Mathematics in the Soviet Union | Edward Frenkel and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality.

PODCAST INFO:

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[LexClips]

Guest bio: Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality.

[Rasa_b]

I remember i had a geometry book written by I.F Sharygin. I really enjoyed solving its problems.kudos to all USSR mathematicians who contributed to math and provided such valuable textbooks

[tankerd]

Being interested in physics is also what in turn made me interested in mathematics, especially the link between kinematics and calculus. The notion of being able to predict motion down to an instant in time just made something click in my mind. When I was taking calculus II (trigonometric calculus and infinite series) I had a professor who told another student something along the lines of "Everything in the universe can be explained by a series of differential equations, we just don't know the vast majority of them." and that really stuck in my mind. You know, I see God in a way as a great scientist and mathematician, who sits before a great book in heaven writing the mathematical rules underpinning reality.

[aw]

Physics with Mathematics is beauty in heaven

[JohnSmith-ytdi]

His English is really good, and I know that sounds kind of condescending but he is fluent in English, and that can't be understated. Many people pass themselves off as being fluent when in reality they are 95% there. He is 100% there. Besides the accent he speaks so well and is very expressive, I can only imagine how well spoken he is in Russian. Curious if he speaks any other language, maybe Hebrew (he has a Jewish father).

[aziaev]

Приколько смотреть как 2 наших чувака на английском говорят. И очень хорошо друг друга понимают. Мне особенно понятна речь Эдуарда, т.к. это как русский английскими словами =)

[Lesminster]

Great guy. Such a pleasure to listen to.

[shirinbas]

This is what smart people look like. Thank you Lex for the interview. Agreed that there are not enough people like Edward and nor is there enough interviews such as this one on good subjects. Please do more of these.

[doesntmatter]

Studied during the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. The school was so tough and the students so good due to desperation. When your only way out is school, you would do a lot of things. That’s why there are a lot of good students from that period

[pedrocasella]

I followed a similar path. Before high school, I was a very good student, could always pass exams and so on, but I was not interested in the specific subjects taught there, but I searched the internet and Youtube videos about things of out universe, like stars, planets and particles, although I only knew it qualitatively. When I was 15, I found an introductory book about physics, and in the last section, it explained a bit about Einstein theory of relativity. When it showed that you could find out the formula for time dilation by only using Pythagoras theorem, I found out that I could know about really nice stuff just using what I already knew, and I soon found out that learning new stuff was not that hard neither. In the path, I started really enjoying the mathematical language used in the things I used to see, so I decided to become a mathematical physicist.

[Seriouslyfunny]

No one can understand mathematics more than someone who wants to use it for some bigger end

[idiosinkrazijske.rutine]

The prof presented the smart kid with the challenge (with a hint of mystery) - that's how it is done.

[georgefischer]

Hello Edward, you left the Soviet Union and listening to you now, I am sure you must miss many things from that distant past. How many college teachers in those many small provincial towns of the US would even have the knowledge of the existence of a book as the one you were shown in your teenage story?

[DrWizardMother]

I understand what Frenkel was saying about math not changing, but his example of Euclidean distance somewhat disproves that idea. As he said, Newton's gravity was "replaced" by Einstein. But in reality, Newton's theory is the limit of Einstein's theory as gravity and speed approach zero. By the same token, Euclidean distance is the limit of the more general concept of distance on a manifold as the curvature approaches zero.

[Archaeopteryx_lithographica]

В СССР было 10 летнее образование : 1-3 класс начальное, 4-8 класс среднее звено, 9-10 класс старшеклассники. Математика изучалась с 1 по 10 класс по принципу усложнения уровня. 1-5 класс математика, 6-8 класс алгебра+отдельным предметом геометрия(планиметрия), 9-10 класс алгебра и начала анализа +геометрия(стереометрия) . В курс алгебры входил большой блок тригонометрии, решение уравнений и систем уравнений, исследование функций, интегральное и логарифмическое исчисление. В курсе геометрии обязательным было знание теорем и их доказательств, а также умение применять теоремы и свойства для решения задач. Физика 6-10 классы, химия 7-10 классы отдельными предметами. Очень высокий уровень требований к знанию теоретической части и применению для решения задач. Требовалось не только получить правильный ответ, но и верно записать ход решения, а также устно или письменно пояснить ход решения, привести необходимые формулы. Помню, получила 4 за контрольную работу при абсолютно правильном решении только за то, что сделала грамматическую ошибку в слове парабола. Как объяснила учительница, грамматические ошибки в математических терминах приравниваются к ошибкам в решении. На экзаменах и контрольных работах не допускалось использование калькуляторов, справочных материалов, все формулы, теоремы, свойства нужно было знать на память.

[valentinagarciafernandez]

I remember quite well my Piskunov's book . MIR Editorial, Moscow. I still have it on my shelf. 👌👍🙋‍♀️

[vickyg]

This interview should have been in Russian and sous-titres.

[vl]

Ночь, а мой сын решает задачу по физике ...а я гоню его спать и смотрю это видео

[PS-icbp]

My daughter was so good at maths in Europe. Even in the US her teachers admire her intuitive grasp of the subject. However US education has destroyed any interest in our love for maths 😢. Here Its cool to say Maths is boring.

[chunliangzhang]

Dr. Frenkel is definitely a smart and intelligent man who thinks no dictator have forced the people to say 2+2=5, at least not yet. Unfortunately there was this dictator in 2000 years ago China who pointed at a deer and said that's a horse. Then many ministers surrounding him agreed "yes, your grace, you are right. That's a horse!". Of course, there were some disagreed, but they were quickly killed afterwards. That's the closest thing I know that is the real-life example of 2+2=5.