This month I am starting an experiment: developing a mostly rigorous course in Pure Mathematics meant for a very general audience of lay people, with only a high school background of mathematics. This course is called Six — not the musical! — because it is all about the magic and mystery of the number six, as encoded by the objects 1,2,3,4,5 and 6.
The number 6 plays a distinguished role in mathematics, being the third triangular number, the smallest product of two distinct primes, a factorial, a number intimately connected with each of the Platonic solids, the order of the smallest non-commutative group, the size of the unique symmetric group which has an outer automorphism, the number of points on a conic in Pascal’s theorem, and the number of points on a line involved in the multi-ratio of projective geometry. There are actually quite a few additional occurrences of the special number 6 in mathematics!
But a lot of these topics are rather advanced. Our aim is to start with an unfocussed explorative approach with just basic objects and different ways of organizing them. Hopefully as we proceed we will be able to touch base with some of the topics above and others too.
The prerequisites are just some basic arithmetic, and a willingness to listen carefully and work through patterns in a systematic organized way. And hopefully an interest in mathematics to start with, but we will be developing on that, and with luck will be able to shed light on why pure mathematics is such a beautiful and remarkable area of study.
The videos for the course will be in playlist Six on the YouTube channel Wild Egg mathematics courses . At some further point we will look towards creating an online course at Open Learning.
Why not join us? I guarantee you will learn some interesting things.
njwildberger: tangential thoughts 
Sounds great!
I wonder what kind of interesting things are found in this number. I’ve never seen a dedicated series on the number 6. The usual number that I’ve seen gets a full series is 0 and its importance. Never really thought about this composite number!
I am studying to be materials and electric engineering and was called to completely revamp my mathematical understanding after recalling and finally taking seriously an experience I had four years ago as well as multiple recent experiences and insights.
Four years ago, while in deep meditation(completely sober otherwise, in case the skeptics are tearing their hair), my consciousness was dragged to a point of immense light. Which I now know to be the point of origination of creation(sometimes referred to as brahma’s egg). Pouring out from it I saw countless of complex equations(mostly integral) pouring out in gold. It was incredibly beautiful. The equations were my mental body translation of souls as they were formatted into manifestation streaming out from the egg. When I opened my eyes everything around me was almost completely see through: buildings, furniture, people, everything.
In terms of grounded knowledge on how to apply what I’ve seen can be made in this world, I’m still very unequipt as I know a very different conception and skill in mathematics is needed. I’m very grateful for your work and am excited to jump into as much of it as I can.
Wow that was quite an experience.
UPDATE: Pr. Wildberger, I have continued to work hard and am starting a PhD at the University of Virginia in Electrical Engineering next fall. My final undergraduate classes next semester include Galois theory, algebraic topology and Complex Analysis (I am also getting a math major). You being the good person you are in STEM and just radiating truth has been an immense inspiration these past three years.
I am very excited to be going through your lecture on Algebraic Topology during the winter break.
I hope to visit some day, my math studies have been more valuable than my EE studies and my goal is building even more bridges between the two.
Thank you,
Devaaya
If it is of any interest I came to you through the book: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Metaphysical_Principles_of_the_Infin.html?id=9KyLPwielTEC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button
Which is basically a complete rebuke of the confused hubris modern mathematics that uses such a lazy conception of infinite all over the place. It was written in the 1940s by a semi-famous mystical scholar.
Very fitting spot for this message.
The reason the Sumerians chose sixty is the complete (‘divine’) order and predictability of prime numbers revealed in sexagesimal. From the very first minute, every minute of every hour, until the end of time so to speak.
In every minute there are
These are the 14 primes from 7-59, *.01 and *.49.
The same 16 seconds every minute, evenly spread across each half minute with 8 before 30 and 8 after 30, with a correspondence of 30 between each member of the two pairs.
30 has the real value of 1/2 in base sixty. 30N=N/2
No mystery whatsoever about the real value of the non-trivial zeros of a certain infinite product over the primes…
In b60 the product of 30 cuts the product of the prime number list in two/ half
2*3*5*7= 3.30 7/2= 3.30
2*3*5*7*11= 38.30. 7*11=1.17 1.17/2=38.30
2*3*5*7*11*13= 8.20.30 7*11*13=16.41 16.41/2= 8.20.30
Kind regards,
M. Karskens
(amature mathematician)