Recent Posts - page 119

  • Homework, oral traditions, and religions

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    Many questions can be raised concerning homework, such as why it is given and what its purpose is. I’ve discussed these big issues in an earlier post. Here I just want to mention a smaller but still significant issue —… Read More ›

  • End in Tears

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    I recommend the latest novel in Ruth Rendell’s long-running Inspector Wexford series, End in Tears, at least if you’re familiar with some of the earlier installments. (This would probably not be the best introduction to Wexford and his colleagues.) As… Read More ›

  • Wordplay

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    Many documentaries are Serious with a capital S. Wordplay is lighthearted, as befits a film about crossword puzzles. If that sounds boring to you, don’t watch it. But for those of us who like to cross swords with crosswords, Wordplay… Read More ›

  • DHS Open House

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    Come to the Dorchester Historical Society Holiday Party on Sunday, December 10, 2-4 PM, at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, for food, entertainment, a sales shop, and an exciting raffle. “It’s always a good time,” observes DHS president Earl Taylor.

  • The Keep

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    The Keep is an unusual, slightly surrealistic novel by Jennifer Egan. I can’t reveal the main gimmick because it would introduce a spoiler, but let’s just say that everything is not as it seemed in the first chapter. In the… Read More ›

  • Two more railroad shows

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    Over the weekend I squeezed in two more model railroad shows. The Marlborough one was OK, but disappointing. The Roslindale one was definitely worth while. Both will repeat in future years, so if you’re interested in model railroads I recommend… Read More ›

  • A Prairie Home Companion

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    Just saw A Prairie Home Companion, the late Robert Altman’s star-studded movie about Garrison Keillor’s wonderful radio show of the same name. And star-studded it truly is, with a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen,… Read More ›

  • The Big Over Easy & The Fourth Bear

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    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 ›

  • Sudburyopoly

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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?

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    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?

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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 ›

  • Sig figs

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    Science teachers — and science textbooks — generally insist on careful attention to significant figures. Math teachers — and math textbooks — generally pay no attention to them. Here are two representative examples: Our Algebra II textbook contains a word… Read More ›

  • Upcoming model railroad shows

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    Two upcoming model railroad shows: Tech Model Railroad Club, Saturday, November 18, at the MIT Museum, 265Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA, Room N52–118, 2–5 and 7–10. Free! National Model Railroad Association HUB Division, New England Model Train Expo, Saturday-Sunday, December 2–3,… Read More ›

  • Teaching linguistics in high school

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    At Lincoln-Sudbury in the 1970s I taught a rotating sequence of linguistics courses along with my primary assignment of teaching math. As my undergraduate and graduate work were in linguistics, it was a natural fit. In my ten years teaching… Read More ›