18.098 | January IAP 2008 | Undergraduate

Street-Fighting Mathematics

Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Probem Solving

Description:

This book shows students how to solve tough problems quickly through order-of-magnitude estimation without relying on strict proofs or exact calculations. Through real-world examples, it cultivates confident, practical reasoning when exact methods are slow or impossible.

 

Key Topics

  • Dimensional analysis
  • Easy cases
  • Lumping
  • Pictorial proofs
  • Successive approximation
  • Analogy

Author: Sanjoy Mahajan

pdf
4 MB
Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Probem Solving

Course Info

January IAP 2008

Course Info

January IAP 2008
Open Textbooks
Problem Set Solutions
Problem Sets