Richard Feynman's Math Books
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- čas přidán 12. 03. 2023
- These are some of the math books that Richard Feynman used to self-study mathematics. Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.
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Thank you:)
Either way it must also be noted that Feynman also won the Putnman math competition while in Uni, anyone that has sat this exam knows how difficult it is. While in highschool Feynman won the new York city math competition by such a large margin that the officials encouraged Feynman's parents to send him to an Ivy league school despite the Jewish quotas.
He did not win the Putnam. He got an honorable mention or possibly top 5.
he was also a womanizer who slept with his students
@@willlancer7831 and how easy it that?
@@willlancer7831 Feynman was one of the five named Fellows (Google "Putnam Archive Fellows:), who are always listed alphabetically. He is the first named Fellow on the 1939 list, leading to the erroneous assumption that he necessarily scored first overall. Only buried in the Putnam archives is the answer: R.P. Feynman, M.I.T.; Abraham Hilton, Brooklyn College; Edward L. Kaplan, Carnegie Institute of Technology; William Nierenberg, City College of New York; and Bernard Sherman, Brooklyn College.
@@willlancer7831 ye, he's among the few who have scored, and he got inv from harvard
I worked at Thinking Machines, where Richard Feynman was a consultant. Danny Hillis (founder of Thinking Machines, where Marvin Minsky- a key role in the progression of AI, was on the board) told me Feynman played a major role in the design of the 32-dimensional router (connecting the 65K processors). He also told me about Feynman's IQ score- that he was told by Feynman's sister who also has a PhD. Her IQ score was higher. The way to view this is: an IQ score on an IQ test is nothing more than testing one's ability to take that kind of test. Many of the high IQ self-promoters take these tests over and over to the extent they have seen all or most all of the questions. How many of them have invented anything- shown any exceptional creativity like Richard Feynman or Danny Hillis? Not one I am aware of.
Wow, such a great comment. Excellent points. Thank you for posting this!
Ha ha. If you've read Feynman's memoirs, you will have noted Feynman's great pride in gaming any "inquisition" that he did not have a direct vested interest in. I am sure that he regarded his "official" 125 score an abysmal failure at scoring exactly 100. The Putnam mattered because it would affect graduate school admissions; IQ scores he would have regarded as rather simplistic mental masturbation.
It's important to remember that IQ tests are statistical measures and not necessarily quantitative or even very effective in sorting the prodigies from the simply above average (and certainly not precise enough to be statistically significant to one IQ point as in the case of Feynman and his sister).
For example, if a five year old tests in the 99th percentile on an IQ test, the only thing that can reliably be said about that result (forget the actual IQ that implies) is that they will likely continue to test in the 99th percentile throughout primary and possibly secondary schooling. But that's it. Nothing more or less.
@@ddognine Well said!
Richard Feynman had Mr. Bader as well.
"When I was in high school, my physics teacher-whose name was Mr. Bader-called me down one day after physics class and said, ‘You look bored; I want to tell you something interesting.’ Then he told me something which I found absolutely fascinating, and have, since then, always found fascinating. Every time the subject comes up, I work on it. In fact, when I began to prepare this lecture I found myself making more analyses on the thing. Instead of worrying about the lecture, I got involved in a new problem. The subject is this-the principle of least action." from "The Feynman Lectures on Physics", Vol.II, Chapter 19.
How interesting. In the 1960's I studied electrical engineering at Birmingham University. Professor J T Allanson taught us linear circuit analysis and synthesis. It all seemed pretty obvious for me - at the age of 14 I had read an article on how to analyse circuits with only simple arithmetic and some approximations which made everything clear intuitively so for several yearts I had been designing tone controls and filters. Professor Allanson saw that for me the course was not very difficult. He leant me an old book on the principle of least action and told me to use it to work out the analysis of LC networks.
Second volume is probably the best book of his lecture series. It was the only one really applicable to the class we had when I was in uni.
@@harkonen1000000 All of them are good, but I really think Vol 3 is a masterpiece. The way he subtly brought in the core notions of quantum mechanics, including the Schrodinger equations (without even saying so, just looking at the obviousness on how states should change with time). Right from my high-school days (when I was
accidentally introduced to the three volumes) to well past my PhD (in physics), over the decades I have read the three volumes cover to cover several times, and found
it was fascinating at every level of understanding. The more advanced I grew, the more subtleties got revealed.
Fascinating because the principle of least action became his life's work in a way
Fun fact: Mr. Bader's first cousin Alfred Bender taught physics to Julian Schwinger, and Alfred Bender's son Carl M. Bender is an amazing mathematical physicist and lecturer.
