Chevron Left
Back to Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Mathematical Thinking by Stanford University

4.8
stars
2,817 ratings

About the Course

Learn how to think the way mathematicians do – a powerful cognitive process developed over thousands of years. Mathematical thinking is not the same as doing mathematics – at least not as mathematics is typically presented in our school system. School math typically focuses on learning procedures to solve highly stereotyped problems. Professional mathematicians think a certain way to solve real problems, problems that can arise from the everyday world, or from science, or from within mathematics itself. The key to success in school math is to learn to think inside-the-box. In contrast, a key feature of mathematical thinking is thinking outside-the-box – a valuable ability in today’s world. This course helps to develop that crucial way of thinking....

Top reviews

NR

Mar 4, 2018

An awesome course. Very easy to follow at the start, becomes more challenging at the end. I have a PhD in economics yet I struggled with the real analysis at the end. And that's just intro level! :-D

AM

Nov 23, 2019

It was an amazing course! Lots of interesting content. The content is also explained really well, i found it really easy to understand. The assessments are a little challenging, but reasonably sized.

Filter by:

126 - 150 of 703 Reviews for Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

By aurelio m

Jan 6, 2021

The professor gave us a course of excellent quality. The tutorials are great and encouraged us to be professional mathematicians. The teacher encourages communication, cooperativism and respect among students. Thank you for your time and dedication. I learned more than logic!

By Moses P P

Sep 29, 2020

The Introduction to Mathematical Thinking is a very profound and intuitive course. My favourite part of this course was on the opportunity given to evaluate other student's work, this gave me an opportunity to see other approaches and methods of solving different problems.

By CHENG K

Aug 8, 2017

It is a very interesting course and over my expectation on what I could learn from the course. Apart from various technique taught in the course for solving mathematical problem, as Dr said, the most interesting thing learnt is the way of thinking to approach the problem.

By Sajjad A

Nov 16, 2017

This course has really changed my way of thinking towards life in general, and Mathematics in particular. I feel every student above the age 14 should take this course, not just once, but should repeat it every year or so! Thank you Coursera. Thank you Professor Keith!

By triki m

May 2, 2021

this course was really amazing, I learned a lot from it, I gained the ability to think properly and how to use logic to solve problems. Thanks, Coursera for this opportunity, and thanks to Keith ( the course's instructor) for the very beneficial lectures he gave.

By Patrick L

Mar 25, 2021

Ausgezeichneter Kurs. Der Dozent ist didaktisch hervorragend. Jedem, nicht nur angehenden Mathematikern zu empfehlen. Sprachwissenschafter profitieren ebenso wie Juristen und Philosophen. Der Stoff sollte Pflichtstoff für jeden Universitätsabsolventen sein.

By Brian V

Jul 10, 2018

As an aspiring physicist, this class helped me a lot. I didn't learn any actual physics in this course, but I was able to develop a sense of what to pay attention to when tackling advanced math texts and topics to advance my career. Great summer activity.

By Rafay A

Aug 26, 2017

The most amazing and unique course on mathematics! I absolutely love it even though it was immensely challenging as the instructor said. But it is really helpful in letting one think in a very different yet effective way through the lens of mathematics!

By Rajendra K

Jul 6, 2017

Excellent course to understand how Math "works". The concepts are introduced very gently and clearly. The only thing I would say is that a basic level of high school algebra is needed to do this course and must be specified up front (maybe I missed it).

By Octai K

Jun 4, 2020

In this course we are given "permission" to take the time to think about a problem over time and let a solution formulate in our minds. It is not easy to find that time in the real world but this course demonstrates that it is worth striving to get it!

By Elias D

Jun 19, 2019

It took me 10 months to complete this. it's fundamental in today's day an age. it was a humble step back to basics, with many comebacks. I recommend to anyone which looks to better enhance his thinking in all walks of life.

The teacher is a funny guy :)

By Nanda K

Sep 28, 2017

An excellent course, well-designed and well-taught. Prof Devlin made the content, examples and quizzes very interesting and enjoyable. The technical aspects of the platform were handled well making the learning that much more easy and non-distracting.

By Sudarshan V

Oct 26, 2020

One of the best courses I have ever done online or offline. This course made me realise how much I still love mathematics. I wish I had an instructor like Dr. Devlin when I was in university. I hope Dr. Devlin adds a course on Set theory in Coursera.

By Илья

Jun 5, 2019

Great course from talented teacher. I really enjoyed it. You have to think hard in this course, some exercises were ok for me, some were too hard. But everytihing was interesting. And information about mathematical notation and logic was very helpful

By Vadim

Jan 14, 2018

The course is awesome! It helped me to recall a lot of stuff from university mathematics. Most importantly, it let me look at everything I knew, from a different point of view, get deeper insight. Great thanks to Dr. Keith Devlin - awesome teacher!

By Leo F

Oct 6, 2018

Approachable for pretty much anyone and actually complemented a lot of later university math by going into more detail. This is an assignment heavy course, which I liked, but requires a lot more effort than other MOOC (it was worth it though!).

By Joy N O

May 7, 2024

The course was great, and the instructor Dr. Keith Devlin made the course understandable. The course structure was made even for those with little or no understanding of mathematics. I enjoyed the graded assignment and the peer review we did.

By Mitchel v H

May 10, 2018

It was a really interesting course up until the end. The way in which language can be ambigious has never been as clear to me. This course wasn't just about math but more or less the world as a working place where you have to make it work.

By oximas 2

May 31, 2020

really great course and really great professor, the course made me smarter at writing better proofs and thinking in more formal and smarter ways, it's really an essential course if you are looking to become smarter in all sorts of manner.

By 王映皓

May 27, 2020

Clear and understandable description about proofs and theorems represented by Dr.Devlin, I had an enjoyable and fruitful learning experience. I strongly recommend this course to those who will enter univerisity or college sooner or later.

By Pedro M

Dec 27, 2023

It's definitely not an easy course. But the delivery of STANFORD UNIVERSITY is of a high level. As well as the dedication and excellent classes explained by Keith Devlin, Ph.D., D.Sc. Thank you very much and congratulations to everyone.

By Simon M

Oct 19, 2020

The best course I ever took. The videos are longer than the ones you may find in other training courses; which I think is a really good thing. Assessments are challenging. If you take this course, you will learn a lot. Definitely a must.

By Muhammad S

Jun 4, 2020

This was one of the best online courses I have ever enrolled in. The experience was sublime. It was very well structured; easy to follow instructions and really provided with me an understanding of the skills needed in logical reasoning.

By Ranindia F R

Oct 7, 2024

This course helped me with the logical and theoretical basis of math by connecting several aspects. the learning material is very accessible but I need time to understand. the review of the material is very good and clear. thank you.

By Flo D

Jun 3, 2021

This course was an amazing introduction into the world of mathematics deeper than what any high school teacher would teach! I loved the lectures and instructor, who made everything easy to follow. Highly recommended if you like math!