Coursera announces new math courses via California Irvine

One of the obvious gaps in free online math courses was for subjects that are generally taught at the high school or early university levels. While subjects such as Calculus were "on the schedule" at Coursera and available at developed resources such as OCW, the elementary subjects leading up to it were sorely missing.

Coursera is changing that today with a pair of offerings in conjunction with the University of California, Irvine. Beginning in January, 2013, Algebra and Pre-calculus will be offered for free in the 10-week class format.

This is certainly an important step towards making free online education a complete package. While Khan Academy offers a complete set of videos for these subjects, the ability to receive feedback via grades and follow a stricter syllabus is important for many learners. I look forward to hearing reviews of these new classes when they go live.

What I'm Reading - Sept. 12, 2012

Just a quick update on the books I'm currently reading/studying/etc. Both of the books that I'm currently reading (other than my class-centric texts) are from Dover Books, which offers low-priced texts on a variety of topics.

• Linear Algebra by Georgi E. Shilov
• I picked up this book since it's about $10 and was recommended to me. I'm using it as another angle on Linear Algebra while I work through the UIS class on the topic. It approaches determinants early and often, which is very different from the other ways that I've learned Linear Algebra.
• Introduction to Analysis by Maxwell Rosenlicht
• This text was something I wanted to read in my leisure time in order to understand more of the theory behind analysis. I will need to take Real Analysis and Advanced Calculus in the coming semesters, and this text seemed like a cheap one to pick up just to get a preview.

Of course, I'm also reading class texts on Calculus III, Physics II (calculus-based), Mathematical Statistics, and Linear Algebra. Not much time to enjoy much beyond those!

Udacity and Coursera Math Courses for September 2012

Both Udacity and Coursera have officially opened up a few courses this week. Although I'm not planning to devote much if any serious time to them right now (my for-credit course load sits at 17 credits of math and physics), I'm certainly planning to spend a few minutes here and there studying what they have to offer. Here's a quick rundown of the new math-related courses that I'm following:

Udacity CS222 - Differential Equations in Action (officially open)

Coursera / Princeton - Statistics I (officially open)

Coursera / Stanford - Intro to Mathematical Thinking (not open until Sept 17)