Anyone interested in learning mathematics in a group online?

[IamNameless]

What I'm looking for:
I am seeking a small amount of people who are interested in learning mathematics outside of a school setting. I propose that we set up a local community where we can go through texts together (read them independently and than discuss them at regular intervals), this of course will be done online via a forum and/or chat room.

How we could go about it:
First of course we'll need to set up the said comunity, the details of how we should go about it should be discussed in depth by those who are interested.

I'm thinking of first beginning with set theory and logic and from there progressing onwards at a steady rate up the mathematical hierarchy. It will be necessary to go over what may seem to be trivial (this is to insure we actually know what we know - hope that makes sense), we will do this at a rapid rate, only stopping if we find something interesting.

Qualities you should have if your interested:
1) People who are deeply interested in mathematics.
2) People with spare time (time to spend going through a text on your own and having time to discuss what you learn).
3) Be willing to be part of a group (that is sharing the knowledge you have and asking meaningful questions to stimulate the group or to attempt to fill in your lack of knowledge).
4) Intelligent people: People who can think for themselves, have the ability to work out problems out, etc.


If anyone interested message me here or through a personal message. Also anyone who has some ideas that could help such a 'group' out or criticism to the idea please don't hesitate to post a response.

 

[IamNameless]

Also people interested should probably be at an elementary level in mathematics, otherwise you wouldn't learn anything new for awhile...

 

[Daniel Y.]

I would be interested in such a venture. Please PM me with further details of your ideas for the group, and I will reply with a few, myself. Thanks.

-Dan

 

[IamNameless]

Hello Daniel Y,
Thanks for your interest. I sent you a private message with the further details as you requested.

 

[IamNameless]

Hello andytoh,
Yes the idea is that everyone will be using the same text (I'm looking at some free ones we can download of the internet). We will be able to discuss the text via a forum (I've set up a test one, for the moment). I'll send you the forum url, as of yet though I'm undecided about the book (we can discuss which one, once we set this up).

As of now, I'm trying to find people (posting on every forum I can-- hopefully we'll be able to find some dedicated people to undertake this goal). I'm not sure how many people we should have, but I would assume the more people with different mind sets would only benefit the group.

 

[andytoh]

What level of math are we speaking of? I personally like doing problems using 3rd year university level set theory and topology. I type out my solutions and am happy to share them like I did in these threads of mine:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=208395
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=198852

But, as you can tell, my experience has been very one-sided.

 

[IamNameless]

The idea is to start with the basics. And what I mean by 'basics" is that we are going to begin with the very foundation of set theory and use basic logic. The goal of the group is to find people and set it up so anyone interested can take part (the text we'll find will be an introductory text that anyone should be able to go through). If all goes well and we get through it and everyones still interested we'll go to a text that is harder (one level up from the first).

The book we will choose will be one that is self contained, comprehensive as an introduction to the subject, and one that remains rigorous (proves whatever it states).

It seems you've already have experience in set theory, so the group most likely will not benefit you, as we're going to be going over what you already know.Anyone else has questions please ask.

___________________________________________________________________________
Also anyone who's interested may click my profile to find the link to the forum where the group will set up.

 

[Gib Z]

I can't really say I would work well in a group like that, I am more of an independent learner.

Only posting to warn you; mathematics in a chat room is EXCRUCIATING pain. Most notation can't be done on the keyboard without something like latex, which I am not sure if you can set up in a chat room. Even when you compromise notation with a keyboard letter, like INT to mean integral of, it takes a large amount of time to actually post the worked solution. In a forum that is fine, no one is waiting in real time for you unless your helping a time stricken student with homework. But in a chat room, people will be waiting quite a while for you to respond!

 

[Daniel Y.]

I can't really say I would work well in a group like that, I am more of an independent learner.

Only posting to warn you; mathematics in a chat room is EXCRUCIATING pain. Most notation can't be done on the keyboard without something like latex, which I am not sure if you can set up in a chat room. Even when you compromise notation with a keyboard letter, like INT to mean integral of, it takes a large amount of time to actually post the worked solution. In a forum that is fine, no one is waiting in real time for you unless your helping a time stricken student with homework. But in a chat room, people will be waiting quite a while for you to respond!

Thanks for the advice Gib Z. We have both a forum and a chat room at the moment (http://selftaughtmathematics.freeforums.org/portal.php?article=0), and are planning to use a standard textbook free and online which is self contained. The goal is to learn the mathematics through the use of this textbook and then discuss what we have learned at specific meetings (forum or chat, depending on how we decide to go about things); as well as help others with any problems one might have, or questions that might incur.

 

[Gib Z]

Well I guess as long as you guys can get some sort of latex working on the forum, you should be fine. Good luck on your venture guys!

 

[IamNameless]

I can't really say I would work well in a group like that, I am more of an independent learner.

Only posting to warn you; mathematics in a chat room is EXCRUCIATING pain. Most notation can't be done on the keyboard without something like latex, which I am not sure if you can set up in a chat room. Even when you compromise notation with a keyboard letter, like INT to mean integral of, it takes a large amount of time to actually post the worked solution. In a forum that is fine, no one is waiting in real time for you unless your helping a time stricken student with homework. But in a chat room, people will be waiting quite a while for you to respond!

Well, for the most part we're going to be using a forum. And in the chat room dissuasions we can use a off site math bin to. Your right that if we tried to post any lengthy math problem in a chat room it would take unnecessary time to decode it.

 

[IamNameless]

By the way anyone online who has messaged me with interest. We are having a discussion in the chat room (message me for server and channel).