From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sat Sep 2 18:01:48 2017 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2017 15:01:48 -0700 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) Message-ID: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sat Sep 2 18:03:14 2017 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2017 15:03:14 -0700 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sorry: https://github.com/4dsolutions/Python5/blob/master/Introduction.ipynb the previous one got away. I confess to recycling some of my old materials, updating as I go. What's new is the state of the art has continued to improve, thanks to the hard work of many contributors. Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ccosse at gmail.com Sat Sep 2 23:42:03 2017 From: ccosse at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?Q?Charles_Coss=C3=A9?=) Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2017 21:42:03 -0600 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Kirby, Thanks for sharing that. Why do you call the GitHub repo "Python5"? -Charles On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 4:03 PM, kirby urner wrote: > > Sorry: > > https://github.com/4dsolutions/Python5/blob/master/Introduction.ipynb > > the previous one got away. > > I confess to recycling some of my old materials, updating as I go. > > What's new is the state of the art has continued to improve, thanks to the > hard work of many contributors. > > Kirby > > > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > > -- Linkedin | E-Learning -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sun Sep 3 12:05:37 2017 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2017 09:05:37 -0700 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sat, Sep 2, 2017 at 8:42 PM, Charles Coss? wrote: > Hi Kirby, > Thanks for sharing that. Why do you call the GitHub repo "Python5"? > -Charles > > Greetings Charles. Back when I was working for O'Reilly School of Tech, since closed, we taught Python courses 1-4. There was some talk of adding another level, as we hadn't touched this or that topic (e.g. asyncio, descriptors, using yield to send in...). I created a "Python5" repo to dink around with stuff we might add. Maybe in a decade or so, Python itself will catch up with the 5.x series. :-D Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Mon Sep 4 14:39:31 2017 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 11:39:31 -0700 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: PS: my recent exercises in teaching math with Python, ala Peter Farrell, is sparking some heated debate on math-teach. http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2876811 (especially in recent days, early September 2017) Bob Hansen is trashing this writing as some of the worst pedagogy he's ever seen. I'm trying to incorporate some of his feedback in my latest revisions. Our debates are reminiscent of some we've had here on this list in years gone by. I've also been chronicling my progress in this related thread: http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2877392 Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wes.turner at gmail.com Mon Sep 4 15:46:17 2017 From: wes.turner at gmail.com (Wes Turner) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 14:46:17 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Monday, September 4, 2017, kirby urner wrote: > PS: > > my recent exercises in teaching math with Python, ala Peter Farrell, is > sparking some heated debate on math-teach. > > http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2876811 (especially in > recent days, early September 2017) > > Bob Hansen is trashing this writing as some of the worst pedagogy he's > ever seen. > > I'm trying to incorporate some of his feedback in my latest revisions. > Maybe a bit OT: I've wondered whether we could/should instead start mathematics education with bits as entropy (information theory first)?: - base 2: 00, 01, 10, 11 (on our hands (2**?)) - counting - ASCII (0-127) - how do we know the number represents an integer or a character? ... Encoding, Types - The number zero is actually # (code point): ___ - Unicode - class SpecialString(str) - Binary and then floating point arithmetic - unary, binary operators - import operators: sorted(dir(operators)) - left and right shift - multiplication as repeated addition - long division - floating point (error, BigFloat) - symbolic mathematics - MathJax, LaTeX (how to even type this?) - CAS: SymPy, latex2sympy - Entropy - Independence of observations - Maximum Information ... class Shape class Quadrilateral class Rectangle class Square class Triangle class RightTriangle def perimiter def area def vertexes def scale def rotate class PlatonicSolid ... Are there computer science & mathematics curricula like this (that start with entropy)? > Our debates are reminiscent of some we've had here on this list in years > gone by. > > I've also been chronicling my progress in this related thread: > > http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2877392 > > Kirby > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wes.turner at gmail.com Mon Sep 4 16:11:15 2017 From: wes.turner at gmail.com (Wes Turner) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 15:11:15 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Re: dimensional analysis and units - pint does units: https://github.com/hgrecco/pint https://github.com/hgrecco/pint/blob/master/pint/default_en.txt - CSVW can handle units (with QUDT URIs) - {CSV, JSON,} don't include support for datatypes or units - ( Spreadsheet tools should