 points [-]

Sadly, you can no longer see the full version on Khan Academy.

https://khanacademy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203353750-Where-is-the-Knowledge-Map-Star-Map-math-overview-

The Exercise Dashboard is not as helpful for highlighting dependencies: https://www.khanacademy.org/exercisedashboard

You may be able to find other knowledge maps; Khan wasn't the first to have the idea. I like Kaj's idea as well. I compared the curricula of several majors at MIT to come up with a core curriculum, useful across engineering, computer science, and biology.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 15 November 2014 03:21:56PM 2 points [-]

You could assemble a partial dependency graph by looking at the course pages of different math departments and noting which courses are listed as prerequisites for more advanced courses.

Comment author: Capla 15 November 2014 03:46:47PM 0 points [-]

Yes, although that wouldn't include the applied math that I'm looking for.

Comment author: Toggle 15 November 2014 08:11:38PM 1 point [-]

The main problem with the Khan version is that it got huge; they were subdividing things down to about the level of an individual half-hour lesson. For someone interested in wider strategic planning, something like this would be a bit more reasonable, as long as you added in the annotations. This book is also reviewed as a good way to conceptualize the macrostructure of mathematical reasoning, although I can't vouch for it personally.