Happy Feynman’s Birthday!
I hope this day finds you as excited as ever about the wonders of the world that surround us every day.
In Feynman’s honor, I’ve strung three 90-second excerpts together to show what passion Feynman brought to the subject of elementary algebra.
The entire 50-minute lecture (Vol I Chapter 22 in The Feynman Lectures on Physics) is amazing: Feynman starts with simple counting, and ends up with “the most remarkable formula in mathematics” (see below).
On the way, he invents every kind of number through “abstraction and generalization” — from positive integers, through negative integers, rational, irrational, and imaginary numbers, to complex numbers — and links them to exponents, roots, logarithms, pi, e, and even to the cosine and the sine (normally thought of as in the domain of geometry) — all in a single lecture! At the end he gives a heart-felt confessional (which didn’t make it into the books).
I think it would be a wonderful tribute to create an animated visualization of this lecture, and to put it up on YouTube for all to see and appreciate.
Any ideas on how this could be accomplished, including where to get funding, would be greatly appreciated.
Feynman Lives!
Ralph Leighton
Indeed
Hi,
Thank you for this. Feynmans passion for science is absolutely infectious.
Is there some place I can hear the entire audio for the lecture?
Have you tried the people who do RSA Animate?
https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/rsa-animate
You should reach out to the channel 3 Blue 1 Brown on YouTube about getting this lecture visualized. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw
Daniel,
Apologies for the late response — but thanks for the suggestion; I’ll investigate the idea.
Best regards,
Ralph Leighton
Adriana,
Apologies for the tardy reply — but thank you very much for the suggestion; it looks like a promising possibility. I’ll investigate!
Best regards,
Ralph Leighton
Ralph,
I cannot believe you’re still here with us in 2020. How is everything with the pandemic? Today I happen to hit this chapter again and found out your message and this sound bite. It is beautiful. As a physics professor myself (mostly motivated by Feynman and his wonderful lectures, thanks to you as well!), I know how hard it is to give a physics lecture. It is amazing to hear him talks in an almost perfect manner, with combination of passion, fluency, and master treatment of contents. Wow… After these many years (I’m in my mid 40s), Feynman is still my hero in physics.
Feynman Lives!
Thank you! Very enjoyable!
Feynmans chapter on Algebra is the best chapter in the series. Probably the best chapter in any physics book. Don’t @me.
MTW is probably close. There’s some pretty good stuff in there.
Nice program
Where can the audio of the entire 50 minute lecture be found?
A video of Feynman’s lecture on Algebra does exist. I’ve seen it on line a decade ago. Haven’t been able to find it since.
It should be the first class of every year of algebra in high school.