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Math Worth Reading
Squares and Triangles
Patrick Vennebush over at Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks just posted an interesting problem:
Three points are randomly chosen along perimeter of a square. What is the probability that the center of the square will be contained within the triangle formed by these three points?
Trigonometric Identities
I have a much younger sister who is currently in high school. In her mathematics classes, she has started to get into trigonometry and trigonometric identities. A few nights ago, she had some questions, which got me thinking once again about how mathematics is taught.
The Great Gatsby
This morning, a comic by Zach Weiner:
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a great comic, even if it does veer off into not-safe-for-work territory from time to time. You should all be reading it.
Of course, today’s is of special relevance. Somewhere along the line, our high school curriculum ossified. The topics that we learn, and the methods by which we learn them seem to have become stuck in time.
What Math?
As should be clear by now, I love mathematics. I like working through problems, and I enjoy the insights that can come from a good understanding of mathematical logic. Moreover, I strongly believe that mathematics is essential to a strong liberal arts education.
Unfortunately, many people seem to disagree with me. They think that mathematics is a bunch of recipes for finding the solutions to problems, and that it has no place in a liberal education. Only nerds would ever want to study mathematics.
Thus it is nice when I see articles like Dr. Robert Lewis’ What Math? His diagnosis is, I think, spot on. In short, he believes that most people have a misconception about what mathematics is and how it works. The article is short and insightful, and well worth reading.
What’s Wrong with Teacher Education?
I am of the opinion that most teacher education programs in the United States (and probably elsewhere, as well) do a fairly poor job of actually preparing teachers to teach. My main complaint is that the transition from student to teacher happens too abruptly, with not nearly enough practical experience in the classroom. This happens in part because state certification agencies do not require such experience, and teacher education programs are designed to meet state standards.