Yes, students have trouble with infinity. And with zero. The great James Propp has written an in-depth essay about conceptual and linguistic issues with infinity and zero. Concrete examples are always best. Propp offers eight ways in which a student… Read More ›
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An excessively large box for Flicka
For some reason Flicka likes this excessively large box. Apparently she doesn’t understand that cats are supposed to sit in boxes that are slightly too small for them!
Finally… Dining in at the Ashmont Grill
After more than a year, Barbara and I finally had dinner inside at the Ashmont Grill! It’s really a different experience, especially when we are greeted by Butterfly at the door and the meal is presented by our favorite server,… Read More ›
A welcome respite from takeout
Now that Barbara and I are both fully vaccinated (two jabs + two weeks), we ventured out to the Ashmont Grill at 6:30 last night for the first time in six months—dining on their beautiful patio of course: Note the… Read More ›
A supposedly “new” way to solve quadratics
What’s wrong with the Quadratic Formula? Let me count the ways: It’s pure magic to 99% of high-school students, who have no idea why it works. It lends itself to sign errors because of the subtraction under the square root… Read More ›
William’s 17th
William is preparing for his upcoming 17th birthday by taking a power nap on his kitty couch to make sure that he remains cute enough.
A Christmas Song for 2020
For a variety of reasons there are almost no Christmas songs that I Iike. But I can recommend a new one that I heard yesterday — a song that was specially written for the year 2020: Don’t Wait For Me… Read More ›
Apparently I was unclear…
Apparently I was unclear In yesterday’s post. In no way was I advocating getting rid of trig as a unit in regular high-school math, as some readers apparently thought. I wouldn’t do that; whenever I taught precalc, which I did… Read More ›
Support your local restaurants! (Tavolo and more…)
Your local restaurants need your help! As you know, they operate on small profit margins, and the current prohibition on eat-in dining can destroy many a restaurant. So we’re trying to order take-out and delivery locally whenever possible. Last night… Read More ›
What’s wrong with this picture?
Cool new shirt (matching my trademark jacket), but… What”s wrong with this picture? (Thanks, Alison B., for noticing what I hadn’t noticed!)
