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)

TI-36X Pro

It's not often that I buy calculators. My last purchase was the venerable TI-86 back in the late 90's, and that calculator has served my every need for the past ~15 years.

For the Linear Algebra class that I'm taking currently, I needed a scientific non-graphing calculator. I quickly decided to take a look at what TI had in that category, and came upon the TI-36X series. Having read some reviews, I homed in on the TI-36X Pro.

The feature set of this calculator was described as "everything that the TI-84 can do, minus the graphs, for 1/4 the price," and I find that to be accurate. This little monster can handle polynomials, complex numbers, unit conversions, linear systems, regression, and lots more. It has everything I need in a scientific calculator, and I can always reach for my TI-86 when necessary.

All this in a sub-$20 bundle makes it a no-brainer if you need a non-graphing calculator. You can pick it up from Amazon using the referral link below, which supports this site. Thanks for reading!

Udacity CS222: Making Math Matter (Differential Equations in Action)

Along with the announcement that Udacity's Logic & Discrete Math offering would be cancelled, a new course on applied differential equations was announced. The course will be starting up on September 3, 2012, and taught by Jörn Loviscach with Miriam Swords Kalk, who I assume will be TA'ing and moderating the discussions.

Personally, I'm not sure how much time I will have to focus on this course. With a full 17-credit semester coming up, I may have to leave this course for around the end of the year when I will have more free time. I'm definitely looking forward to it, but more important courses must be focused on first.

The prerequisites (more recommendations than requirements) list knowledge of basic computer programming, calculus, and physics. You could tackle the programming and physics requirements via Udacity's CS101 and PH101 classes, while Khan Academy will help you shore up the Calculus. More information from Udacity's course page below:

Syllabus

---

• Unit 1: Rescuing Apollo 13, Part 1 

• Introduction to the Forward Euler Method 

• Unit 2: Rescuing Apollo 13, Part 2 

• Comparing solvers, Heun’s Method and Symplectic Euler Method 

• Unit 3: Analyzing the Spread of Diseases 

• Implicit methods and stiffness 

• Unit 4: There’s Plenty of Fish in the Sea 

• Stability, sensitivity, and optimization 

• Unit 5: Antilock Brake Systems

• Friction, equilibria, and control theory 

• Unit 6: The Path of a Forest Fire 

• Partial differential equations and heat conduction 

• Unit 7: Advanced Applications of Numerical Methods 

• Chaos, software, and predictive capability 

• 
  

ST101 Completed

There you have it. I successfully completed the final for Udacity's ST101 course with 16 out of 16 questions correct. I've enjoyed tacking this subject over the past eight weeks or so. I feel that it was a great warmup for the required Mathematical Statistics I course that starts at the end of August.

This was the first course on Udacity that I have pursued to the end. I'm currently working on CS101 part-time, but that may take a while since it has consistently taken a backseat to my academic courses at the university level. I would have liked to aggressively tackle Udacity's Logic course, but that was canned earlier this week after a long delay.

I guess I'll find out soon just how good of a warmup it was. It is my hope that the calculus-based approaches to statistics will be the only "new" material that I have to deal with in a full-on university course, but time will tell!

Udacity cancels Logic & Discrete Math offering, announces applied Differential Equations course

Unfortunately, Udacity has announced that their CS221 course on Logic and Discrete Math has been cancelled. This is only a bit surprising, considering that the course was already heavily delayed.

They've chosen to instead recommend their new CS222 course: Differential Equations in Action. That appears to be an applied course that reviews some ways that differential equations are used in everyday technology and how they were used to "rescue Apollo 13."

You can see the complete announcement below.

Thank you for having enrolled in CS221: Logic and Discrete Mathematics.  Unfortunately, we regret to inform you that despite much preparation and anticipation, we will not be launching this course. 

This was a very difficult choice, but an important one. We continue to push and raise the bar on the courses we bring you.  We want to always ensure improved quality and the educational experience we provide you, our students. We want to make clear this disappointment is in no way a reflection on Jonathan, but on the Udacity team and the constraints we put on ourselves. We hope very much to work with Jonathan again in the future. 

For those of you who are looking for another math course, we recommend checking out our just announced CS222: Making Math Matter, Differential Equations in Action.  We believe this course will delight you with the higher quality bar we have set for ourselves. Enrollment is open and course will start on September 3rd.   

Continue learning and stay curious!