I have no education and am self taught since few years back learning to read and spell just from reading online stuff etc. My interests are betting which I been doing for some time. I'm thinking about using khanacademy to school myself in mainly maths. How +EV would doing from say year 7 through to 8, Eureka EngageNY and all of High school schooling on khanacademy.

I was debating with a friend about this question, my main point of doing this course was to learn and understand when people write formulas, for example something like this..

$10,000 * (55% * 1.909091 - 1) / (1.909091-1) = 5.5%

no idea what any of that means until someone on this forum taught me through private message

I use a certain staking method for betting not kelly atm although yes kelly is #1. My friends argument is why do the whole maths course when you can simply plug in the values into a kelly calculator and it spits out how much exactly you should be wagering per wager, and its 100% correct. Since i dont obviously code or use a model for my style of betting, i can see his point sort of.

So my question is what are the benefits of doing the whole maths course? or is it overdoing doing the whole year 7 to high school?

Big props and congratulations to you.
You can plug things into online calculators. You don't gain a lot from the math in most fields if you're an original thinker. The first 5% of the wisdom/knowledge/formulas plug ins get you 95% of the results.

I'm of the opinion that doing math is worthwhile because it makes you a good thinker. It's like free weights for the mind. In areas other than math and physics you can get away with bad form, but physics and math is unforgiving because complex symbolic logic is unforgiving - there is a right and wrong answer, and you have to bend your mind to reality rather than cheating like you can in most other disciplines.

You seem to be a good thinker and self motivated anyway. So it's really of question of how you value your time imo. Algebra (what formulas are made up of) is simple once the penny drops and you can probably stop at that.

Why read when you can just use text-to-speech and have everything read to you?

If you think that math is just about plugging stuff into formulas, then you're right that there's not a bunch of extra value to you. But exploring math is more about exploring ideas and relationships and thinking clearly and logically. If that appeals to you, give it a shot.

Just be warned that a ton of the math out there is going to point you to practicing symbolic manipulations, which isn't the end goal for most math people. You might want to look into something like Numberphile or Infinite Series (both on YouTube) to get a sense of what mathematical thinking is all about. You're going to need the symbolic manipulations, but it can be quite dull if that's all you're learning.

Agree so yeah I just registered today with khan academy and spent roughly 4 hours on there "addict " but a lot of it was questions like >> there are 4 birds and 3 turtles or similar and what is the ratio and some really boring type of maths.

So was thinking hmm not sure if i really need to learn this type of stuff and do the whole year 7 year 8 stuff, as i signed up for the whole year 7 to high school but yeah i think I'm just going to close account and resign and do the algebra courses only, plus algebra seems cool too, as does some of the other maths "some"


thanks




OK thanks, and yeah I've bookmarked some YouTube videos to watch.

So doing some basics first and then I'll work my way on securing my first Nobel Prize of Mathematics after that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

I'll put in for geometry, a little less abstract than algebra and a noticeable connection to a perceptive science.

genius

OK thanks.


So since joining yesterday some of the maths has been a bit tilting mainly because a lot of the words I don't understand, and the meaning behind them, (English not been my first language)

and when i google the definition of a lot of these maths words or any word google often displays >>




I'm like WHAT

that's some well defined definition google


And its even better when you look up a word and the definition has another few words which you don't understand and need to look them up too only to repeat this over and tilt



So its slow learning and 2nd day doing khans academy i was nearly going to eff it off, mainly because its like learning a whole new language at the same time that I am learning the maths.


Anyway so since signing up to do the tiltalgebra course, yesterday..





So yeah I'm a noob I know but

These type questions are part of the algebra course , is there use in doing this type of stuff as their boring as. I wonder if they can be skipped.

Very little is boring if you develop the habit of challenging yourself. If the material is too elementary, then try to do it with maximum speed and zero mistakes.

What concept do you think this question is trying to teach you? If you understand what it is trying to teach, then you don't need it; it you don't understand, then you do need to learn it.

Fastest way to tackle rapid learning is to try to do a few hard questions in a new area. If you fail, drop back. Find a level where you can get 90% of the answers correct and then go forward.

Is it boring because it's easy? If so, then skip it.

Is it boring because it's hard and you don't know what's going on, and so you're trying to figure out whether it's even worth your time to try to figure it out? If so, then you should spend the time to do it.

