EDIT :- Hey, I tried to make the title rhyme with "Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink" but obviously, it's not quite as elegant. So, this kept itching me somewhere at the back of my mind and eventually a new one came up. It's slightly longer so I don't want to use it as the title but here it goes.
Numbers, numbers everywhere,
yet, I see you nowhere;
Wonder if you had a name,
would you still scare me all the same !
Of course, it's still Amateurish but that's a definite improvement. Kinda sums up the entire post=)
------------------------------------------------------------
You know that feeling when someone is expecting from you a number and you just come up blank. Well, welcome to the club;P
For many of us Numbers are so impersonal and such an abstract concept that it is quite hard to grab them around one's mind after all we can't really see numbers, can we ? We see their examples like 1 banana, 2 bananas, 3 bananas...oh okay okay... 1 apple, 2 apples, 3 apples. Btw what do you have against bananas and why is it named so funny !
But Numbers are absolutely everywhere and this initial feeling of numbers being these impersonal things which always end up getting us in trouble, really hold us back from enjoying Mathematics. For, the fear of Numbers grows up into the belief that "I am no good at numbers so Maths is just too hard for me". Well, this is what the uninformed believe and for sure "Numbers are not Mathematics ", just a part of it. The subject extends far and wide so much so that it’s a common joke that if two Mathematicians are in a room, it’s not really the case that they would have much in common to discuss ! Or to put it more simply it’s like saying that all painting are oil paintings, not really true, is it ?
Well anyways, the point is that there are people who are really good at them and I am sure that you wouldn't need to think hard to recall someone who just feels right at home with numbers. That's because they have consciously or unconsciously made numbers personal and given them a personification. That's what the "superhuman savants" do !! People like, Daniel Tammet, Rainman to name the most famous examples of Exceptional Memory do that automatically or at least at a near-subconscious level.
Do they have different brains, they use a higher percentage of their brain ?
Not, necessarily ! Studies show that figuring out differences between the Neural Structure of the brain of a "savant" or a "normal" person is nigh impossible. But their brains however have a slightly more developed visual memories and this slight change produces a remarkably highly developed well developed overall memories. Think about it for a minute, we really are quite visual beings, we might not remember names, numbers, where we put our keys etc but we have a remarkable memory for faces, for places thought not for events, which get morphed over time.
But our focus for the moment is only upon the importance of visual memories and by extension how can we make things more "memorable". Well, there is this childishly simple thing called SYNESTHESIA, which emphasizes that fact the that more aware we are of our sensory inputs and the better we associate them to the object we want to remember, the easier it is for us to recall it. It's like each memory is a slippery to begin with but as we add and associate them with more and more factors we give this slippery memory, hooks, which might help us retrieve them further.
Do check out this link.
So, actually being aware of one’s feeling and surroundings would be a great way to remember not only numbers but anything, really !
Wondering, how this is all related to sage, python and programming ?
Ah, that’s where it all becomes interesting. I think that the traditional way that the concepts like Object Oriented Programming etc are introduced is just as lifeless as they introduce numbers. So, of lately, I have been working upon making a program which helps us to give personalities to the number like what’s it’s color, whom does the number remind you of, what does the shape resemble, what is it’s texture like, it’s smell, does it look happy; and a few more of such personifications.
See, linking the programming concepts with various mnemonic techniques and at the same time taking the fear of numbers makes it all the more interesting, in fact , compelling for me. I like combining various things, giving them life.
Now, when the PersonalityToNumbers.py is functional, I would start experimenting with it’s structure, how to use this Class and make a module out of it or just simply see how many ways I can make it more and more interactive; that’s a good enough and a tough enough context for me to work towards.
And then there is the question of managing various versions of this code, which again provides me with a brilliant context for experimenting with Git version control system and how can I show and explain the code on this blog. So, that’s what is coming in a few days time.
Also, it’s making a lot of sense to begin with combinatorics and just the basic graph theory on the side as they are distinct enough so as to make a rapid progress in that aspect as well.
