ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Arthur Benjamin - Mathemagician
Using daring displays of algorithmic trickery, lightning calculator and number wizard Arthur Benjamin mesmerizes audiences with mathematical mystery and beauty.

Why you should listen

Arthur Benjamin makes numbers dance. In his day job, he's a professor of math at Harvey Mudd College; in his other day job, he's a "Mathemagician," taking the stage in his tuxedo to perform high-speed mental calculations, memorizations and other astounding math stunts. It's part of his drive to teach math and mental agility in interesting ways, following in the footsteps of such heroes as Martin Gardner.

Benjamin is the co-author, with Michael Shermer, of Secrets of Mental Math (which shares his secrets for rapid mental calculation), as well as the co-author of the MAA award-winning Proofs That Really Count: The Art of Combinatorial Proof. For a glimpse of his broad approach to math, see the list of research talks on his website, which seesaws between high-level math (such as his "Vandermonde's Determinant and Fibonacci SAWs," presented at MIT in 2004) and engaging math talks for the rest of us ("An Amazing Mathematical Card Trick").

More profile about the speaker
Arthur Benjamin | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Arthur Benjamin: Teach statistics before calculus!

Matematična izobrazba po formuli Arthurja Benjamina

Filmed:
2,625,810 views

Vedno se najde nekdo, ki vpraša učitelja matematike: "Ali bom še kdaj v življenju uporabljal odvode in integrale?". Arthur Benjamin pravi, da je za večino od nas odgovor ne. Zato predstavi drzen predlog, kako bi matematično izobrazbo približal digitalni dobi.
- Mathemagician
Using daring displays of algorithmic trickery, lightning calculator and number wizard Arthur Benjamin mesmerizes audiences with mathematical mystery and beauty. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Now, if PresidentPredsednik ObamaObama
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Če bi me predsednik Obama
00:15
invitedpovabljeni me to be the nextNaslednji CzarCarja of MathematicsMatematika,
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izbral za naslednjega carja matematike,
00:19
then I would have a suggestionpredlog for him
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bi zanj imel predlog,
00:22
that I think would vastlyzelo dobro improveizboljšati
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ki bi po mojem mnenju znatno izboljšal
00:24
the mathematicsmatematika educationizobraževanje in this countrydržava.
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raven znanja matematike v naši državi.
00:27
And it would be easyenostavno to implementimplementirati
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Spremembe bi lahko izvedli enostavno
00:29
and inexpensivepoceni.
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in poceni.
00:31
The mathematicsmatematika curriculumkurikulum that we have
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Matematični curriculum, ki ga imamo
00:33
is basedtemelji on a foundationtemelj of arithmeticaritmetično and algebraalgebra.
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je osnovan na temeljih aritmetike in algebre.
00:37
And everything we learnučiti se after that
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Vse, kar se po tem naučimo
00:39
is buildingstavbe up towardsproti one subjectpredmet.
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se usmerja proti enemu samemu predmetu.
00:42
And at topna vrh of that pyramidpiramida, it's calculusračuna.
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Na vrhu te piramide so odvodi in integrali.
00:46
And I'm here to say
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Tu sem, da povem,
00:48
that I think that that is the wrongnarobe summitvrh of the pyramidpiramida ...
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da je po mojem mnenju to napačen vrh piramide...
00:52
that the correctpravilno summitvrh -- that all of our studentsštudenti,
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in da bi pravilen vrh -- to kar bi morali vsi učenci,
00:54
everyvsak highvisoko schoolšola graduatediplomiral should know --
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in vsi tisti, ki so zaključili srednjo šolo vedeti --
00:56
should be statisticsstatistiko:
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morala biti statistika:
00:59
probabilityverjetnost and statisticsstatistiko.
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verjetnost in statistika.
01:01
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
01:03
I mean, don't get me wrongnarobe. CalculusRačuna is an importantpomembno subjectpredmet.
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Ne me narobe razumeti. Mislim, da so odvodi in integrali pomemben predmet.
01:07
It's one of the great productsizdelkov of the humančlovek mindum.
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So eden izmed velikih produktov človeškega uma.
01:09
The lawszakoni of naturenarava are writtennapisano in the languagejezik of calculusračuna.
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Zakoni narave so napisani v računskem jeziku.
01:13
And everyvsak studentštudent who studiesštudije mathmatematika, scienceznanost, engineeringinženiring, economicsekonomija,
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Vsi študentje, ki študirajo matematiko, znanost, inženirstvo, ekonomijo,
01:17
they should definitelydefinitivno learnučiti se calculusračuna
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bi se morali naučiti reševati račune
01:19
by the endkonec of theirnjihovi freshmannovinec yearleto of collegekolegij.
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do konca prvega letnika faksa.
01:21
But I'm here to say, as a professorprofesor of mathematicsmatematika,
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Ampak, tukaj sem da povem, kot profesor matematike,
01:24
that very fewmalo people actuallydejansko use calculusračuna
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da je malo takih ljudi, ki dejansko uporablja račune