Brilliant mind and a real comedian/ entertainer when you listen to his lectures. Some of his interviews are online and worth the watch.
Yes he is so cool! I love his videos on youtube:)
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it. He would know, obviously.
I never liked the feyman lecture notes, the ones that were later turned into a series of books. Those books weren't suited for self study; questions naturally present themselves everywhere and remain unresolved by the book. But maybe the books were revolutionary for its time.
You have a great website-thank you. As someone who failed early but ended up getting to university after self-study and eventually gained a PhD in Space Physics as a mature student, I can endorse some of these wonderful texts you mention in your wonderful channel-Like you, I have a acquired a large library of maths and physics texts for their sheer interest. Now I'm retired from a career that involved meteorology, physics and mathematics,I teach myself General Relativity, QFT and String theory-keep up the good work!
You are an awesome guy I guess... A life long learner 👍😎
Hi, I find what you accomplished incredible! I am currently in a similar path as you were. Any chance I could ask you some questions? I barely meet self learners. Thanks in advance.
@@atomknife9106 Sure, If I know any answers-currently I'm concentrating on General Relativity but I hope to get back to QFT and String theory with the hope that a second visit to these topics will be a little less difficult.
@@docnelson2008 Hi! Well my question is more oriented to life than to Physics directly. I will post it here in case it helps someone else.
Really long story short: I started studying Electrical Engineering in college when I was 17 but dropped out after 1.5 years. Then I did a few MIT physics lectures, programming courses, neuroscience, math, etc.
Here comes the plot twist, I also have a great passion for business and doing money and I find incredible hard to study (physics/math/philosophy) at the same time of trying to make money, I find them contradictory.
So I decided to first make a lot of money and then go to learn physics and advocate my 100% time to my research and don’t depend on money of someone else.
I am currently 24 years old and I think I will achieve financial independence in about 5 years.
Could you share a bit of how your path of older learner was? Maybe a few tips or your general thoughts on my current path? I will extremely appreciate the view of a much wiser person into my life.
Thank you in advance!
That's great!
Nice! I remember watching one of his interviews and he mentioned this series and how he was excited to get the calculus book.
As far as I can tell, the IQ tests of the era that were administered during Feynman's days also took into consideration your facility with language arts. His skill in the language arts weren't as advanced. I believe this is mentioned in Genius: The life and times of Richard Feynman by James Gleick. Hope this helps.
Oh wow this is very interesting, thank you!!
Years ago, anyone in science, physics or chemistry, perhaps even in engineering, had to take a foreign language, usually German as it was the technical language of the world.
Manz was a genius but humble
On a video I heard Feynman say he couldn't carry a tune. That struck me as interesting.
Sorry if it’s already been mentioned but he also read a book called Calculus Made Easy by S Thompson. His friend Ralph Leighton refers to it in the foreword of the Strange Theory of Light and Matter. Unfortunately for me he didn’t say the name or the title but said it began with ‘What one fool can do, anyone can’ and I then searched for this a year (this was pre-Google). I found it eventually by opening books at random in libraries and it helped me understand calculus very well (although it’s not perfect).
Great video, I love Feynman and i love your math inspiration videos, thank you for this really interesting content, it always keep my inspiration abundant!
It must be really amazing to have you as a teacher either you are a practical man or not thanks for sharing this
Enjoyed this. Sincere thanks. Your effective point of teaching one's self is well taken. I attempt to get everyone to understand this, but I come across many that don't have the confindence for one reason or another - or are affected by that "just getting started" inertia. Really great channel. Cheers
Feynman, apart from his brilliance, was a great communicator of physics. The Math Sorcerer is on the path of doing much the same with math. Without a doubt, Feynman is one of the all time favorite physics scientists. Thank you for the info on Feynman's books... much appreciated.
As Feynman iterated: If you can't teach something, you do not fully understand it.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray It should be if you can't create , you don't understand.
man,you got some gold in your collection.❤
Fun presentation, thanks!
Thank you for your introduction. I like two books of them.
I don"t think anyone knows for sure, but I seriously doubt that Feynman, of all people, cared if a book contained answers to problems. He prided himself on finding his own ways of solving problems and certainly knew if he had arrived at the correct answer without having to check at the back of the book.
Loved his physics course books and he was very proud of his work.
such a cool video ! awesome collection of books
Thank you!!
I like your math book reviews. I still have my college trig book. Though I was a liberal arts major, I was able to challenge my college algebra courses and wanted to take trig because I loved the way trig is applied. Though I had never taken college calculus, I was able to tutor students in it--by phone, because they shared the textbook used in my college and took calculus from my Trig teacher.
