Street-Fighting Mathematics – 15 years on - Pedagogical colloquium with Sanjoy Mahajan (LU)

Pedagogical colloquium at Centre for Mathematical Sciences with Sanjoy Mahajan, author of Street-Fighting Mathematics

In 2010, MIT Press published and freely licensed Street-fighting Mathematics (SFM).  The goal of street-fighting mathematics is suggested by my proposed book cover (though rejected as too low brow), Bruce Lee kicking through a full-page integral sign, and by the saying, "An approximate answer is not just good enough.  It's better." I've long wondered, (why) is it better and for what purpose?  I will discuss my current answer -- for improving our teaching and thinking -  using the ideas of Kolmogorov complexity, cognitive load, and the entropy of a mathematical expression; and illustrate the argument with examples from combinatorics, cryptography, and chess endgames.

BIO Sanjoy Mahajan obtained his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology.  His furthered his interest in improving science and mathematics education as a faculty member in the Physics Department at the University of Cambridge.  While there, he helped found the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Cape Town, where he was the first Curriculum Director.  He has taught physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering at Olin College of Engineering and MIT.  He is now a researcher in Medical Oncology, Lund University, and an affiliated researcher in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences.  He is the author of Street-Fighting Mathematics (MIT Press, 2010) and The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering (MIT Press, 2014), both freely licensed, and A Student's Guide to Newton's Laws of Motion (Cambridge University Press, 2020).