Street-Fighting Mathematics
The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving
by Sanjoy Mahajan
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In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge - from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool - the general principle - from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest. Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems. 
Book Description
In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works - don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions. This engaging book is an antidote to the rigor mortis brought on by too much mathematical rigor, teaching us how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation.In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge - from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool - the general principle - from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest. Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems.
This open book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA). You can download Street-Fighting Mathematics ebook for free in PDF format (0.8 MB).
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Dimensions
Chapter 2
Easy cases
Chapter 3
Lumping
Chapter 4
Pictorial proofs
Chapter 5
Taking out the big part
Chapter 6
Analogy
Book Details
Title
Street-Fighting Mathematics
Subject
Science and Mathematics
Publisher
MIT Press
Published
2010
Pages
153
Edition
1
Language
English
ISBN13 Digital
9780262265591
ISBN10 Digital
0262265591
PDF Size
0.8 MB
License
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