Redesigned practice on Brilliant

We redesigned the practice section for algebra, and will be rolling out similar changes for practice in other topics. The algebra practice map is about 40% filled out, and we'll be completing it first before moving on to other topics.

Tell us what you think in the comments!

#BrilliantAnnouncements

Note by Suyeon Khim
7 years, 8 months ago

No vote yet
74 votes

  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.

When posting on Brilliant:

  • Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
  • Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
  • Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
  • Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

MarkdownAppears as
*italics* or _italics_ italics
**bold** or __bold__ bold

- bulleted
- list

  • bulleted
  • list

1. numbered
2. list

  1. numbered
  2. 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"
MathAppears as
Remember to wrap math in \( ... \) or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.
2 \times 3 2×3 2 \times 3
2^{34} 234 2^{34}
a_{i-1} ai1 a_{i-1}
\frac{2}{3} 23 \frac{2}{3}
\sqrt{2} 2 \sqrt{2}
\sum_{i=1}^3 i=13 \sum_{i=1}^3
\sin \theta sinθ \sin \theta
\boxed{123} 123 \boxed{123}

Comments

Just amazing! And that mario mushroom for lives left is a great idea...

Rahul Nahata - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

It is really excellent. I think if these maps were to reach more complex material they could be one of the most comprehensive resources on the internet for 'people who have high aptitude in math, science, and engineering, to push themselves to their full problem solving potential in a systematic way.' I myself have been looking for systematic approaches for higher level maths problems all over the internet and have found nothing substantial.

I feel this is the way I learn best: systematically. This new practice section is therefore hugely exciting for me! Please keep on with it, I can't wait until some of the more advanced topics are added.

The only thing is with the old style practice you sometimes had a link to 'learn about this topic'. I feel this was an excellent addition which should not be forgotten.

Jonathan Lowe - 7 years, 8 months ago

Yes, you're right!! I just realized too, that on it, you can get a point..

Andrias Meisyal - 7 years, 8 months ago

Over time will this also come to include the other sections of the technique trainer including the Olympiad Mathematics? What about Data Structures or Physics? Finally, how will this affect or be effected by the stars? Will the stars be then contributed to the new practice sets, be taken away, ect...?

Nikhil Pandya - 7 years, 8 months ago

If i presume correctly, i.e. we still get 3 tries per problem, I think it would be clearer if the 2 lives were changed to 3, (so having 0 lives is bad). Small fix, but it would confuse me if this were my first time on the site. Also, could you explain the way this system works in detail?

Matthew Lipman - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

You can get 1 problem incorrect and still earn the skill if you answer all of the other problems correctly. However, if you get 2 problems incorrect, you have to start the section over. All problems have only 1 try.

Our vision for practice is to make it possible for self-motivated people who have high aptitude in math, science, and engineering, to push themselves to their full problem solving potential in a systematic way. We want these practice maps to progress to material that is more challenging than what is typically covered in school, and create a bridge between material that you might see in a standard textbook to more advanced material in the same topic.

We are working on creating detailed skill maps in different areas of mathematics, and eventually other subjects as well. These maps should give you a very good sense of what you do and don't know, and if you don't know something, help you practice so that you can master it. As you go through the practice map, you can get a quick assessment of whether you have mastered a skill. If you know the skill cold, you'll get the problems right and earn the skill. If you have some weak areas, you can continue working on practice problems until you know it well and are able to earn the skill.

It's still a work-in-progress, and one important feature that we haven't added yet (but that we are working on) is the ability to view solutions for problems that you missed, so that you can understand how to solve the problem correctly. We are working on this and more improvements to the practice section, but in the meanwhile wanted to launch what we had so far so that we could hear your thoughts.

Suyeon Khim Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

"Our vision for practice is to make it possible for self-motivated people who have high aptitude in math, science, and engineering, to push themselves to their full problem solving potential in a systematic way" yeah but when its too easy and you don't want to waste paper on it and you solve them in your head, and then you make tiny mistakes from time to time. and then you almost get to the end but because you forgot to remember the 1 or something like that you make a mistake and then have to start it all over again. I wasted an hour on that, and each time made me want to not pick a pen and paper even more because then all the time I wasted would have been on nothing.

Daniel Magen - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

@Daniel Magen Daniel, thanks so much for giving us feedback!

If the problems are easy enough to do in your head, you might want to take a shortcut to one of the harder sections. :)

Also, we'll be publishing harder material to make the entire Algebra section longer over the course of the next couple of weeks. We wanted to open it up to the community as soon as we had something to share, but we're still working hard to put up more content.

Arron Kau Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

@Arron Kau yeah I took the shortcut, that's when I tried to solve all the problems in my head and failed over and over because of tiny mistakes... anyway, sorry for making it sound like a really annoying complaint. and thanks for answering me.

I just think that 3 lives is a lot better because it gives you much more confidence when approaching a set of problems than 2 lives.

with 2 lives, when you make a mistake you feel like your chances to succeed instantly drop from 90% to 10% , something you don't really deserve after only 1 mistake.

on the other hand, when you have 3 lives, the chance to succeed feels like a 100% at first, and if you make mistakes, it drops more steadily, also if you only have 1 life left you feel like you deserve it because you were already "spared" twice before, that way you can approach the next problem with the confidence that if you succeed or not, will only depend on your abilities

Daniel Magen - 7 years, 8 months ago

@Arron Kau By the way, do challenge sets (the main problem sets) count towards streaks?

Michael Tang - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

@Michael Tang Yes.

Suyeon Khim Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

@Daniel Magen Well what I usually do is use the answer box as my paper.

William Cui - 7 years, 8 months ago

@Daniel Magen This is what I did initially.

Zi Song Yeoh - 7 years, 8 months ago

Awesome! Thanks a lot Brilliant! I am eagerly waiting for you to roll out the new sections. :)

Pranav Arora - 7 years, 8 months ago

When will the geometry section be back

Dharmik Panchal - 7 years, 8 months ago

I hope this post will not be taken as complaint, but some points for problems skipped via shortcut would be nice ;). Overall I think that this is great idea to make such skill-trees and keeping streak as motivation for progress. Brilliant, Code Academy and Duolingo are my combination of choice for learning.

EDIT: I retract my 'complaint'. It appears that I can still solve problems despite shortcut. Can't wait for next batch of problems :)

hubert swiatkiewicz - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

If you like to code, Talentbuddy is a great site. It's like the programmers version of Brilliant.

Julio Reyes - 7 years, 8 months ago

it's awesome!!

Gypsy Singer - 7 years, 8 months ago

It's good, but I liked it previously when brilliant offered the solutions to the problems we missed (by paying points of course).

Harrison Lian - 7 years, 8 months ago

If we've already taken shortcut 5 and have passed it, will there be more advanced techniques in the future for us to pass?

Tanishq Aggarwal - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

The magic 8 ball says... "count on it" :)

Silas Hundt Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

1. where did the 'function' sub-section in practice section go? when will it come back?

2. when will we get to read materials and solve problems of other topics like physics and computer science?

3. where did all the test yourselves of articles/materials of math go( we practiced those when brilliant blog was under wordpress) ? Can't we have them back?

4. Shouldn't there be split up sections for physics too...like a.kinematics, mechanics & relativity b. electricity, magnetism & radioactivity c. thermal physics etc. I'm proposing this because a brilliant user who's in level two can easily go to level three if s/he is good at two topics of physics and "problems of two consecutive weeks" were mainly based on those two topics. But after going to the 3rd level s/he will understand that the 3rd level is not suitable for him/her. So will brilliant split up Physics section ?

And thanks a lot to the whole Brilliant team.

Aiman Rafeed - 7 years, 8 months ago

The differential of Brilliant.Org Is Thinking in Your User, Single Thing I Say is a Thank You and Keep in This Wonderful Site !

Gabriel Merces - 7 years, 8 months ago

I'd only like to know if user-selected problems will credited to them, even if the problems have a general formula for solutions.

Guilherme Dela Corte - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

It greatly depends on the question. For example, a question like

What is 123+572123 + 572?

will be rejected even though there is a 'general formula' of addition. A question like

How many handshakes happen between 1010 people?

will likely get rejected, because it is unclear to someone else who hasn't seen the question before and hence would not understand what you are trying to get at. A question like

Guilherme was at a "get-to-know-you" party for his incoming freshman class. There were 10 people (inclusive of him) in attendance, and everyone shook hands with each other exactly once. How many handshakes occurred?

would more likely be accepted, since it is a clear phrasing of the problem, without any ambiguity. It carefully explains that everyone shook hands with each other exactly once. Of course, there are other ways of phrasing this problem, to make the condition less intrusive.

Bear in mind that we also consider the state of the solution. For example, a solution which merely states

(102)=45 { 10 \choose 2 } = 45

will not be accepted, because it doesn't provide any explanation, especially to someone who is new to this kind of combinatorics question. The quality of solutions should strive to be getter than what other students would normally submit during the week. It should also provide insight into the main crux of the problem.

Calvin Lin Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

Thanks for the explanation, Calvin. A restatement of my question would be: my problem got selected for one of the Redesigned Practices. Even though it has a somehow generic form, will my name appear under the question when it is finally published?

Guilherme Dela Corte - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

@Guilherme Dela Corte Yes Guilherme , Is Your Name as Author of the Problem !

Gabriel Merces - 7 years, 8 months ago

I like the new way we can solve problems and learn extra skills using the practice. However, will you be adding techniques for level 5?

Anton Than Trong - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

Anton,

We will continue to add more skills over the coming weeks.

Arron Kau Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

my main concern is that, i tried to do same problem sets and earned 5points on both. if other users see it too, to make their lfetime points increase, let us say for them to claim brilliant items, would not it be unfair?

TheProud MrLiza - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

We want to reward students for improving themselves and learning form their mistakes.

If we get the sense that the system is being abused, we would take precautions against it. Otherwise, I don't see why we should ruin the experience for everyone else, just because of a few bad eggs.

Calvin Lin Staff - 7 years, 8 months ago

Log in to reply

thanks sir calvin! i hope that this practice in algebra will soon be the same to all other topics.

TheProud MrLiza - 7 years, 8 months ago

That's excellent idea.I think that will help us to check out our potential in math.

Didarul Azam - 7 years, 8 months ago

thank you brilliant

Goutam Narayan - 7 years, 8 months ago

I'm sorry to inform you that I can't open the webpage !

qiang xiao - 7 years, 8 months ago

I think "It's Great!!" :))

Andrias Meisyal - 7 years, 8 months ago

suyeon plzz tell me about algebra my g mail id is waleedahmed639@gmail.com

Innocent Ahmad - 7 years, 8 months ago
×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...