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Terence Tao explains 6 essential mathematical concepts [video] (youtube.com)
140 points by matthewsinclair 1 day ago | 13 comments


I've heard it said that true understanding is demonstrated when someone can explain difficult concepts well. Tao manages to convey complex ideas without making me feel like he is condescending to me. His depth of understanding is unmistakable.

My changes to his list would be s/Geometry/Topology/ and I might have found a place for logic and type theory. I am especially glad he brought to mind Dynamics since that is a field I know I need to pay more attention to.

Great video, we're lucky to have this kind of content so easily and widely available.


I respected Terence Tao but since listening to his "Mathematics in the age of AI" talk, I've become a fan. I have had nobody else explain so succinctly what is the purpose of Mathematical research, why it matters, and why it is so important to preserve the ways we do math. Even more importantly, I feel it resonates so well with every other field AI is taking over.

Yeh; I mean he's still just a dude, not gonna glaze him, but IMO early public ed should really just focus on math and basic physical experiment design for kids

Save specialization in other fields for later in life. Most fields jargon are bolted on top the physical geometry, color gradient, and additive/subtractive behavior in the natural world anyway.


Numbers

Algebra

Geometry

Probability

Analysis

Dynamics

I loved this talk, but these concepts are like an attempt at dimensional reduction of math research, science, the academics knowledge.

I would have loved to have his thoughts on the mathematical mind, the process, how to reason, infer vs deduct, abstract, prove..

I don’t really know, what are the primitives, essential concepts of math reasoning?


So… numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, analysis, dynamics are not the primitives or essentials ?

I really enjoyed this video (watched it the other day). It makes me feel like it's possible for me to understand the math that I'm currently trying to understand.

this is great foundational content! I also enjoyed his earlier appearance on 3Blue1Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdOXS_9_P4U


Apologies for the typo. I’ve asked mods to fix it.

Looks like it’s been fixed. Thanks.

At least spell his name correctly, my goodness...

Terence Tao.


Can't believe we missed that. Fixed now. Thanks!

i blinked and read terrence howard. i was like good god

For those not in the know, Terrence Howard's dreams of a career in Astrophysics were eviscerated after Neil Degrasse Tyson reviewed his "Theory of Everything" paper [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uLi1I3G2N4