Whet your appetite folks,

Maths is about curiosity

One day I wondered what it would be like to discover math at my own pace and in my own way.

So I did.

I made a serious commitment to myself to relearn math. To let go of old solutions learnt in my school years and discover even older ones. To enter the realms where my teachers never went or were afraid to tell us about.

Like the blind dog following a fresh lead, the path meanders across the mathematical wastelands, doubles back unexpectedly to sniff at methods time forgot, occasionally rolling in some exotic techniques or plunging into swamps.
This is not a site for serious mathematicians. It is to mathematics as a ramble in the country is to ecology, more for enjoyment than understanding.

Much of what I have learnt has been gleaned from the sci.math user group.
I wear my most humble cap there. They know what mathematics is about. I don't.

For the moment this page will start with links to some of my favourite mathematicians.

http://mathafou.free.fr/index_en.html

http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/allfacts.shtml

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Tim/Exhausting.html

http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/index/11DXX.html

For some virtual physics you simply must visit http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/java/ntnujava/index.html

Electrical theory

Norton current method

 Logic Puzzles

As an exercise in adult learning I decided to discover the logic behind Logic puzzles.
Here are my meanderings in these arcane fields Logic puzzzles

Resources for Electrical and Mathematics Teachers

Algebra with pictures.   A visual approach to establishing algebraic identities

An odd approach to binary numbers.  The concept of parity pervades binary numbers. 

Binary borrowing.   This shows a method of setting out borrowing when doing binary subtraction.

Multiplication involving negative numbers in 2's complement.  
Handling overflow problems.

Hexadecimal subtraction.  This shows a method of setting out borrowing when doing hexadecimal subtraction.

Working with fractions.  Using the fraction key on Casio calculators

Percentage Uncertainties  Resistance networks often use 5% resistors.
How does this affect the overall uncertainties for the network?

Cunning Stratagems in Boolean Algebra

Reciprocal sums.   This provides a table of integer solutions to the sum of two reciprocals equals a reciprocal

 

Proper fractions

Proper fractions eg 3/8 are such common place things that it is incredible to think the people once wrote all fractions as sums of unit fractions 1/4 + 1/8.

Here are two methods for converting proper fractions into the sum of unit fractions.

Sylvester's method                          Farey's method

I find the methods fascinating because they illustrate different ways of viewing the same thing.

Primes and unit fraction. Writing 2/prime as the sum of two unit fractions.

Babylonian method for finding square roots.

 

 

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