Product Details

• Actors: Michael Starbird, Edward B Burger
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Studio: The Teaching Company Great Courses
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000PWVF3O
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,917 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More an entertainment than a method of learning useful Math, October 8, 2010

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas Great Courses Parts I and II Teaching Company (DVD)

I got these along with some others on mathematics to see if it could help me understand some of the more arcane aspects of the subject well enough for me to improve my grasp of calculus. While I enjoyed the series of lectures, and they certainly gave me a new understanding of how mathematics is used and how it developed over time, I'm not too sure that it made me any more fit to tackle more difficult math in the future. The series is more a form of entertainment than a method of learning useful mathematics.

The course is, like the astronomy series which I also own, a series of classroom style lectures. There are handmade demonstrations which help elucidate the concepts of the course--my favorite being the rabbits to demonstrate probability--and "overheads" or "powerpoints" to illustrate equations. This is not heavily into CGI; think classroom not Discovery Channel.

The course is team taught, as was popular in the late 80s and 90s--I've no idea if this is still popular in the classroom now, having been away from it since the mid-90s. Each instructor presents a portion of the material relevant to his own specialty and probably to his own skill at putting across difficult concepts in a given subarea of mathematics. This has a positive side in that attention and interest are more likely to be engaged with novelty and that different people learn through different approaches. It has a negative side in that one may have gained a mental rapport with one of the instructors and his style only to discover one needs to readjust ones thinking to accommodate the other one. Especially with math, which most of us find a little difficult, this can pose a major obstacle.

I think the lectures are probably better for those with at least a little understanding of math to begin with but who want to enjoy it as an "art" rather than as a "tool." Knowing the philosophy of numbers and their uses, especially as a human invention and a mental construct is certainly interesting. Seeing the degree to which math also has connections with art is also illuminating. Though a pain for most of us, however, the old textbook and lecture method is still probably the best way of actually learning when and where to use math for practical problem solving.