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!

Arthur Benjamin a jeho návod na zmenu výučby matematiky

Filmed:
2,625,810 views

Často sa učiteľov matematiky pýtajú: "Použijeme niekedy derivácie a integrály v skutočnom živote?" A pre väčšinu z nás, ako hovorí Arthur Benjamin, je odpoveď nie. Arthur ponúka odvážny návrh, ako dať matematiku do súvisu s digitálnou dobou.
- 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 PresidentPredseda ObamaObama
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Ak by ma prezident Obama
00:15
invitedpozvaný me to be the nextĎalšie CzarCar of MathematicsMatematika,
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pozval, aby som bol novým Cárom matematiky,
00:19
then I would have a suggestionnávrh for him
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navrhol by som mu niečo,
00:22
that I think would vastlyobrovsky improvezdokonaliť
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čo by podľa mňa výrazne zlepšilo
00:24
the mathematicsmatematika educationvzdelanie in this countrykrajina.
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výučbu matematiky v tejto krajine.
00:27
And it would be easyjednoduchý to implementrealizovať
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A bolo by to jednoduché uskutočniť
00:29
and inexpensivelacný.
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a celkom lacné.
00:31
The mathematicsmatematika curriculumosnovy that we have
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Matematické školské osnovy, ktoré máme
00:33
is basedzaložené on a foundationnadácie of arithmeticaritmetika and algebraalgebra.
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sú postavené na aritmetike a algebre.
00:37
And everything we learnučiť sa after that
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A všetko čo sa naučíme potom
00:39
is buildingbudova up towardsvoči one subjectpredmet.
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vedie k jedinému predmetu.
00:42
And at toptop of that pyramidpyramída, it's calculuskalkul.
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A navrchu tej pyramídy sú derivácie a integrály.
00:46
And I'm here to say
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A preto som dnes tu, aby som povedal
00:48
that I think that that is the wrongzle summitvrcholok of the pyramidpyramída ...
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že podľa mňa je to nesprávny vrch pyramídy...
00:52
that the correctkorektné summitvrcholok -- that all of our studentsštudentov,
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že ten správny vrch -- ktorý by mali všetci študenti,
00:54
everykaždý highvysoký schoolškolské graduateabsolvent should know --
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a každý absolvent strednej školy poznať --
00:56
should be statisticsštatistika:
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je štatistika:
00:59
probabilitypravdepodobnosť and statisticsštatistika.
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pravdepodobnosť a štatistika.
01:01
(ApplausePotlesk)
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(Potlesk)
01:03
I mean, don't get me wrongzle. CalculusKalkul is an importantdôležitý subjectpredmet.
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Nechcem, aby ste ma zle chápali. Derivácie a integrály sú tiež dôležité.
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It's one of the great productsProdukty of the humančlovek mindmyseľ.
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Je to jeden z úžasných výsledkov ľudskej mysle.
01:09
The lawszákony of naturepríroda are writtenpísaný in the languageJazyk of calculuskalkul.
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Aj prírodné zákony sú písané týmto matematickým jazykom.
01:13
And everykaždý studentštudent who studiesštúdie mathmatematika, scienceveda, engineeringstrojárstvo, economicsekonómie,
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A každý študent študujúci matematiku, vedu, inžinierstvo, ekonomiku,
01:17
they should definitelyrozhodne learnučiť sa calculuskalkul
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by sa mal rozhodne naučiť derivovať aj integrovať
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by the endkoniec of theirich freshmanPrvák yearrok of collegekoľaj.
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najneskôr v prvom ročníku univerzity.
01:21
But I'm here to say, as a professorprofesor of mathematicsmatematika,
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Ale ako profesor matematiky musím povedať,
01:24
that very fewmálo people actuallyvlastne use calculuskalkul
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že veľmi málo ľudí tieto vedomosti používa
01:28
in a consciousvedomý, meaningfulvýznamný way, in theirich day-to-dayzo dňa na deň livesživoty.
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vedome a plnohodnotne v každodennom živote.
01:31
On the other handručné,
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Na druhej strane,
01:33
statisticsštatistika -- that's a subjectpredmet that you could,
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štatistika -- to je predmet, ktorý môžete
01:36
and should, use on dailydenná basiszáklad. Right?
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a mali by ste používať denno denne.
01:39
It's riskriskovať. It's rewardodmena. It's randomnessnáhodnosť.
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Ide o riziko, o odmenu, o náhodu.
01:42
It's understandingporozumenie datadáta.
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Ide o porozumenie informácií.
01:44
I think if our studentsštudentov, if our highvysoký schoolškolské studentsštudentov --
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Myslím, že keby naši študenti, keby naši stredoškoláci --
01:46
if all of the AmericanAmerický citizensobčania --
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keby všetci občania --
01:48
knewvedel about probabilitypravdepodobnosť and statisticsštatistika,
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poznali pravdepodobnosť a štatistiku,
01:51
we wouldn'tnie be in the economicekonomický messneporiadok that we're in todaydnes. (LaughterSmiech) (ApplausePotlesk)
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neboli by sme v ekonomickej kríze, v ktorej dnes sme.
01:54
Not only -- thank you -- not only that ...
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Nielen to -- ďakujem -- nielen to...
01:57
but if it's taughtučil properlysprávne, it can be a lot of funzábava.
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keď sa učí správnym spôsobom, tak to človeka strašne baví.
02:00
I mean, probabilitypravdepodobnosť and statisticsštatistika,
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Teda chcem povedať, že pravdepodobnosť a štatistika,
02:02
it's the mathematicsmatematika of gameshry and gamblinghazardné hry.
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to je matematika hier a špekulovania
02:06
It's analyzinganalýza trendstrendy. It's predictingpredpovedanie the futurebudúcnosť.
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Je to analýza trendov. Predpovedanie budúcnosti.
02:10
Look, the worldsvet has changedzmenený
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Pozrite, svet sa zmenil
02:12
from analoganalógový to digitaldigitálne.
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z analógového na digitálny.
02:15
And it's time for our mathematicsmatematika curriculumosnovy to changezmena
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A je čas, aby sa naše školské osnovy zmenili
02:18
from analoganalógový to digitaldigitálne,
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z analógových na digitálne.
02:20
from the more classicalKlasická, continuousnepretržitý mathematicsmatematika,
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Z viac klasickej, spojitej matematiky
02:24
to the more modernmoderný, discreteoddelený mathematicsmatematika --
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na viac modernú, nespojitú matematiku.
02:27
the mathematicsmatematika of uncertaintyneistota,
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Matematiku neistoty,
02:29
of randomnessnáhodnosť, of datadáta --
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náhodnosti, informácií --
02:31
that beingbytia probabilitypravdepodobnosť and statisticsštatistika.
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a to je pravdepodobnosť a štatistika.
02:34
In summaryZhrnutie, insteadnamiesto of our studentsštudentov
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V skratke, namiesto toho, aby sa naši študenti
02:36
learningštúdium about the techniquestechniky of calculuskalkul,
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učili derivovať a integrovať
02:39
I think it would be farďaleko more significantvýznamný
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myslím, že by bolo oveľa prínosnejšie,
02:42
if all of them knewvedel what two standardstandard deviationsodchýlky
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keby všetci vedeli, aký majú dve smerodajné odchýlky
02:45
from the mean meansprostriedky. And I mean it.
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od priemeru význam. A myslím, že to má význam.
02:48
Thank you very much.
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Ďakujem veľmi pekne.
02:50
(ApplausePotlesk)
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(Potlesk)
Translated by Miriam Matejova
Reviewed by Roman Sekerka

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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