handle units (and significant digits) just as well as they handle columnar/series/range text formatting. #LinkedReproducibility ) On Monday, September 4, 2017, Wes Turner wrote: > > > On Monday, September 4, 2017, kirby urner > wrote: > >> PS: >> >> my recent exercises in teaching math with Python, ala Peter Farrell, is >> sparking some heated debate on math-teach. >> >> http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2876811 (especially in >> recent days, early September 2017) >> >> Bob Hansen is trashing this writing as some of the worst pedagogy he's >> ever seen. >> >> I'm trying to incorporate some of his feedback in my latest revisions. >> > > Maybe a bit OT: > > I've wondered whether we could/should instead start mathematics education > with bits as entropy (information theory first)?: > > - base 2: 00, 01, 10, 11 (on our hands (2**?)) > - counting > - ASCII (0-127) > - how do we know the number represents an integer or a character? ... > Encoding, Types > - The number zero is actually # (code point): ___ > - Unicode > - class SpecialString(str) > > > - Binary and then floating point arithmetic > - unary, binary operators > - import operators: sorted(dir(operators)) > - left and right shift > - multiplication as repeated addition > - long division > - floating point (error, BigFloat) > - symbolic mathematics > - MathJax, LaTeX (how to even type this?) > - CAS: SymPy, latex2sympy > > - Entropy > - Independence of observations > - Maximum Information > > ... > > class Shape > class Quadrilateral > class Rectangle > class Square > class Triangle > class RightTriangle > def perimiter > def area > def vertexes > > def scale > def rotate > > class PlatonicSolid > > ... > > Are there computer science & mathematics curricula like this (that start > with entropy)? > > > >> Our debates are reminiscent of some we've had here on this list in years >> gone by. >> >> I've also been chronicling my progress in this related thread: >> >> http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2877392 >> >> Kirby >> >> >> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wes.turner at gmail.com Mon Sep 4 16:29:31 2017 From: wes.turner at gmail.com (Wes Turner) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 15:29:31 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References:

Message-ID: +1 for defining multiplication as a tensor product. I made it though more than 15 years of school before I learned that matrix multiplication is actually the tensor product (with broadcasting): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_product The Theano docs explain tensors and tensor broadcasting: http://deeplearning.net/software/theano/tutorial/broadcasting.html http://deeplearning.net/software/theano/library/tensor/basic.html#operator-support ( https://keras.io/#getting-started-30-seconds-to-keras does tensors with TensorFlow, Theano, CNTK, but not yet xtensor. ) The product (__mul__) operator (a binary operator) can be defined in lots of ways; both in Python and in mathematics: with linear algebra, we mean "scalar multiplication" (with standard broadcasting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_(mathematics)#Scalar_multiplication On Monday, September 4, 2017, Wes Turner wrote: > Re: dimensional analysis and units > > - pint does units: > https://github.com/hgrecco/pint > https://github.com/hgrecco/pint/blob/master/pint/default_en.txt > > - CSVW can handle units (with QUDT URIs) > - {CSV, JSON,} don't include support for datatypes or units > - ( Spreadsheet tools should handle units (and significant digits) just > as well as they handle columnar/series/range text formatting. > #LinkedReproducibility ) > > On Monday, September 4, 2017, Wes Turner > wrote: > >> >> >> On Monday, September 4, 2017, kirby urner wrote: >> >>> PS: >>> >>> my recent exercises in teaching math with Python, ala Peter Farrell, is >>> sparking some heated debate on math-teach. >>> >>> http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2876811 (especially in >>> recent days, early September 2017) >>> >>> Bob Hansen is trashing this writing as some of the worst pedagogy he's >>> ever seen. >>> >>> I'm trying to incorporate some of his feedback in my latest revisions. >>> >> >> Maybe a bit OT: >> >> I've wondered whether we could/should instead start mathematics education >> with bits as entropy (information theory first)?: >> >> - base 2: 00, 01, 10, 11 (on our hands (2**?)) >> - counting >> - ASCII (0-127) >> - how do we know the number represents an integer or a character? ... >> Encoding, Types >> - The number zero is actually # (code point): ___ >> - Unicode >> - class SpecialString(str) >> >> >> - Binary and then floating point arithmetic >> - unary, binary operators >> - import operators: sorted(dir(operators)) >> - left and right shift >> - multiplication as repeated addition >> - long division >> - floating point (error, BigFloat) >> - symbolic mathematics >> - MathJax, LaTeX (how to even type this?) >> - CAS: SymPy, latex2sympy >> >> - Entropy >> - Independence of observations >> - Maximum Information >> >> ... >> >> class Shape >> class Quadrilateral >> class Rectangle >> class Square >> class Triangle >> class RightTriangle >> def perimiter >> def area >> def vertexes >> >> def scale >> def rotate >> >> class PlatonicSolid >> >> ... >> >> Are there computer science & mathematics curricula like this (that start >> with entropy)? >> >> >> >>> Our debates are reminiscent of some we've had here on this list in years >>> gone by. >>> >>> I've also been chronicling my progress in this related thread: >>> >>> http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2877392 >>> >>> Kirby >>> >>> >>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Mon Sep 4 19:37:08 2017 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 16:37:08 -0700 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > > Maybe a bit OT: > > OT: "off topic" or "over the top"? :-D I've wondered whether we could/should instead start mathematics education > with bits as entropy (information theory first)?: > > That's an interesting suggestion. When everything seems impenetrable / indecipherable, we're in a high entropy state. Like when you first get off the airplane in some alien culture and so much of what goes on seems an utter mystery. We're more like newborns. Then as we "learn the ropes" and start to "figure it out" there's a sense of Entropy decreasing. It all makes more sense. To a point. :-D Is the self-education process itself a struggle against our own mental entropy? - base 2: 00, 01, 10, 11 (on our hands (2**?)) > - counting > - ASCII (0-127) > - how do we know the number represents an integer or a character? ... > Encoding, Types > - The number zero is actually # (code point): ___ > - Unicode > - class SpecialString(str) > > http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/mainoutline.html > - Binary and then floating point arithmetic > - unary, binary operators > - import operators: sorted(dir(operators)) > - left and right shift > - multiplication as repeated addition > - long division > - floating point (error, BigFloat) > - symbolic mathematics > - MathJax, LaTeX (how to even type this?) > I really like how I can put LaTeX between dollar signs in a Jupyter Notebook and use it inline. - CAS: SymPy, latex2sympy > > - Entropy > - Independence of observations > - Maximum Information > > Enlightenment! ... > > class Shape > class Quadrilateral > class Rectangle > class Square > class Triangle > class RightTriangle > def perimiter > def area > def vertexes > > def scale > def rotate > > class PlatonicSolid > > I started on a Polyhedrons notebook. This is where I've invested a lot of time over the years. Bob and Wayne on math-teach say my use of Quadray Coordinates is not math. Some kind of hocus pocus. I'm the only one in the world who seems to think they have a place, if only to stimulate our thinking about coordinate systems more generally. ... > > Are there computer science & mathematics curricula like this (that start > with entropy)? > > In the sense that we all start out ignorant of what these curricula aim to signal, I think we all begin in a bath of noise. Thanks as always for intriguing input. I'm on a physics teacher list where they like to argue about Entropy and how best to teach about it. They're talking thermodynamics more than information theory, but that's all the more reason to look for these unifying concepts. Perhaps Hell is pure nonsense, separated from Heaven by the thinnest of veils, like a decrypting key. Like the less redundancy in a channel, the purer the signal, the closer it comes to appearing random, if we're locked out of its meaning. Right? Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wes.turner at gmail.com Mon Sep 4 20:39:25 2017 From: wes.turner at gmail.com (Wes Turner) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 19:39:25 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] some new open source Python writing (Jupyter Notebooks) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Monday, September 4, 2017, kirby urner > wrote: > > >> Maybe a bit OT: >> >> > OT: "off topic" or "over the top"? :-D > Off topic > > I've wondered whether we could/should instead start mathematics education >> with bits as entropy (information theory first)?: >> >> > > That's an interesting suggestion. When everything seems impenetrable / > indecipherable, we're in a high entropy state. > > Like when you first get off the airplane in some alien culture and so much > of what goes on seems an utter mystery. > > We're more like newborns. > > Then as we "learn the ropes" and start to "figure it out" there's a sense > of Entropy decreasing. It all makes more sense. > > To a point. :-D > > Is the self-education process itself a struggle against our own mental > entropy? > Comply! > > - base 2: 00, 01, 10, 11 (on our hands (2**?)) >> - counting >> - ASCII (0-127) >> - how do we know the number represents an integer or a character? ... >> Encoding, Types >> - The number zero is actually # (code point): ___ >> - Unicode >> - class SpecialString(str) >> >> > > http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/mainoutline.html > This looks useful; thanks! This doesn't even include the word entropy!: "Mathematics for Computer Science" https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and- computer-science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer- science-spring-2015/readings/MIT6_042JS15_textbook.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_important_publications_in_theoretical_ computer_science#.22A_mathematical_theory_of_communication.22 "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematical_Theory_of_Communication - [...] - Entropy (Information Theory) - "bit" * - [...] https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=+ "A+Mathematical+Theory+of+Communication" > > >> - Binary and then floating point arithmetic >> - unary, binary operators >> - import operators: sorted(dir(operators)) >> - left and right shift >> - multiplication as repeated addition >> - long division >> - floating point (error, BigFloat) >> - symbolic mathematics >> - MathJax, LaTeX (how to even type this?) >> > > I really like how I can put LaTeX between dollar signs in a Jupyter > Notebook and use it inline. > "A Primer on Using LaTeX in Jupyter Notebooks" http://data-blog.udacity.com/posts/2016/10/latex-primer/ SymPy has some really convenient plotting functions for symbolic equations and things: http://docs.sympy.org/latest/modules/plotting.html#plot-window-controls > > - CAS: SymPy, latex2sympy >> > If only it were possible to latex2sympy all of the sad PDF-embedded inline equations; to free them as (sensibly named) Python functions. https://github.com/augustt198/latex2sympy >> - Entropy >> - Independence of observations >> - Maximum Information >> >> > Enlightenment! > TIL that even logistic regression is a maximum entropy model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_maximum_entropy#Maximum_entropy_models > > ... >> >> class Shape >> class Quadrilateral >> class Rectangle >> class Square >> class Triangle >> class RightTriangle >> def perimiter >> def area >> def vertexes >> >> def scale >> def rotate >> >> class PlatonicSolid >> >> > I started on a Polyhedrons notebook. This is where I've invested a lot of > time over the years. > > Bob and Wayne on math-teach say my use of Quadray Coordinates is not > math. Some kind of hocus pocus. > > I'm the only one in the world who seems to think they have a place, if > only to stimulate our thinking about coordinate systems more generally. > The origin is: the center of the Earth. Estimate. ... React VR flips the Y axis (and exchanges pixels for meters): https://facebook.github.io/react-vr/docs/3dcoordinates-and-transforms.html#content That c OR v+c question is complicated because *the space changes*; IDK how that affects coordinates. Apparently, there's a gradient of affect on photons around a black hole? > > > ... >> >> Are there computer science & mathematics curricula like this (that start >> with entropy)? >> >> > In the sense that we all start out ignorant of what these curricula aim to > signal, I think we all begin in a bath of noise. > > Thanks as always for intriguing input. > > I'm on a physics teacher list where they like to argue about Entropy and > how best to teach about it. > > They're talking thermodynamics more than information theory, but that's > all the more reason to look for these unifying concepts. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_in_thermodynamics_and_information_theory ... https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/deeper-than-quantum-mechanics-david-deutschs-new-theory-of-reality-9b8281bc793a "Constructor Theory of Information" https://arxiv.org/abs/1405.5563 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructor_theory ... "Physicists want to rebuild quantum theory from scratch" https://www.wired.com/story/physicists-want-to-rebuild-quantum-theory-from-scratch/ > Perhaps Hell is pure nonsense, separated from Heaven by the thinnest of > veils, like a decrypting key. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_underworld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna Books went to Pergamum and then the Library of Alexandria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Pergamum How many minutes of time out would've been appropriate for Alexander "the great" (if any)? #EvidenceBased #OutcomeStudy > Like the less redundancy in a channel, the purer the signal, the closer it > comes to appearing random, if we're locked out of its meaning. > > Right? > https:// HPACK (from HTTP/2) is an interesting study / modern example of Huffman coding: https://http2.github.io/http2-spec/compression.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP/2#Genesis_in_and_later_differences_from_SPDY https://github.com/python-hyper/hpack -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sun Sep 24 23:17:56 2017 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2017 20:17:56 -0700 Subject: [Edu-sig] the SageMath saga: at the front lines in open source Message-ID: I'm finally tuning in the saga of SageMath, with William Stein at the center: https://youtu.be/6eIoYMB_0Xc The cited Youtube isn't the most recent of his Youtube presentations, but provides a fascinating glimpse into the economic forces swirling around open source in this next iteration / generation. SageMath is GPL but without a company behind it, a business structure, what will become of it? Fast forward and said company exists, along with a grant from the EU. Then what? On the Continuum Analytics side: Jupyter Notebooks, likewise super-worthy and deserving of committed developers who don't feel pressured to move on. Mostly foundation funded. One might think colleges and universities would see it in their common interest to develop a liberal commons around such open source toolery. What better way to attract top notch faculty? One might also see a company like Google using the "half time" model and paying employees, in some cases already versed in SageMath internals from grad school, to code in support of these projects from which we all benefit. That's a way of earning Good Will, in older economics texts an actual line item the board members paid attention to. It's a way of branding. As Stein sees it, universities systematically undervalue mathematicians who contribute to the commons in the form of software. Taking a page from Jared Diamond ('How Civilizations Fail'), this is how we shoot ourselves in the foot, by clinging to habits and stereotypes. Or do we break through to a next level? Kirby PS: I consider SageMath part of the Python ecosystem so no worries discussing it here (we have already). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SageMath -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: