Lots of comments asking what is "Soviet/Russian Math" actually like, and how is it different.
I was lucky to get an education in three systems (Soviet Math, Romanian Math School (influenced by both French and Soviet Math school), and finally in a world top 40 university in North America.
I would summarize the Soviet/Russian Math/Physics approach like this:
- understanding of the mechanism/intuition behind the equations/methods is paramount
- teachers are astute at spotting students who memorize blindly, and will intervene to correct that
- while rigorous about notation, the mathematical representation always comes after understanding, not before
- the progression of teaching (order how material is introduced) is very well thought out
- the old soviet textbooks are generally less verbose than North American ones (less fancy), but high quality in their expression, typesetting, and ESPECIALLY (!!!) the quality of the exercises
- the Soviet Math textbook exercises are something to behold: they have funny/memorable setting (like jokes), they are short and easy to express, the numbers are chosen in such a way that the result will be a nice whole number, or pi, etc. Basically as a kid you can read one of those problems, lay down, close your eyes, and work on it in your head.
That being said, I did like some of the aspects from the so called "Western Math" (in my case Canadian university):
- teachers are more approachable, more friendly
- textbooks can be gorgeous (nice colorful plots, etc)
I was lucky to get an education in three systems (Soviet Math, Romanian Math School (influenced by both French and Soviet Math school), and finally in a world top 40 university in North America.
I would summarize the Soviet/Russian Math/Physics approach like this:
That being said, I did like some of the aspects from the so called "Western Math" (in my case Canadian university):