My trig teacher did not assign homework. He said he respected us in college as adults, and as such, we could choose which problems to study and he suggested we'd keep a journal so if we got stuck on a problem, he could help.
We had two semi-finals and two finals, and I got perfect grades on all four of them. My teacher handed them back to me, with red ribbons, embarrassing me in front of the students, some of which I went to grammar school with. I majored in liberal arts with the goal of teaching one day, and even in the early 80's when work was hard to find out of college, I found work in '81 and worked non-stop until early retirement in '15, just teaching sometimes since.
Trig identities just came natural to me--like Good Will Hunting, I could 'just play'.
Calculus came natural to me, as did Chemistry for College Majors, because I found balancing chem equations easier than algebra, because again like trig it was applied mathematics.
Years later I wrote a program called Spirapaint!, still used today and found on a few websites. I wrote it as a free tool, like the old Spirograph toy, that could be used to teach high school students or even grammar school students how trig and calculus can be combined to make amazing patterns via a computer. It's fifteen years old, and there are also online websites that have similar tools.
While writing it I wanted to use some special algorithms and I contacted an MIT and also a Stanford professor for their suggestions, since my program creates patterns the old toy cannot and no website can. I used Visual Basic to write it, and though I am a systems and part time school professor, my colleagues at the last software company I worked for played with it during their lunch breaks, since they worked on a CAD program used in retail store.
Richard's work is that of a mega-genius. 🏆
Small correction: the Advanced Calculus Book states that it is NOT a 'course one's in analysis
I've got the Calculus for the Common Man book. I bought it mistaking it for the Sylvanus Thompson book. They are both very good.
Feynman is still with us~!!
Amazing
I found a copy of Calculus for the Practical man at a used book store's bookfair a couple of months ago, for 2$. Same edition you have. I couldn't believe my luck. Such a good price for what has been a really good read.
That Woods book looks really lipsmacking. Beautiful layout and print quality, and the contents perfect for a re-cap of stuff learnt earlier - unlike many, more recently published, and (I would say) inexplicably famous and oft recommended tomes I could mention.
Thanks
Great Video like always!...do you have any recommendations for methematical modeling?
I love wood's books! You can find them online pretty easily.
You should review the book "Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach," by Morris Kline.
🥉
Loving your content sir♥️♥️
Love from India!
He is my favorite scientist!
still need each book been long time on list of
I picked up that calculus for the practical man book on the second chapter, but I'm still learning trigonometry(so almost there!)
Next, try learning your name.
As mathematician, and fellow Fineman acolyte, I thank you.
I found Kreyszig 's "Advanced Engineering Mathematics" somewhat obvious and basic, and the ξ (xi) easy to read.
It is the Greek "x".
When I first started college I went to the Engineering Library on campus to find a physics textbook and ended up finding Calculus for the Practical Man. I thought it was such an interesting title that I checked it out and looked it over a little before classes started. Inside you can find a "proof" (idk of the airquotes are necessary) of the continuously compounded interest formula. I was only a freshman so it blew my mind but it absolutely excited me about math books along with this channel.
Very noble.
I have all of them. Arithmetic through calculus
Just found four of the books in the series, in mint condition (2nd edition). Neat little books.
Really cool
How much of Calculus 1,2 and 3 does the 'Calculus for the practical man' Book cover?
Wonder if I can find a PDF file for this book to look at for the advanced Calculus
Finaly a channel with a cool comment section
Do Feynman's physics lecture books, man.
Could you do more great people like current famous mathematicians maybe
Hi sir, can you make a video on the big physics book by Halliday that was feature in the 10 math and physics book video?thanks
He has.
The Thompson books are fantastic.
I can't counter argue what Feynman suggested but I will say that for Trigo nothing is compared to S.L.Loney [It is one of the most favorite book of Ramanujan.]
I think you are comparing it (forgive my pedantry.)
@@gibbogle On the path of being pedantic, don't lose the grip on nuances.
That's honestly really great!
I also self-study sometimes, but there is a question...
If he didn't study from the book:"Trigonometry for the Pracrical Man," then which other book did he use to study trigonometry?
Or did Richard Feynman just directly jump to calculus?
(If anyone knows which book he used for trigonometry, kindly comment down.)
I always wanted to read woods advanced calculus but i simply can't find a copy for a price less than 300 eur. I once found a listing with woods cover and it said to be woods for 8 Eur, but i got the wrong book shipped which was Edwards Advanced calculus, which is nowadays still in print and titled Advanced calculus: a differential forms approach. Its kind of an unique book so i was still happy to get it :)
Very nice!!
