On August 8 I wrote about the unusual novels of Jasper Fforde in his Thursday Next series, which could basically be described as science fantasy. Recently I finished the first two novels in his Nursery Crime series, set more-or-less in… Read More ›
Month: November 2006
Sudburyopoly
I am told that there is an unfortunate preposition in the game of Sudburopoly, where the first half of the slogan of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School is misstated as “Think of yourself,” rather than “Think for yourself.” I know a… Read More ›
Connecting math with other disciplines
From time to time we try to connect our math teaching with other disciplines. Often this happens naturally — physics examples in precalculus, biology examples in Algebra II, etc. It’s no coincidence that both of these other disciplines are scientific… Read More ›
The Rule of Four
I recently read The Rule of Four, a truly fascinating novel co-written by first-time authors Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. Fascinating to me, at any rate — your mileage may vary. If you’re interested in Latin, linguistics, typography, academic mysteries,… Read More ›
Leaving the answer blank
If you don’t know the answer, should you leave it blank or should you guess? An argument can be made on each side: On the one hand, many tests (such as the SAT and the AMC) penalize random guesses by… Read More ›
Using Scheme in the so-called real world?
This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about replying to student questions concerning applicability of a math topic in the “real world.” At Weston we get a similar question with regard to our selection of Scheme as the Math Department’s… Read More ›
Using math in the so-called real world?
So what do we say when we hear that all-too-familar question, “When am I ever going to use this in the real world?” [Grammatical footnote: logically speaking, that sentence should have two question marks at the end, one before and… Read More ›
Case of Lies
Catching up on posts about recent reading: I highly recommend Case of Lies, by Perri O’Shaughnessy, especially if you are interested in math or linguistics. If you’re not, it’s still a solid mystery, well above average for the genre even… Read More ›
Tech Model Railroad Club and MIT Museum
Barbara and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours yesterday visiting the MIT Museum and the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC). Go see both of them! MIT’s small museum is currently showing five exhibitions: a fascinating collection of holograms —… Read More ›
The Winter's Tale
I’ve never read it; I had never seen it before last night. The Weston High Theater Company is currently performing one of Shakespeare’s less well known plays, The Winter’s Tale. It’s very definitely worth seeing, with several outstanding performances and… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 