So, to sum it up these are the two basic things that I am working at the moment. Will update soon about the progress.
Numbers, numbers everywhere,
yet, I see you nowhere;
Wonder if you had a name,
would you still scare me all the same !
Of course, it's still Amateurish but that's a definite improvement. Kinda sums up the entire post=)
------------------------------------------------------------
You know that feeling when someone is expecting from you a number and you just come up blank. Well, welcome to the club;P
For many of us Numbers are so impersonal and such an abstract concept that it is quite hard to grab them around one's mind after all we can't really see numbers, can we ? We see their examples like 1 banana, 2 bananas, 3 bananas...oh okay okay... 1 apple, 2 apples, 3 apples. Btw what do you have against bananas and why is it named so funny !
But Numbers are absolutely everywhere and this initial feeling of numbers being these impersonal things which always end up getting us in trouble, really hold us back from enjoying Mathematics. For, the fear of Numbers grows up into the belief that "I am no good at numbers so Maths is just too hard for me". Well, this is what the uninformed believe and for sure "Numbers are not Mathematics ", just a part of it. The subject extends far and wide so much so that it’s a common joke that if two Mathematicians are in a room, it’s not really the case that they would have much in common to discuss ! Or to put it more simply it’s like saying that all painting are oil paintings, not really true, is it ?
Well anyways, the point is that there are people who are really good at them and I am sure that you wouldn't need to think hard to recall someone who just feels right at home with numbers. That's because they have consciously or unconsciously made numbers personal and given them a personification. That's what the "superhuman savants" do !! People like, Daniel Tammet, Rainman to name the most famous examples of Exceptional Memory do that automatically or at least at a near-subconscious level.
Do they have different brains, they use a higher percentage of their brain ?
Not, necessarily ! Studies show that figuring out differences between the Neural Structure of the brain of a "savant" or a "normal" person is nigh impossible. But their brains however have a slightly more developed visual memories and this slight change produces a remarkably highly developed well developed overall memories. Think about it for a minute, we really are quite visual beings, we might not remember names, numbers, where we put our keys etc but we have a remarkable memory for faces, for places thought not for events, which get morphed over time.
But our focus for the moment is only upon the importance of visual memories and by extension how can we make things more "memorable". Well, there is this childishly simple thing called SYNESTHESIA, which emphasizes that fact the that more aware we are of our sensory inputs and the better we associate them to the object we want to remember, the easier it is for us to recall it. It's like each memory is a slippery to begin with but as we add and associate them with more and more factors we give this slippery memory, hooks, which might help us retrieve them further.
Do check out this link.
So, actually being aware of one’s feeling and surroundings would be a great way to remember not only numbers but anything, really !
Wondering, how this is all related to sage, python and programming ?
Ah, that’s where it all becomes interesting. I think that the traditional way that the concepts like Object Oriented Programming etc are introduced is just as lifeless as they introduce numbers. So, of lately, I have been working upon making a program which helps us to give personalities to the number like what’s it’s color, whom does the number remind you of, what does the shape resemble, what is it’s texture like, it’s smell, does it look happy; and a few more of such personifications.
See, linking the programming concepts with various mnemonic techniques and at the same time taking the fear of numbers makes it all the more interesting, in fact , compelling for me. I like combining various things, giving them life.
Now, when the PersonalityToNumbers.py is functional, I would start experimenting with it’s structure, how to use this Class and make a module out of it or just simply see how many ways I can make it more and more interactive; that’s a good enough and a tough enough context for me to work towards.
And then there is the question of managing various versions of this code, which again provides me with a brilliant context for experimenting with Git version control system and how can I show and explain the code on this blog. So, that’s what is coming in a few days time.
Also, it’s making a lot of sense to begin with combinatorics and just the basic graph theory on the side as they are distinct enough so as to make a rapid progress in that aspect as well.
So, to sum it up these are the two basic things that I am working at the moment. Will update soon about the progress.
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