This exercise is about constructing mental models and learning to understand how to meaningfully understand and manipulate information.

yeah that type of stuff I posted is basic so I'll just skip it and learn the maths I don't understand. Was just thinking complete the whole course as Khan Academy have a order in doing the course, but no point as you both say, so yeah.





Someone reading my mind ^

You might also look at the "Mind Your Decisions" channel on YouTube. That's more about honing your logic than it is about learning math per se, but you might find the questions interesting and challenging.

thanks

oh btw, in between watching these YouTube channels you mentioned, this video was one that was up next that i had to click worth a watch

This is interesting




I had the answer as 1 as they showed with the second example, as I assumed 2* (3) went first before the 6 /

but instead it was 6 / 2 is equal to 3 then *3 = 9

Yes, it is. Personally, I never use the obelus.

^^

If you watch from 16.40 he explains why he believes there is no solution for this 6÷2(1+2) = ? formula.

Do any of you agree with this guys answer?



My original noob understanding was, if there is no divide, add or subtract, in-between the 2 and the parenthesis

its automatically a *

This might sound cheesy, re gambling I am making a profit, the maths is to understand formulas, and ->


Also I dont bet sports but horses instead, and it seems most sports bettors are maths and model based unlike horse racing. In horse racing some are model based but IMO I have a edge over them even the biggest syndicates when it comes to individual races, but obviously they have a edge over me because they can bet on many more races per day using their models.

Also I don't think I want to introduce maths into my selection process because the horse racing syndicates are far more superior with models, and trying to have a edge over them at their own game is not EV, while having a edge over them outside models and maths is different.

My understanding is that one evaluates whichever out of division or multiplication comes first, reading from left to right. Since division comes first, the correct interpretation is (6÷2)(1+2) = 9, rather than 6÷(2(1+2)) = 1.

I don't know why the guy is claiming that the expression is ambiguous, as his argument was so long and laborious that I didn't watch most of it.

I didn't watch the video, but if he's arguing that it's ambiguous then he's probably making the case that the use of the ÷ is ambiguous when combined with implied multiplication.

For example, 3÷3x is more naturally interpreted as 3÷(3x) and not (3÷3)x because we predominantly use 3x as a single term and never insert another operation in between that multiplication. But if you were to write 3÷3*x, then it now reads "properly" left-to-right as one would expect by the "rules" of the order of operations.

I'm of the perspective that it's the fault of the use of ÷ and that I really don't care to fight about which interpretation is right or wrong. The problem is that the person writing the calculation was too lazy or stupid to make the meaning precise.

So do you consider 3x to be a single term in 3x^2?

Hmmm... good reply.

I see 3x and 3x^2 as the monomials that they are. That's the sense in which I don't break them apart.

I don't see 3÷3x as being primarily two operations with three mathematical objects (3 ÷ 3 * x). I see it primarily as one operation with two mathematical objects (3 ÷ 3x).

Similarly, 3÷3x^2 is still one operation between two objects (3 ÷ 3x^2) and not three operations with four mathematical objects (3 ÷ 3 * x * x)

I tend to agree, although algebra and geometry are manifestations of each other, via symmetry. Maybe it's a Trinity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlangen_program

Whatever, symmetry has to be one of the most profound and fundamental of concepts ever.

I'm trying figure something out about this maths, so this might come across as a weird question

When a mathematician is trying to figure out a really difficult formula - are they enjoying the getting it wrong so often part, or are they tilted by this?

What I mean is, say a formula that takes a day or days/weeks or even longer to solve, and sometimes doesn't even get solved.

Is this something a maths guy would do in their relax or chill out time to unwind?, or not? - not because it would just be to tilting to do in their relax/unwind time at the end of a day?.

I'm thinking something like a formula that one is getting wrong hours on end, or day after day, might frustrate them too much be something they want to do in their chill out time, - on the other hand I'm thinking maybe not, as some might get a kick out of this type of stuff, and actually be something they do do in their unwind chill out time.

Yes it is a weird question I know

It's a bit like training a dog, or a squirrel. You want to the acorn or the treat, so you train yourself into more and more elaborate and painful scenarios for enjoyment of the acorn when you finally get there.

It's basically the below but with internal mental structures.