“How not to solve it”: I really wanted to like Polya’s classic how-to-math book, but like @DRMacIver I got little/nothing out of it.
Why hasn’t anyone written anything better? (Is there something better I don’t know about?)https://twitter.com/DRMacIver/status/1063841518656602118 …
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I think it's best learnt by doing with occasional supervision from someone who is able to help you over the cognitive leaps that you fail to make on your own, and that was where I was hoping a book could help people.
Sure. Or as part of a group that is serious about learning to problem solve. I was helped a lot by a friend who'd done Math Olympiad stuff - actually, he suggested the book to me, and provided encouragement.
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Out of curiousity, do you really think Proofs and Refutations is good for teaching non-mathematicians to think mathematically? I love it as a book, and as a way for teaching how to think about philosophy of maths, but I'm less sure it would teach good problem solving.
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It helped me learn to problem solve. Of course, I was already on my way to being reasonably mathematically adept. I guess I was 18 or 19 when I read it, not sure exactly, but I'd been doing mathematics seriously for a year or two at that point.
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