2

I am just curious as to the possible advantages and disadvantages to:

Reading the entire section of a textbook then attempting section exercises

as opposed to

Read part of the section and attempt exercises pertaining to the part just read and continuing until the entire section is read.

user5826
  • 11,982
  • 2
    I took TA training with Leon Henkin, he proposed the radical idea that students actually read the textbook. – Will Jagy Apr 21 '14 at 21:32
  • @Will: Gauss never read anything. He just wrote papers. Didn't even read them as he was writing them... – Asaf Karagila Apr 21 '14 at 21:39
  • I would say it varies from person to person and textbook to textbook. It depends on presentation. Sometimes the motivation behind the exercises is unclear without finishing the chapter. Sometimes it's necessary to proceed. – Emily Apr 21 '14 at 22:08
  • @Will: I'm not Gauss, and I don't want to be. The guy was essentially a finitist. What am I supposed to do, trapped in a world bounded by the finite?? – Asaf Karagila Apr 21 '14 at 22:49
  • @AsafKaragila, as a new security measure at the Department of Motor Vehicles, for your signature to go on the driver's license, you need to sign on a tablet that does not show what you are writing. The DMV clerk tells you whether it fit in the sapace without overlapping itself, then you try again if not. – Will Jagy Apr 21 '14 at 22:50
  • @Will: That sounds fairly insane. One more reason for not having a driver's lice. – Asaf Karagila Apr 21 '14 at 22:51
  • @AsafKaragila I think I avoided lice as a child, I suppose I would not remember. You could try to be Euler instead – Will Jagy Apr 21 '14 at 22:52
  • 1
    It's hard enough signing on the delivery man's gadget where I can see what I'm writing. – Git Gud Apr 21 '14 at 22:53

1 Answers1

1

Unless apecific exercises are mentioned in the text (e.g. "the other direction of th eproof is left as an exercise, see Ex. 1.2.3"), I'd suggest the first approach. For one, it may not be totally clear how much of the section you have to have understood in order to solve the individual axercises (or if additional reading might facilitate the exercise even if it is possible to solve earlier; for example "list all groups of order $\le 5$" could be solved immediately after the definition of group - but haveing a few basic theorems at your disposal makes it much easier and more instructive). And moreover it may be a good check whether you have forgotton the basics of the section when you rech the end of the section.

Hagen von Eitzen
  • 374,180