Still working through my book on Analysis (which I will be until July 2016, so I should probably stop mentioning it...), but I recently came across another proof that I had difficulty understanding. I had to reach out to the mathematics forums in the end, but after getting a reply and working through some further steps that they mentioned, everything fell into place.<\/p>\n
I felt really good that I'd finally understood the proof, but I also tried to work out what I could've done to push for that answer myself (so hopefully next time, I won't have to post a question to the forum).<\/p>\n
I realised that I might not be reading through the mathematics effectively enough. After reading through Lara Alcock's book I realised how important it is to make effective notes whilst reading through \"all the symbols\".\u00a0 When reading through proofs I have this nasty habit of reading them like a novel, keeping this story of logic in my head... and then very quickly becoming confused because I didn't see how you could logically progress from one sentence to another.<\/p>\n
This sounds really simple, and almost obvious, but I think all it really takes is to sit down with a pen and go through the mathematics of the proof in gritty detail, liberally re-arranging things as you go. It's worth mentioning that this is perhaps quite a different act than just \"taking notes\".<\/p>\n
Being completely confounded by something only to solve the issue entirely on your own is enormously satisfying. The hope is that if I stay mindful and remain aware as to when to write the right kinds of notes, not only will I be able to solve more complicated problems on my own, but also in time these seemingly large logical steps will become second nature.<\/p>\n
Anyway, doing independent reading of mathematics is proving, generally, to be really satisfying. Let's see if I can become a more effective<\/em> reader...<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Still working through my book on Analysis (which I will be until July 2016, so I should probably stop mentioning it...), but I recently came across another proof that I had difficulty understanding. I had to reach out to the mathematics forums in the end, but after getting a reply and working through some further … Continue reading Reading Mathematics<\/span>