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Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by jacobolus on Tuesday April 21, 2020 @11:53PM (#22941938)
> point of textbooks is to educate people on some topic so making them as easy as possible seems like the correct choice

It is not possible to “educate” someone about mathematics or math-heavy technical fields without convincing them to put in some serious time and effort thinking deeply about hard problems.

Many US high school (and even undergraduate) textbooks are more or less analogous to taking a look-out-from-the-bus tour of rock climbing sites, or maybe like teaching an advanced wood shop class by making students assemble IKEA furniture.

Textbooks should be exciting and fun, but “as easy as possible” is a terrible goal.

Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by readwind on Wednesday April 22, 2020 @12:18AM (#22942108)
I think they mean "as easy as possible," in the sense of Einstein(?;) - 'An explanation should be as easy as /possible/, but not easier;' or something like that. - (?)

I and all this ^ might be wrong, though.

Re:Why are Soviet math textbooks so hardcore in comparison t... by nicbou on Wednesday April 22, 2020 @04:14AM (#22943327)
I have actually learned an awful lot from assembling Ikea furniture. Some of those patterns make their way into my own little projects nowadays.