Biomedical and Electrical Engineer with interests in information theory, evolution, genetics, abstract mathematics, microbiology, big history, IndieWeb, mnemonics, and the entertainment industry including: finance, distribution, representation
There's so much missing Indigenous context in this article. How can we better juxtapose and sort the cultural differences while trying to build a "Third Archive" to save Indigenous knowledge and languages?
https:/
This is a brilliant exercise!
I have to imagine that once the conceptualization of language and some basic grammar existed word generation was a much more common thing than it is now. It's only been since the time of Noah Webster that humans have been actively standardizing things like spelling. If we can use Papua New Guinea as a model of pre-agrarian society and consider that almost 12% of extant languages on the Earth are spoken in an area about the size of Texas (and with about 1/5th the population of Texas too), then modern societies are actually severely limiting language (creation, growth, diversity, creativity, etc.) [cross reference: http:/
Consider that the current extinction of languages is about one every 14 weeks, which puts us on a course to loose about half of the 7,100 languages on the planet right now before the end of the century. Collective learning has potentially been growing at the expense of a shrinking body of diverse language.
To help put this exercise into perspective, we can look at the corpus of extant written Latin (a technically dead language): It is a truly impressive fact that, simply by knowing that if one can memorize and master about 250 words in Latin, it will allow them to read and understand 50% of most written Latin. Further, knowledge of 1,500 Latin words will put one at the 80% level of vocabulary mastery for most texts. Mastering even a very small list of vocabulary allows one to read a large variety of texts very comfortably. These numbers become even smaller when considering ancient Greek texts. [cross reference: http:/
Another interesting measurement is the vocabulary of a modern 2 year old who typically has a 50-75 word vocabulary while a 4 year old has 250-500 words, which is about the level of the exercise.
As a contrast, consider the message in this TED Youth Talk from last year by Erin McKean, which students should be able to relate to: https:/
#bighistory #collectivelearning
While researching the links between mnemonics and shorthand, I just came across "A complete guide to the improvement of the memory or the science of memory simplified: with practical applications to languages, history, geography, music, prose, poetry, shorthand, etc." written by James Henry Bacon and published by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London. https:/
Isaac Pitman, who published the book, was also the inventor of Pitman shorthand which was introduced in 1837 and is structurally similar to the Major System.
The book seems to be based on Bacon's prior work "The Science of Memory Simplified and Explained: Or, A Rational System for Improving the Memory, Etc" written in 1861.
Josh, if you feel it appropriate, you can also add the book above to http:/
#memory #shorthand
I'll turn this question around to suggest that instead of taking notes from your math/physics textbooks, that you're FAR better off PUTTING notes INTO them! Those margins are meant for writing down the parts of problems and examples that the author implicitly leaves out.
One typically wouldn't take notes from a Spanish, French, or Latin textbook would they? Like most languages, mathematics should be read and written to practice it (and maybe even spoken).
Knowing math or physics is best demonstrated by actually doing problems - and the majority of the time, this is what is going to be on the test too, so just pick up a pencil or pen and start working out the answers.
These subjects aren't like history, philosophy, or psychology with multiple choice or essay type questions that might benefit from note-taking, so just jump right in. Give the book a short read and start plugging away at problems.
If you have problems getting started, take a look at some of the examples provided by the author (or in other books), cover up the answer, and try to recreate the solution.
Drafting off of the Quora question "Why aren't math textbooks more straightforward?" (https:/