I’m a big fan of this series. This is Volume 3, and I can say that Volume 1 & 2 were fantastic. Volume three was a deep dive into different mathematical models which was especially fun for me.

My first degree is a bachelors in mathematics. A lot of these models were fun to look back at relative to my undergraduate studies, now almost 20 years ago. As I was reading this, I could not help to think back to how hard it was trying to connect the fundamentals of math to real life. This is the struggle with math education, there is a disconnect between what is learned for a test and what is used in real life. A huge paradigm shift was basic aptitude absent of practical applications.

Is that not the point of models in the first place? What I find so compelling about Great Mental Models is the ability to connect the abstract to the practical. Looking at concepts in mathematics such as Regression to the Mean, or the other examples, and installing that model into practical applications is an amazing thing to understand.

The dynamic of understanding mathematical models versus knowing how to apply them is fundamentally different. Most people walk around applying these models without even knowing the model exists in the first place. On the other hand, there are people so deep in singular concepts they have no bandwidth to apply. Is this not the case in our profession? We constantly are in contrast between deeper understanding with myopic focus on process.

The more well rounded we are, the better we will be. The more we can connect fundamental principles to the real world, the better we will be. The more we can understand foundational pieces of the world we live in, the better we will be. If anything, I would start with Volume 1 and work through Volume 3. Be better!