Here are my responses to some of the things sent to me via this anonymous form.
I read all of the submissions here quite quickly. However, my response is typically late. To some, I may not respond at all. But if you’re wondering whether your message will be seen by me, worry not. Of course, it also depends on the context whether it will be posted here or somewhere else.
“We are really thankful for your website.
Tysm…I recorded this video for you on the behalf of all the freshies :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrj2Hq7xqQ8”
- Mehnubhav
20/04/2021, 22:19
Thank you for this. This was really humbling and nice to watch. Hope to meet you on campus some day. :’)
- 25/04/2021
“Can i be great at Mathematics if:
- I am quite interested in it.
- Currently i am dumb compared to some colleagues of mine who are quite interested in maths as well.”
- Levi3000
15/04/2021, 05:37
Yes.
- 25/04/2021
"”Aryaman - I didn’t exist” should actually be “Aryaman - I wasn’t”. It just sounds funnier to me cos its so incomplete and yet a good enough translation!”
- Visitor
01/03/2021, 09:58
Agreed! Changed it.
- 25/04/2021
”(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞”
-
20/02/2021, 19:29
(☞ ͡ ͜ʖ ͡ )☞
- 25/04/2021
“How does one tackle inferiority complex?”
- A confused Sophie….
17/01/2021, 01:07
fake it till you make it
- 25/04/2021
“Aryaman, I love you man , I deeply appreciate your work and the fact that you take doubts on whatsapp groups as well. You are such an inspiration for the students of upcoming years, and you will be remembered till doomsday. I will never forget you. Thanks , you are bringing changes in lives of many students, believe it or not, your work aspires me and other students. Once again Thank you.”
- [Redacted]
12/12/2020, 23:02
Thank you for your nice message, I really appreciate this. I’m glad to know. :D
- 14/01/2021
“Really admire what you do and how passionate you are about math. Keep it going. I’ve recommended your website to a lot of 109 kids and they simply love it ;)”
- Pseudo Name
05/12/2020, 14:50
Thank you! :D
- 14/01/2021
“Before “All lefts reserved” you used Copyright symbol instead of Copyleft. Not sure that was intentional or not so letting you know! ¯\( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)/¯”
- nobody
03/12/2020, 22:51
That’s a good point, I actually thought I had used the copyleft symbol. In any case, I had definitely considered putting that but I guess I forgot, maybe I’ll change it in the near future.
- 14/01/2021
“The notes are great! Do you use overleaf for typing them?”
- pi
03/11/2020, 15:45
I’m a bit late in responding, but the answer is “No.” I use Sublime Text and have set it up locally.
- 14/01/2021
For this message, I’m going to respond line by line.
“Maths was my favourite subject, before encountering MA105. It somewhat didn’t appeal to my liking of computational math; I guess, the rigorous approach was just too much for me. My biggest question (yet unanswered) is how does someone come to like this type of maths?
This is difficult to answer. How does someone come to like anything? How does one come to like certain kinds of music? (Or any kind of music at all?) I guess I just find it interesting because… I like it? I find it fun to see theory being developed. I like learning new things and there are many theorem which I find cool.
After doing Complex Analysis, you probably see the last point better.
Sorry if this message gets too long
Here are a few reasons I could think of for it not being interesting to me. First thing, I hate proofs! (I apologise for putting it so bluntly). Proofs, especially of some obvious fact demotivate me from ever appreciating them or even looking at them.
That is understandable. But you should understand that that is what makes math math. If something is “obvious,” then you should be able to give an easy proof from the definitions!
Having done 105, you would’ve seen that not everything might go as you expect. This is precisely why you need proofs!
But I’ll like to point out that math isn’t for everyone. Not everyone has the patience to go through all of this.
But this is what makes math what it is. You don’t depend on unjustified results. There is no handwaving. Things work because you can show they work.
Second being, from whatever I have seen, never has rigorous math occurred to me as an essential skill to have, nor has it ever been something that solves everyday problems. (By everyday problems, I mean calculating the trajectory of a rocket or designing a circuit or writing a code to do anything). The maths covered upto JEE seemed intersting, in the sense that it had some real life application (I mean obvious examples existed). I can’t seem to find the same relevance for math courses here at insti.
Yes, can’t blame you. Can’t convince you otherwise either. There could be things which have deeper application that you may not realise. But anyway, I am not the person who can tell you about it.
So, I’ll come to my point of writing this. How do YOU find it so intersting?!? Understanding that might help me appreciate the relevance of this theoretical maths
I guess I already answered this above. I don’t know. I just do. I find it fun. I like learning more about it. I like seeing how different parts connect together well.
So please answer to this keeping in mind someone who loves learning, but doesn’t find a particular thing interesting and as a consequence badly messes that up
Maybe put up a blog post or a reply on your tut website, or just a message on the Complex Analysis MA205 WhatsApp group.
Really appreciate your helpP.S. - I really find your tutorials and solutions helpful and hope that you continue them
Thank you for reading this patiently and understanding my concerns”
- Anonymous (just because I feel bad for not liking this kind of math)
30/09/2020, 13:57
I understand that my answer might not be very satisfying. In particular, I didn’t give you any reason to start liking math and well… I don’t think there’s any reason that I should.
The response just below might also be relevant to you.
