A month ago, I posted an entry that included the following bullet item: We’ve made a valiant effort in our project of integrating computer programming into the regular math curriculum, but we still have far to go. In particular, programming… Read More ›
Math
A revised scenario
A follow-up to my post of Saturday, 3/4: How’s this for a (slightly) revised course scenario? You are a Special Agent of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) assigned to a new group set up jointly with the FSA (Federal… Read More ›
Win the lottery: what a good idea!
All I can do is shake my head in amazement: About one out of five Americans believe that winning the lottery is the most practical way of attaining personal wealth, according to a survey released in January by the Financial… Read More ›
The soul-stealing iPod and fuzzy math
Does the iPod steal music’s soul? Do these numbers make sense? Here are the views of Tony Brummel, founder of Victory Records: iTunes “makes music disposable. It makes it a faceless impulse item. It steals its soul,” according to Macworld… Read More ›
Bush & Barbie
On February 3, President Bush was addressing a crowd at Intel concerning the importance of studying math and science: A lot of people probably think math and science isn’t meant for me — you know, it seems a little hard,… Read More ›
Quantitative literacy in college students
According to the National Survey of America’s College Students (NSACS) — a study conducted by the American Institutes for Research and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts — American college students know even less math than we had thought: Approximately… Read More ›
The Sudoku/Systems connection
Epiphany: A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization (definition 3b in the American Heritage Dictionary) So I guess I was visited by an epiphany this weekend: I realized that Sudoku has a surprising connection… Read More ›
Static or dynamic systems
How do we think about systems of equations (or inequalities)? I know, most of us don’t think about them at all. But teachers and students of algebra certainly do. Whether we call them systems of equations or simultaneous equations, we… Read More ›
Science, math, & engineering
A fellow Dorchesterite, calling himself Trxckster — yes, the third letter is indeed an x, not an i — quotes visionary Alan Kay in his blog: Today, science (a concern with what is real) is mixed with mathematics (a concern… Read More ›
Calculus limericks?
I can’t resist quoting from Rudbeckia Hirta’s post in her blog today: I have been dared by one of my colleagues to write one of the questions on my calculus exam in the form of a limerick. This is especially… Read More ›
Numbers and Palindromes
Numbers and Palindromes. No, not numbers that are palindromes: Numbers and Palindromes, the television show and the movie. I wrote about Numbers six months ago; at that point I had only seen three episodes, and it would have been premature… Read More ›
What's wrong with this problem?
The problem below comes from the Education Records Bureau’s Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) for middle school students. How many things can you find wrong with it? Thanks for Thane Plambeck for the pointer.
Pi
Listen closely…
PopCo revisited
In the past two weeks I haven’t had as much time to read as I would like. I’m woefully behind on the Globe, and it’s only today that I’ve finally finished reading PopCo. In my post of 11/23, I gave… Read More ›
Killing five birds with one stone
At a recent Math Department meeting, we discussed the question of whether we should offer more math electives. Currently the only non-AP electives that Weston offers are two one-semester Comp Sci courses, but we’re a small high school and probably… Read More ›
Disappearing statistics
A wire-service article appeared yesterday on the Boston Globe’s website, boston.com, but now the article has mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately most of it is still available elsewhere, so we can examine its questionable use of statistics. It begins by reporting some… Read More ›
Logs
Why are logarithms so difficult? Algebra students who are consistently competent in other topics often stumble when they get to logs. Sure, they can memorize an algorithm for switching from exponential form to logarithmic form and vice versa, and most… Read More ›
We so-called experts have been wrong for almost 7 years
Those of us who teach math and computer science have been proud of our knowledge that a kilobyte is really 1024 bytes, not 1000. So “Y2K” doesn’t really refer to 2000 but to 2048. Similarly, we believe (and teach) that… Read More ›
Pythagorean Theorem in so-called real life
Reading this case might prove helpful for some students who think that math is useless in real life (at least those who plan to be lawyers or drug dealers). But shouldn’t the court have used Taxicab Geometry for its distance… Read More ›
Irrationality considered harmful
“I refuse to deal with irrational numbers until they’ve calmed down,” says one Jeff Schult, who claims that math is a cult. Read the whole article. I hope it doesn’t represent what Weston students think about math. We shouldn’t use… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 