I use Mathematica myself, as a degree holder and math hobbyist, and a lot of the time I just use it to help me clarify and visualise things. I actually ENJOY figuring out real word problems WITHOUT using a computer, then use the technology to verify the answer, as it's so much more satisfying to do it yourself.

this is amazing, ive been thinking about this since I was in high school, I always hated not knowing the formules and the use for them, hence why no one ever remember them or cares for them

I pay for YouTube red. This video, by embedding a blackberry ad towards the end, violates the contract I have between YouTube and myself to not play ads in YouTube videos. Despite this video being a high quality ted talk, I have reported the video to customer support for spam.

This lecture in beginning confuses math with analytics and statistics. The 4 steps are fundamental to how to solve a problem analytically. Makes some good points about teaching math early. I am not a great mathematician like wolfram however as much I know about math, I respectfully disagree that we teach computer based math. This would not allow individuals to understand mechanics of math conceptually. By reading once we shall retain less and lose math specialists. If we have not done matrices by hand can not explain what is going on or how to feed computer with right form of vectors. It will weaken foundation....

*maths

Can he provide us some sort of guidelines or a "syllabus" kind of thing? I think the idea is great! Not only for math, but programming as well. I am a programmer and I still struggle with some math concepts, anyone up for designing such a syllabus?

brilliant

While I do believe in the immeasurable value of using computers in math education, I do think there is the danger of its over-dependence.
For instance, just because a computer can calculate faster than a human, that does not mean it is necessarily correct.
Someone had to know the math and the most efficient algorithm to program the solution into the computer.
The problem is how do you know that programmer did their own math correctly or chose the correct algorithm?
You don't unless someone else has verified it.

I also disagree with Wolfram's statement that calculations are more suited to computers than humans.

The purpose in learning math and calculations is not just to get an answer.

Learning to do calculations as much in your head as possible develops the cognitive skills that you would not get in just relying on a computer.

Part of the reason we learn math is NOT just to get the right answer, but it is to develop the mental muscle.

Body builders do not get their physical muscles developed by getting a machine to lift their weights for them.

The analogy of developing a mental brain builder can only be accomplished by doing as much as possible in your head.

Machines can help build bridges and buildings, but someone has to have the knowledge and skill to design those machines.

Computers are just toolsto help you do calculations,
but they can not do the thinking for you.

Wolfram is an misguided idealist that believes that he can build a thinking machine that can completely replace a human.

All very interesting until you consider it's an ad for his computer based math curriculum.

I also learned a lot of mathematics by programming. However, as soon as you make something a compulsory subject it will be dead.

I know what modern High school math classes look like. I see them several times a week. They use computers to look at what is effectively YouTube videos, though they are forbidden to go to actual YouTube. To copy the notes that the teacher and the books should have given them. They assume everyone has internet, and the teacher explains how to do the simple things that they already know, and the things they do not understand despite reading the book, the teacher reads the book word for word. Don't you think they already tried that. Only those in engineering and or programming clubs begin to understand the processes. They learn it from each other and their couches not their math teachers. I know states think just because it is on a computer it is automatically easier, it is not. Math on computers is easier if put in the right contexts, like building a program to solve an equation or a calculator. It is far more complex when solving problems in a way that is meant to be done by hand.

Sorry but teaching math fundamentals / basics by practicing programming is pointless. Why? For programming in a high computer language you don't need math at all. What you need is logical thinking, systematical thinking. But even after 20 years of practicing programming -- even "professional" -- you won't understand any equation better than before, given you never solved one before. I started programming when I was 11 years old. My brother was teaching me Turbo Pascal and Basic programming in 1996. First on a very old C64. Later on the first Pentium machines, 90MHZ, 4 MB RAM if you know what I mean. I started "real" programming in C by 1999 when I was 14 years old. Beyond my logical thinking and the most basic math skills (add, sub, mul, div, etc.), I never ever needed any further math. And it would have been a blocker for me, if it would be like that. The schools I visited were terribly low-level. I learned only the very basics in school. And even after 18 years of programming, I never needed to solve an equation. Why? Because all mathematical problems are already solved in high level programming languages. What you need is logical thinking. And yes, for training logical thinking, practicing programming helps. But NOT for understanding math. Im 29 years old now. I'm programming since 18 years. And I can't solve any equation because I never learned the basics. Now I want to study psychology and for this I need decent skills in statistics. That's why I'm motivated to learn math now. And it's not as easy as described in the video. A lot of things are even more irritating to me. A function is programming has a different concept than a function in math. When you do programming, you can write down the logic in a specific, well-defined and formalized way. In math, you have a formula composed out of "elegant" math terms. Math formulas are like a recursive summary of summaries compared to computer programs. If you come from programming this looks like a limitation or like totally abstract logic and you don't know how to apply that for a specific problem. You can't learn such things using a computer. After a lot of years I'm using paper again: To practice writing down those equations. Solve them. MANUALLY. To understand the basic concepts. BUT AFTER I've understood the basics of a specific math problem, I use Wolfram Alpha to proof my calculation results. So yes: Computers are GOOD for COMPUTING ;-) For proving my results while I'm learning math on paper. But they are worthless for learning the fundamental concepts of math. Today, as a professional programmer with lots of years of experience, I wish I would have had a good math teacher and the motivation to learn it back when I was a kid in school. With the lack of basic understanding I'm using my computer to consume A LOT of YouTube videos, teaching me how to solve equations by hand -- like a teacher would do in school. This is what helps me to understanding math. For my understanding, most of the difficulty in learning something new relies on MOTIVATION. I mean, I want to study psychology -- I have specific questions in my mind. Questions, I can answer by using math only. So I have the motivation to learn it. I don't need a computer to have fun learning math. I have fun while understanding more and more because it makes sense to me and I'm seeing a progress in my self-development.

Brilliant idea.... I should look to put this in action

I guess there is a part 2 somewhere in which he actually describes how to change school math.

Meanwhile in the US, the math curriculum is written without a Math teacher and simple arithmetic now takes 133 steps instead of 6.

Conrad, are you training teachers already?

Is that Mark Zuckerberg's father?

Very informative video 100% correct

OMG... its not "math" its mathematics and maths at the very least. Maths is not singular its plural.

Don't agree much. There's oddly an acquired satisfaction from the gained ability to successfully perform tortuous computation. This developed satisfaction is extends then to making useful things.
It's actually more than hand calculating, it's an exercise in ability to concentrate, to keep a line of though, to pay extreme attention to detail, to apply and employ creatively a handy set of tools. This whole process then leads to people that can make computers, program and come up with new technologies.