# Street-Fighting Mathematics

- By: Sanjoy Mahajan
- Publisher: Olin College of Engineering
- Source: [LibreTexts](https://math.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Applied_Mathematics/Street-Fighting_Mathematics%3A_The_Art_of_Educated_Guessing_and_Opportunistic_Problem_Solving_(Mahajan))
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
- Read at LibreTexts: https://math.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Applied_Mathematics/Street-Fighting_Mathematics%3A_The_Art_of_Educated_Guessing_and_Opportunistic_Problem_Solving_(Mahajan)
- PDF: https://downloads.libretexts.org/api/v1/download/math-58549/pdf

An antidote to mathematical rigor mortis, teaching how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works—don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions.