How to Use This Book
This book was made especially for you, the student. It arose out of observations and feedback from several semesters of teaching and during the online semesters of 2020 -2021.
- Some students liked to have a reference, but textbooks are prohibitively expensive, and not always aligned with what is taught in class.
- Many students prefer to watch quick videos ( Khan Academy) and often seek out resources online.
- Cognitive science and studies of how our brain process information has shown that the more ways you look at information the better it is for long-term retention.
Unfortunately online resources may often be inaccurate (yes even Khan Academy) ; misleading, use terminology incorrectly; don’t focus on the concepts that are relevant to this course or perhaps that will help you with problem-solving. As a beginning student you may not be able to discern this when you look for videos online.
So, I did the work for you.
Within this text, you will find material I curated from the internet which include animations, other videos and interactives endorsed by me! These deliver the information and content as it pertains to this class.
You will also have access to my lecture videos for some topics.
Make sure you have exhausted all the options (Links to Learning, Watching Animations, and other videos provided) provided to you first, before looking for alternative explanations. If you find yourself still needing assistance then please seek out help and we will work to find reliable sources together.
How is this book organized?
In each chapter, you will see the following features to guide you in special colored boxes and include the following:
Learning Objectives
Exercises
Links to Learning
Links to Lecture Videos will be in light blue shaded boxes like this one. They will be preceded by “Dr. Mehta’s Lecture Video” and a title of the video. The titles are ALL hyper linked and clicking on the video name will take you to the video.
