Re: Resources for the graphically challenged

["Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

I was thinking about the same problem this morning, one of my impossible  
things before breakfast. Mathematics, in particular, loses most students  
because of its reputation to be boring. BOHHHHHRING. Who cares about dy/dx  
anyway? What difference does it make? And if you REALLY need to know 6  
times 9 you can use a calculator. Perhaps there ought to be animated  
cartoon presentations that cover the material both correctly and  
enticingly. Disney did one long ago with Donald Duck:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJgkaU08VvY

Won't hurt to look at the many cartoon books by Larry Gonick, in which he  
explains algebra, physics and calculus (and lots more) with cartoons.  
http://www.larrygonick.com/

I think the field is wide open. Some diagrams and cartoons are misleading  
or even wrong. It would probably pay to test any proposed diagrams on a  
possible audience, especially those who are outside the field you are  
trying to explain.

The parts of your subject matter that need diagrams might possibly be  
those that your readers find most difficult to understand.

Here is a book from a century ago that has some good illustrations for  
understanding calculus:
Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus P. Thompson -  
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33283
Thompson was an electrical engineer, not a mathematician, and thus used  
approaches to the subject that sidestepped some of the "rigor" that is  
usually dumped into the head of the unsuspecting freshman. The  
illustrations on pages 183 and 184 give clearer explanations than those  
that appear in some other books.

On Thu, 05 Oct 2017 04:03:31 -0400, Mark Lewin <techwr -at- fastmail -dot- co -dot- uk>  
wrote: