a way to make techniques worthwhile?

I think something that would be a nice incentive for people to use the techniques trainer without making it totally free points would be certain "milestones" or achievements, such as "get 3 stars or better on 5 techniques" that would display on our profile and potentially give us some points. I especially think this would be good for people (like me) who have gotten three stars on a lot and start losing incentive to work on those last few techniques.

What do you guys think?

#FeatureRequests #Polls

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

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Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Matthew,

We actually think that is a pretty good idea. We will find some way to give people more metrics for their own success and progress.

Peter Taylor Staff - 8 years ago

Actually, I had another idea. It would be nice if Brilliant could (i'm not saying this would be easy to implement, only pretty nice) have the techniques trainer give "suggestions", such as "You should try Rates of Change for 2 stars," etc.

Also, it is sort of annoying having the "new techniques" thing if we've already "mastered" them so to speak.

Matthew Lipman - 8 years ago

Yeah, that would be awesome!

We are actually trying to do that. In general it is easy to do a very crude version of that and much harder to do a really intelligent adaptive learning feature that gives you eerily smart suggestions of the math you should practice. Within the next couple of weeks Brilliant will start suggesting more things so that you can easily find the new problems, and get customized direction through the practice section.

Peter Taylor Staff - 8 years ago

I would like to say that anyone on Brilliant who has lost an incentive to do math must've lost their mind, too. That was a bit harsh, I guess; no offense. But the desire to do math should be burning bright in all of the Brilliant community, no matter what "rewards" are given. Techniques Trainer gives us new, free problems to practice, especially on topics we haven't mastered yet. Frankly, I don't need point rewards or petty profile tags to want to work on more techniques. Additionally, things could get wordy for the geniuses with many stars; they would have 20 achievements like that. And something else - I don't see how anyone could "do better than 3 stars". I'm pretty sure that is the most stars you can get in a certain topic, unless I lost my brain too.

Justin Wong - 8 years ago

Go learn some calculus.

Justin Wong - 8 years ago

I have.

Matthew Lipman - 8 years ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$