The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has generally been enthusiastically positive about the well-known television show, Numb3rs. So has the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). These reactions are to be expected: both organizations want to promote interest in… Read More ›
Math
Mathematica and Maple
At Weston High School we’re considering the use of mathematical symbol-manipulation software such as Mathematica or Maple. Our theory is to pick one of these for a trial run for a year — just one copy per teacher, for use… Read More ›
Continuity and retention in math classes
I’m sure we’re not alone in finding that there’s distressingly little retention from year to year in our math classes. One of the big differences between honors and non-honors (“college-prep”) classes is that most students in the former can be… Read More ›
"Correction" of "typo" destroys math joke
In a shocking development, an innocent math joke was destroyed this morning by a well-meaning “correction” of a “typo.” My department head put the following announcement into today’s Daily Announcements: MATH TEAM: first official practice is Wednesday Sept 13after school… Read More ›
They're nerds in a good way
As usual, I picked up Barbara after work, and we asked each other, “How was your day?” I relayed three brief anecdotes to her: Just before one of my classes was about to start, I overheard one student say to… Read More ›
When you've forgotten the combination to your lock…
As we all know, combination locks should really be called permutation locks. Actually, that isn’t quite right. Duplicates are allowed, so you aren’t really taking permutations of 40 numbers. But that isn’t the subject of this post. The point is… Read More ›
This year we decided to cut back on the number of topics
Less is definitely more. In the first summer of the Crimson Summer Academy (2004) we attempted to explore two different (but related) topics in our Quantitative Reasoning (QR) course for rising sophomores: Visual Representations of Data and Models of Voting…. Read More ›
More From Polymath
In yesterday’s post, I recommended an article in the Polymathematics blog. That entire blog is well worth reading. For example, consider a discussion of whether 0^0 should be 0 (because zero to any power is 1) or 1 (because anything… Read More ›
Why .999… really does equal 1
Do read the fascinating (but long) post in Polymathematics about why .999… really does equal 1.
World's best version of Life
Check out the world’s best version of Conway’s Game of Life.
Mathematical Gangsta Rap
Filled with in-jokes about cryptology and computational complexity, Mathematical Gangsta Rap is an amusing combination of high culture and low culture. But you’ll have to make your own decision about which is which.
Quotation from a math student
Quotation from a math student at a college that will be unidentified to protect the innocent: That exam was unfair. You made us understand the material. I’ll memorize the phone book if you ask me to, but you can’t expect… Read More ›
Converse or contrapositive? (And what does this have to do with the price of oil?)
On NPR’s All Things Considered, Robert Siegel just interviewed New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman about his article entitled “The First Law of Petropolitics.” Friedman stated this law as follows: There is an inverse correlation between the price of oil… Read More ›
Another play about math!
Or about mathematicians, at any rate: On May 15 and 16, the Underground Railway Theater and The MIT Office for the Arts will be performing a play by Ira Hauptman entitled Partition: A fantasy based on the life of self-taught… Read More ›
Math and Magic
The Weston High School Math Club just returned from an enjoyable and informative talk on “Mathematics and Magic Tricks,” presented by Prof. Persi Diaconis of Stanford University and sponsored by the Clay Mathematics Institute. As always — well, as we… Read More ›
Big Picture Curriculum Day
Today was the assigned date for the Math Department’s Big Picture Curriculum Day, which meant a full-day workshop with no math classes. Although we were not thrilled about having to miss two consecutive days of math classes — especially troublesome… Read More ›
What is probability?
We’re having a small disagreement here concerning just what probability is. One colleague claims that it’s an indication of belief: if I say that there’s a 30% probability of rain, then that means that I believe that there are about… Read More ›
If the IRS had discovered the quadratic formula
As you’re sitting there figuring out your taxes, take a look at what the quadratic formula would look like if the IRS had discovered it.
A billion is a substantial number
According to an Associated Press article, dated yesterday, “a billion is a substantial number.” I don’t think we can disagree with that. But the context is, shall we say, a bit implausible: Federal authorities investigating a man who smuggled money… Read More ›
Pi Day
Today, of course, was Pi Day. One of my mathematically devoted students not only baked brownies decorated with the digits of pi — only a small fraction of them, alas 🙂 — but also brought in a CD of “Mathematical… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 