A headline writer attached this misleading title to an opinion piece in the New York Times last Sunday. My response (this post) is yet another follow-up to the follow-up I posted on February 18. Apparently the issue just won’t go away! Andrew Hacker continues to… Read More ›
Math
Don’t do this!
So…don’t do this! From Sam Shah:
Most
We’re having a dispute about the commonly understood meaning of the word “most.” Don’t look it up in a dictionary; just go by your own intuitive definition. Here’s a sample situation: You’re in a gathering of 12 people, with the following… Read More ›
Why “x”?
If it’s in a TED talk, it’s got to be correct. Right? Actually, not so much. But when the talk is about both math and linguistics, how could I resist? So I just had to watch Terry Moore’s four-minute TED talk… Read More ›
Who needs algebra? — A follow-up
Lucy Brownstein, a high-school student from Brooklyn, wrote a fine response to Andrew Hacker (see my post of February 7). You noticed that I didn’t say something like “a fine response for a high-schooler.” It’s a fine response, period. But still, it’s especially… Read More ›
When will the two robots meet?
The other day I read an intriguing article in the New York Times about a simulation of two robots moving on model train tracks at the National Museum of Mathematics. Will they ever meet? And why are the robots beavers, when… Read More ›
17 equations that changed the world
I’m sure you’re wondering how there could possibly be 17 equations that changed the world — and what those equations might be. According to Ian Stewart by way of kottke.org, these are the 17: So what do we think of this… Read More ›
“It’s Time to Change the Way We Teach Math.”
That’s what Dan Meyer says in his new podcast. He’s right, of course. (He usually is.) His solution, as appealing as it is, can’t be the only solution. It can’t be all things for all people. Nevertheless, listen to his… Read More ›
Boston Globe delivery woes lead to a math activity: “Ruminating on Routes.”
If you’re reading this in the Boston area, you probably know about the Boston Globe’s problem with home deliveries this month. As soon as they switched delivery companies just before the beginning of the year, massive problems ensued — principally a complete… Read More ›
Math is forever.
You can never take a holiday from math. Read this brief but wonderful paragraph from distinguished physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson (retired but still flourishing at age 92!): It’s the beauty of mathematics, as opposed to physics, that it’s forever. I published my… Read More ›
Congratulations to the Math Team!
Congratulations to the Weston High School Math Team for their fine performance at this afternoon’s Massachusetts Math League meet! After trekking to the wilds of Acton, the team garnered a total of 111 points. Senior Akiva Gordon was in top place,… Read More ›
MoS FT
Today we took 200 high-school freshmen on a full-day combined geometry-and-physics field trip to the Museum of Science. It was fun, educational, and…exhausting. Sometimes it was like herding cats. Fortunately we had a dozen adults, so no one individual was responsible… Read More ›
Is the Quadratic Formula worth it?
There’s something warm and comforting about the old, reliable Quadratic Formula (QF). You can plug the parameters of any quadratic equation into it, do a little calculating, and easily come up with the correct answer(s). Simple, right? No, actually, it’s not… Read More ›
We’ve discussed this before, but…
…I can’t resist returning to the topic. You know what I mean. Please read the entire post in today’s Math with Bad Drawings. It won’t take you long. Then, as an exercise for the reader, think about two of the drawings in… Read More ›
“I can’t do math!”
In its essence this is a familiar story, but it bears reexamination. We’ll end with the Indian girl who gave up on math at age 15, but we start with the observation that American and Indian kids alike classify themselves… Read More ›
“You’re not actually bad at math.”
This picture sits atop an interesting article in Slate magazine, titled “You’re not actually bad at math” and subtitled “A new way to think about how to reason.” Although I call the article “interesting,” it’s ultimately disappointing. It raises several… Read More ›
Standards of mathematical practice: A portfolio
Check out Tina Cardone’s post about standards of mathematical practice. Her suggestions relate closely to my post of August 30, where I discussed the attributes of a good mathematician and how we’re planning to measure them in Weston. There’s a… Read More ›
Using primary sources in teaching, even in teaching math
Primary sources should provide a significant portion of our information. History teachers know this, of course, but it’s rare among math teachers. Even though my major academic interests are math and linguistics/languages, I was deeply affected by the best course I took… Read More ›
Fantasy Internships
For the second year in a row, our college-prep Algebra II classes are all doing a year-long applied math project centering on cryptography, which has long been one of the four units in our Algebra II curriculum. This project is… Read More ›
Attributes of a good mathematician
In a Professional Development activity a couple of years ago, we brainstormed the “attributes of a good mathematician.” These were supposed to be the characteristics that a successful math student should be developing, so we started thinking about how to… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 