- 09/10/2020
“I used to like mathematics a lotttt before coming to insti, but the theoretical maths in the first year and then this ma205 they just made me hate the whole subject so much! idk what to do”
- :/
28/09/2020, 12:32
“I am the same person who said he started hating maths since i have joined insti and i am hating it more today onwards! I studies so hard for this quiz and i completely messed it! I have lost all hope/
Idk why i am saying this but yeah”
- :/
28/09/2020, 23:06
In response to the first message: well, you should realise that the math you saw before college isn’t really the “real” math. JEE and stuff was mostly problem solving kinda math. It’s fine if you like that kinda math but that’s just not what higher math is all about. It’s more about building theory like you saw in college courses. In any case, you don’t have to like math. Not like you’re in math.
Response to second message: well, I can see how a bad exam would contribute to hating a subject that you’re already hating. I would say something about how exams aren’t everything blah blah blah but I’m sure you know that already. Plus, you seemed to have been disliking it even before the quiz. Well, I guess you could move on from math! Math isn’t for everyone and that’s okay!
- 09/10/2020
“BECOME A TA FOR MA107 TOO”
- BLEH
28/09/2020, 12:30
“and yes i obviously meant 207”
- the not so good “typer”
28/09/2020, 14:43
I WOULD IF I COULD :’/
- 09/10/2020
“You are awesome. I was down for 2 weeks due to illness. Missed a lot of lectures. The TSC helped a lot. Thanks boss🔥”
- Berlin
25/09/2020, 22:23
Thank you! Nice to know it was helpful.
- 09/10/2020
“Thanks for all your help with 205, Aryaman. I attended all your tutorial sessions (even though I’m not in your batch) and cross checked my tutorial answers with your concise and crisply documented tut solutions. The TSC you hosted was also really helpful. I wish I had access to your resources during MA 105 as well. Keep it up, your effort is much appreciated :)”
- Wholesome Anonymous Poster
25/09/2020, 12:13
I’m glad you found them helpful! This one was a nice outcome of this online semester. I too liked the fact that people could attend any tutorial. Thanks for this message!
- 09/10/2020
“Why do you put this much effort of organising all your notes in Latex? I really don’t get why people do this. It takes almost triple the time writing in Latex than writing notes on the classic pen and paper. If you can give me atleast a single strong reason to do so, I’ll make the switch. I have written stuff in TeX before and really enjoy it. It’s just that I can’t do anything for which I don’t have a strong reasonable backing and cannot justify. Just because it looks cool and neat, is not a good enough reason for me.”
- themonitorbeep
10/09/2020, 21:37
Well, one big reason, admittedly was that looks cool and neat. However, there’s one bigger reason: it keep stuff organised and accessible.
One thing which I hate about notebooks is that they quickly become too much. I have a habit of writing notes in a detailed manner. This leads to quickly getting a big pile of books. However, this means that years later if I wish to access something, it’ll pretty much be impossible. I don’t like the idea of this at all. I am the type of person who wishes to preserve all sorts of information, whether it be pictures or messages or notes.
However, this online semester did have one nice outcome in that I got a drawing tablet. Due to that, I can take handwritten notes but digitally. This is easy and no extra \(\LaTeX\) effort. Moreover, these are preserved forever.
One thing however which is easier in \(\LaTeX\) is that I can hyperlink and look up stuff very easily. (Keyword: accessibility.) This is not as easy in handwritten notes.
- 09/10/2020
“you are doing a great job, god bless you”
- tutie
08/09/2020, 18:15
thanks, tutie
- 09/10/2020
“Please dont stop!!! I stumbled across these today and found them quite golden! You’ve motivated me to start one of my own…but I procrastinate wayy too much… probably will do it when a random burst of motivation comes.”
Context: Blogs
- A fan
30/08/2020, 11:06
It’s funny you say that because procrastinating and writing stuff only when I get a random burst of motivation is exactly how I function too. As should be evident by me answering all these submissions after months.
Anywho, thanks and all the best for your own blog! Hopefully, you start it soon if you haven’t already.
- 09/10/2020
“just wanted to tell you that I find you very cool for some reason even though we’ve never met before”
- pseydonym
21/08/2020, 19:23
Thanks, I find you cool for this comment!
- 09/10/2020
“Hey Aryaman,
I read your blogs. They were quite nice I have to admit. Why don’t you start writing again. You stopped after just 6 days. You wouldn’t know but there are people actually interested in reading them.
Bye!”
- Anonymous
27/07/2020, 11:31
Well, writing isn’t something that comes naturally to me. Back then when I started, I was in college during lockdown with pretty much nothing to do (and isolated from humans). That made it easier to take out time and tabulate the events of the day.
Now, however, things are different. I don’t see myself doing those sorts of blogs again, talking about my day-to-day life.
Thanks for your compliments!
- 09/10/2020
“i feel so weird after reading your blog. it seems like a long reddit thread of an apocalypse survivor or something. taking readers through the whole journey.
anyway i kinda wish you’d continued! abrupt ending :/”
- x
17/07/2020, 02:58
I’m a bit late in replying but thanks! I did continue… sorta. To be honest, while writing the posts, I don’t really think that someone will actually read them. Thanks again!
- 09/10/2020
“Thanks for everything, clearing my doubts, my motivation to get started with LaTeX, Github and Github Pages”
- Wrath
15/06/2020, 20:29
I’m glad! :)
- 09/10/2020