Recent Posts - page 124

  • Pi Day

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    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 ›

  • George Bush, student of English

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    One of my students is having great difficulty understanding the abstract ideas of additive and multiplicative inverses and identities, especially in the context of matrix algebra. Finally he’s so frustrated that he exclaims, “I feel like George Bush in an… Read More ›

  • Wiki values & learning curves

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    Why am I finding it so difficult to get used to be a writer on a wiki, not merely a reader? There’s something about the whole process that still feels alien to me. Somehow the learning curve seems unnecessarily steep…. Read More ›

  • Skepticism is a virtue

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    One of my tenth-graders gleefully tells me about a CS professor at the University of Wisconsin who held a contest in which he challenged others to “hack” into his Mac, and someone did so in 30 minutes. At least that… Read More ›

  • The Nobel Laureate

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    We got to hear a lecture by a Nobel Laureate today: Dr. Frank Wilczek, co-winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Physics. He came to speak to all Honors and AP science students at Weston, as well as interested faculty…. Read More ›

  • The exam compromise

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    We’ve reached a compromise — of sorts — about the exam issue. We’re going to have a dedicated exam week, so that’s a major victory. But only the Math Department wanted to hold all its exams at the same time!… Read More ›

  • Black History Month Assembly

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    Interesting Black History Month assembly this morning. (I know, Black History Month was last month, but we’re a little behind the clock here.) Usually these assemblies consist of performances and readings by Weston students, but this year it was different:… Read More ›

  • Problems in integrating programming into math

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    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 ›

  • A revised scenario

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    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 ›

  • Wikipedia and epistemology

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    There’s a fascinating article about Wikipedia in The Village Voice: … Larry Sanger, a philosophy grad student at Ohio State University, … acknowledges that the site is “very cool.” But as a philosophy professor with a specialty in epistemology, he… Read More ›

  • Is the real world too scary for kids?

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    To what extent do fifth-graders need to be protected from the so-called “real world”? At The Saturday Course I teach a cryptology class to public-school fourth, fifth, and sixth graders who have been identified as gifted and talented. There is… Read More ›

  • What's the matter with kids today?

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    Those of us of a certain age recall a song from the musical Bye Bye Birdie (originally a Broadway show starting in 1959, subsequently a movie): “What’s the matter with kids today?” The song was written 48 years ago, but… Read More ›

  • No driver's license? Something must be wrong!

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    In a tone of shock and amazement, one of my sophomores asked me, “Did you hear that our new principal doesn’t have a driver’s license?” Several of his classmates chipped in, in a similar tone. Apparently this was supposed to… Read More ›

  • The exam controversy continues

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    A month ago, almost to the day, I posted an entry entitled, “Can exams reduce stress and be otherwise helpful?” I cited the following advantages to a dedicated final exam period: On a given day, students can focus on one… Read More ›

  • Miniature worlds

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    Check out the great photos at <legnangel.livejournal.com/564026.html>. I wish I could read the Russian text, but maybe Boris can help. Anyway, the question for me is why this collection resonates for me at several different levels. For one, the miniature… Read More ›

  • Sel de la Terre

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    Just got back from Sel de la Terre. Highly recommended for a wonderful birthday dinner with that Provençal flavor.

  • Graphing aids

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    There are several blogs that I read regularly. One of my favorites is Learning Curves, by the pseudonymous math professor Rudbeckia Hirta. She goes to some lengths to hide her real name, as well as the the name of the… Read More ›

  • Bars, gates, & a ticket of admission

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    Almost 25 years ago, my friend and colleague Phil Lewis wrote an article for Kaleidoscopes called (if memory serves) “Subject to Gates and Bars.” If I were better organized, I would be able to find that article; Phil always describes… Read More ›

  • No slow service from Apple

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    Tuesday afternoon at 4:20 — I took my iBook to the Cambridge Apple Store, having made an appointment earlier in the day at the so-called Genius Bar. (CDs and DVDs were ejecting less than 50% of the time. Worse yet,… Read More ›

  • Win the lottery: what a good idea!

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    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 ›