Have you heard of libgen?
At that price, it would be cheaper to self-print the PDF!
and you can do that at the library
for free!
A reprint is available from Gyan publishing for less than $30.
I personally have never bought into the ideas that some people have that the IQ test was somehow wrong for Feynman. People's insistence that his IQ must have been exceptionally high sets problematic expectations for aspiring physicists, suggesting that inherent intellect is a necessity for being a successful physicist.
What is certain is that Feynman was a more diligent student than the vast majority of us, and he relentlessly pursued understanding when he didn't already have it. At a relatively young age, he was trying to learn more than what he was learning at school. He was undoubtedly more intellectually gifted than the average person, but from the horse's mouth we have it that he wasn't a slouch when it came to studying. People must stop pretending that inborn intellect is the determining factor in success in physics, or math, or anything else.
Wonderful comment!!!!!!!!
Sorry but I think inherent intellect is a must. You can only build on that basement of neural connections.
@@rohithmc5866 Maybe it's a little unclear, but what I mean is you don't have to be a supergenius to be a physicist. Obviously greater inherent intellect helps.
IQ tries to provide a number for generalised intelligence, but Feynman's intelligence was very focussed, you could say specialised in a way that made him a great physicist. He probably would not have made a great historian.
23:44 That symbol isn't zeta or eta; I think it's a xi. But it will forever be known to the majority as "squiggle"
Oops, forgot to mention, my previous post was for "Advanced Calculus."
Fun topic glacial pace
how would you compare woods to other popular treatments like that of apostol, rudin etc?
Woods has more content than those books.
Treat yourself to Feynman's 1975 lecture "Los Alamos from Below" (on CZcams) which is about his time at Los Alamos while working on the Manhattan Project. He's as fascinating as he is hilarious. Trust me, you'll LOVE it.
@@markvictor8776, weren't those amusing stories? 🙂
Feynman was incredibly popular with Caltech students. He was their hero.
@@gibbogle, when he as asked to teach introductory physics to freshmen -- the notes from which became _The Feynman Lectures_ -- the lectures were filled with graduate students and faculty, because they were all so fascinated by how he presented the material.
I read trigonometry for the practical man. Was one of the finest books I’ve ever read.
My hardware theory of Feynman's genius is he had more cerebral space allocated for higher level abstractions, which wasn't yet developed in HS lol; whereas, IQ up to a certain number is based primarily on lower levels of abstraction. There's a new paper where they used fMRI to map abstraction levels/regions to cerebral space.
Ok, this sounds pretty interesting, but I think IQ tests test your general ability or capability to abstract. I just think there is some component of types of thinking that allow for that, since it was his modus cogitandi.
That's all very well, but it must be borne in mind that we have almost no idea how the brain works.
These old books are really only good for self study for those that are really smart. If you are at all slow at learning or need more in depth explanations in plain English, you need to get the new textbooks. -Online, for free, in pdf form.
Cengage and Pearson textbooks are pretty expensive tho.
@@lorax121323 free online bradda ;)
My grandfather gave me 3 of Thompsons books in 1965.
wow
Wow. My grandfather never gave me a maths book. But my grandchildren will inherit my maths and science books (if they care, which is unlikely.)
_Your curiosity about Feynman is reminiscent of Feynman's curiosity_
carry on chief 🤘
Those books are expensive because there are predictors who watch the market and raise the prices artificially based on searches.
Take a look at the real analysis book by Charles Chapman Pugh, it has a Feynman flavor.
You can get some of these books as free PDF downloads.
Math does not get outdated. Well said.
It is the only truly universal language.
Deffrenatal equation part is verry good part in mathamatics book but schooom book is mor effect and mor exambal and schoom out line is mor usafal
So much for the assertion that students do not have enough access to education :-)
Know bell Prize. Emphasis on the second syllable.
For high quality calculus book, I suggest Apostol’s volume I and II
Have a good day!
I remember dimly that, according to Feynman, he got from Woods Calculus the most valuable piece of his mathematical toolbox. And it was integration (or was it differentiation?) under the integral sign. Can you comment as to whether these themes are covered in modern textbooks? He claimed that other calculus books did not cover this at his time.
7:40 I mean, if there was such a need for paper, they could have avoided spending the whole page on this remark, right??
There is a branch of trig called spherical trigonometry.
is analysis the same as calculus?