01:28
in a consciouszavestno, meaningfulsmiselno way, in theirnjihovi day-to-dayvsak dan livesživi.
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na zaveden in smiseln način v vsakdanjem življenju.
01:31
On the other handroka,
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Po drugi strani,
01:33
statisticsstatistiko -- that's a subjectpredmet that you could,
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statistika -- to je predmet, katerega bi lahko
01:36
and should, use on dailydnevno basisosnove. Right?
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in bi morali uporabljati dnevno. Je tako?
01:39
It's risktveganje. It's rewardnagrada. It's randomnessnaključnost.
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So tveganja. So nagrade. So naključja.
01:42
It's understandingrazumevanje datapodatkov.
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Gre za razumevanje podatkov.
01:44
I think if our studentsštudenti, if our highvisoko schoolšola studentsštudenti --
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Mislim, da če bi učenci, naši srednješolski učenci--
01:46
if all of the AmericanAmeriški citizensdržavljani --
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če bi vsi državljani Amerike --
01:48
knewvedel about probabilityverjetnost and statisticsstatistiko,
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vedeli o verjetnosti in statistiki,
01:51
we wouldn'tne bi be in the economicgospodarsko messnered that we're in todaydanes. (LaughterSmeh) (ApplauseAplavz)
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se danes ne bi znašli v gospodarski zmešnjavi.
01:54
Not only -- thank you -- not only that ...
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Ne samo -- hvala -- ne samo to...
01:57
but if it's taughtučil properlypravilno, it can be a lot of funzabavno.
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ampak, če je primerno poučevana, je lahko tudi zabavna.
02:00
I mean, probabilityverjetnost and statisticsstatistiko,
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Mislim, da je verjetnost in statistika
02:02
it's the mathematicsmatematika of gamesigre and gamblingigre na srečo.
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matematika iger in tveganja.
02:06
It's analyzinganaliziranje trendstrende. It's predictingnapovedovanje the futureprihodnost.
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Je analiza trendov. Je napoved prihodnosti.
02:10
Look, the worldsvet has changedspremenjeno
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Poglejte, svet se je spremenil
02:12
from analoganalogni to digitaldigitalni.
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od analognega k digitalnemu.
02:15
And it's time for our mathematicsmatematika curriculumkurikulum to changesprememba
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Čas je, da se tudi naš matematični curriculum spremeni
02:18
from analoganalogni to digitaldigitalni,
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od analognega k digitalnemu.
02:20
from the more classicalklasične, continuousneprekinjeno mathematicsmatematika,
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Od klasične, zvezne matematike,
02:24
to the more modernmoderno, discretediskreten mathematicsmatematika --
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do bolj moderne, diskretne matematike.
02:27
the mathematicsmatematika of uncertaintynegotovost,
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Matematike negotovosti,
02:29
of randomnessnaključnost, of datapodatkov --
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naključnosti, podatkov --
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that beingbiti probabilityverjetnost and statisticsstatistiko.
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in to je verjetnost in statistika.
02:34
In summaryPovzetek, insteadnamesto tega of our studentsštudenti
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Če obnovim, namesto da se naši učenci
02:36
learningučenje about the techniquestehnike of calculusračuna,
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učijo o tehnikah računanja,
02:39
I think it would be fardaleč more significantpomembno
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mislim, da bi bilo dosti bolj smotrno,
02:42
if all of them knewvedel what two standardstandard deviationsodstopanja
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če bi vsi učenci vedeli kaj pomenita dva standardna odklona
02:45
from the mean meanssredstva. And I mean it.
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od povprečja. In to je pomembno.
02:48
Thank you very much.
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Najlepša hvala.
02:50
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
Translated by Borut Semolic
Reviewed by Matej Divjak

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Arthur Benjamin - Mathemagician
Using daring displays of algorithmic trickery, lightning calculator and number wizard Arthur Benjamin mesmerizes audiences with mathematical mystery and beauty.

Why you should listen

Arthur Benjamin makes numbers dance. In his day job, he's a professor of math at Harvey Mudd College; in his other day job, he's a "Mathemagician," taking the stage in his tuxedo to perform high-speed mental calculations, memorizations and other astounding math stunts. It's part of his drive to teach math and mental agility in interesting ways, following in the footsteps of such heroes as Martin Gardner.

Benjamin is the co-author, with Michael Shermer, of Secrets of Mental Math (which shares his secrets for rapid mental calculation), as well as the co-author of the MAA award-winning Proofs That Really Count: The Art of Combinatorial Proof. For a glimpse of his broad approach to math, see the list of research talks on his website, which seesaws between high-level math (such as his "Vandermonde's Determinant and Fibonacci SAWs," presented at MIT in 2004) and engaging math talks for the rest of us ("An Amazing Mathematical Card Trick").

More profile about the speaker
Arthur Benjamin | Speaker | TED.com