Woods’ textbook is SO COMPREHENSIVE AND GOOD
#FeymanGroove eternal trending in Space/Time continuum divine
cool
It is "no-bell", although his work was "noble"
i am not any good at math i barely got by i look back at mother's blue book and can't figure it out i had to buy it back from a used bookstore
Math for the practical man.
Sir I can't understand physics when I study it any tips 🙏
Study something else. Physics is not everything.
Interesting point regarding IQ scores. Perhaps there should be metrics that combine IQ and "curiosity". That is, if there is a means of somehow measuring curiosity...lol.
There is no true metric for intelligence, because intelligence is not well-defined. Whatever it is, it's multidimensional.
Noble vs Nobel
Muy caro.
😍
❤️
I was reading The Diary of Anne Frank and she wrote she loved music history but she did not like geometry and she really missed out on Math.
He used to be a public intellectual, writing widely to the learned public.
feynman-kac equation for SDEs
How famous is he?
long form hypnosis bio quantum battery factory matrix to matrix scroll long form proofs in silence of the clams drama class
OMG I love Feynman! He's always been a major role model for me as a young physics student. He had a knack for thinking about concepts and phenomena in a different way. His path integral formalism of quantum mechanics is beautiful!
One remark on his IQ test. In my opinion, I think tests were scaled differently back then. And if we were to compare him to the standards of intelligence today, he would be equivalent to someone like Edward Witten, who a giant in physics, and better than Stephen Hawking (in my opinion). He was a genius.
You, where is my comment? Please explain what was wrong. Was an archive and an organization too much to post?
Just realised Feynman looked like Max Payne.
To the victor go the spoils. Hunzicker is right. If Feynman was from India he would not be considered “the” greatest. While Feynman is up there, he just used what many already laid out for him. For starters any who are in the 1929 Solvey picture (unequaled group to this day) would qualify, to be the greatest. Take madam Curie for example who won 2 Noble prizes. While the manhattan project was a leap in technology, most of the physics at that time was already understood. It was more of a material science problem. Also, the standard model (Feynman) will probably not hold up as it makes many assumptions that are inaccurate.
Solvay. Feynman was a great teacher, and a great showman.
Exercise easy we do in 12i n india
Every country has differentiation/integration in 12th grade. Nothing special about it. Stop with the superiority bro
Don't be oversmart we give you zero so you can count and do calculation of world
I am just saying that 🤣 you commented on that don't increase my anger I
A good trigonometry book is huge. At first, you learn they are angles. Later you realize they are also wave equations and relationships.
His legacy in making the atomic bomb and jumping around when it was dropped on Japan as he stated in his bio
Would shadow out his knowledge of what is the result of 1+1
@@maalikserebryakov how did u pass Ur English exam in kg2 ?
No-bel'
I consider Richard Feynman a Genius even if his IQ was 125. IQ means nothing in front of a person's curiosity. He invented a method to teach himself and imagine things, that's the most inspiring about Feynman. He inspires me to study Math and Physics. He deserved the Nobel Prize. Either way He was a Genius
Feynman didn't think it was interesting.
Where did you get that?
It's interesting how the titles exclude practical women. It implies either that women are not practical, or that a practical woman is not interested in mathematics. It is true that it's hard to think of an outstanding female mathematician. Maths challenges boxing as the most male field.
IQ truthers: Please stop. Try listening to Feynman. Feynman's unprecedented skill was being home taught and insatiably curious around formally trained people. All the Ivy League people would do their Ivy League math on a problem. Feynman would: A) Try a technique he learned from a dusty old library book, which works on a different class of problems, or B) Ask someone to explain the problem until he could visualize it in simple terms, and thus produce a "simple" solution (even if he didn't know how to do the math, at least people would better understand where it went wrong, so Feynman seemed like a genius).
Of course Feynman was bright. Of course the IQ tests of the era were not great at capturing his kind of brilliance. But that misses the point.
When Feynman was at Los Alamos, and his superiors refused to tell him confidential information, he'd seem like a supernatural genius and figure it out anyway. But then you learn, maybe the military had people store classified papers in a safe with a 3-digit combination lock. And the commander would use his kid's birthday for the lock, because the military didn't always enforce hygiene on passwords back then. And the commander would loudly announced it was his son's birthday. Feynman would memorize those digits. And he'd ask how old the kid was, obtaining the year. And he'd sneak into the commander's office after hours...
Feynman wasn't the brightest guy of his era (I'm sure even he credited Von Neumann). But he might have been one of the most dedicated, adventurous, curious, and risk-taking people of his era. And that's what they needed. Even if they didn't know they needed it. (Says Feynman: If I can figure out that password, imagine what a Russian could do!)