Tagged Questions
5
votes
3answers
104 views
Importance of Neatness / Organization / Speed in Math?
Pretty simple question here but it does relate to math. I ask this as my writing is quite messy, possibly a cause of silly mistakes.
How important is neatness in math?
Does having messy writing put ...
4
votes
3answers
83 views
Statistics Workshop for High School Students
We are going to hold an introductory workshop about the statistics. The participants will be students who have just finished their 8th or 9th grade. The workshop consists of 10 two-hour sessions. The ...
4
votes
3answers
203 views
Should I try to change the way Abstract Algebra is taught at my university? If so, how?
[This (soft) question should be Community Wiki.]
Background:
A year ago, I did a one-semester long course on Abstract Algebra at my university. When we started, I was excited, because I knew the ...
266
votes
115answers
13k views
What was the first bit of mathematics that made you realize that math is beautiful? (For children's book)
I'm a children's book writer and illustrator, and I want to to create a book for young readers that exposes the beauty of Mathematics. I recently read Paul Lockhart's essay "The Mathematician's ...
2
votes
2answers
144 views
What are the drawbacks of multiple-choice questions? [closed]
I can easily understand the advantage of multiple-choice questions for instance in grading and so. A drawback is that real life problem don't have multiple choice questions all the time for instance ...
0
votes
6answers
285 views
Which Mathematical Analysis I Book or Textbook Is The Best?
I'm in search of a mathematical analysis text that covers at least the same material as Walter Rudin's Principles of ... but does so in much more detail, without relegating the important results to ...
5
votes
2answers
167 views
How does one best balance learning from a “problem based book” with supplementary material?
We all know that when learning math, one has to do more than just simply read - one must try to solve problems and work actively with the material.
Many books try to force the reader to participate ...
4
votes
3answers
169 views
participation in 1st year introductory pure maths classes
I have just started teaching a very elementary class for 1st year students on introductory pure mathematics. ( classes at my institution are groups up to 20 students and supplement the lectures. The ...
38
votes
12answers
2k views
How can I introduce complex numbers to precalculus students?
I teach a precalculus course almost every semester, and over these semesters I've found various things that work quite well. For example, when talking about polynomials and rational functions, in ...
0
votes
1answer
145 views
In which branch of mathematics does “logarithm” belong? Arithmetic or algebra?
I'm currently working on an iOS & Android application for GCE O Level students. I have to classify everything neatly such that Maths never appears to be a messy subject to study and so
should I ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
Numeric synaesthesia: uses of and advice for learning math.
It turns out that my adolescent son might have numeric synaesthesia-- numbers have specific colors and possibly other distinguishing characteristics for him. He has shown that he can commit long ...
4
votes
3answers
671 views
What is the most effective way of teaching mathematics to my 7 year old kid?
I want to help my kid excel in Math. I can see she has some trouble with additions,subtraction, multiplication and division.
Will it help if I let her memorize the multiplication table? or use ...
12
votes
7answers
753 views
Teaching abstract maths concepts to young children.
I am interested in opinions and, if possible, references for published research, about the pros and cons of teaching abstract maths concepts to young children. My younger brother (five years old) ...
25
votes
22answers
3k views
“Negative” versus “Minus”
As a math educator, do you think it is appropriate to insist that students say "negative $0.8$" and
not "minus $0.8$" to denote $-0.8$?
The so called "textbook answer" regarding this question reads:
...
-1
votes
1answer
233 views
Mat-1.1020 L2 course material generated by students? [closed]
Mat-1.1020 L2 course is a course usually taken by theoretical-physicist-dept students in Aalto University, here official site. It is a mass course that a massive amount of students fail every year. It ...
0
votes
1answer
164 views
When my teacher gives me a question involving summation notation, do they expect us to calculate it by hand?
Assuming we don't have a calculator that can do summation notation. My class is not up to summation yet, but I'm asking a question involving this concept because I'm not all that experienced using it. ...
2
votes
2answers
200 views
Opinions on foundational math materials to teach 8th grade, 9th grade kids at a Summer Camp
I have been asked to teach mathematics/physics to a few 8th grade/9th grade kids for a summer camp. I have been thinking about it and I realized that I could go about it in two ways: One of the ways ...
16
votes
7answers
562 views
Exciting games and material to motivate children to math
We are a group of people trying to motivate children, especially living in the countryside, to science and math. We have different activities with children such as doing scientific experiments and ...
13
votes
4answers
204 views
Should the domain of a function be inferred?
It is a common practice to have students of elementary algebra infer the domain of a function as an exercise. I believe this is contrary to the spirit of the definition of a function as a collection ...
-3
votes
1answer
576 views
How to engage extremely proficient math kid who hates math? [closed]
Well hate is probably too strong, maybe "doesn't enjoy" is a better description.
I have a 5 year old son who generally doesn't like math, though he is extraordinarily talented. I'm looking for books ...
0
votes
1answer
137 views
Interesting non-stem questions about Koch/Sierpinski fractals
Exam time and I am having a hard time finding any inspiring questions about fractals for our "contemporary math" course.
We found the perimeter and area of various Koch snowflakes and Sierpinski ...
4
votes
3answers
407 views
The elementary coordinate geometry of polynomials? Of rational expressions? Of radicals?
With a few colleagues, we're trying to design an (intermediate) algebra course (US terminology) where we stress the interplay between algebra and geometry. The algebraic topics we would like to cover ...
6
votes
10answers
1k views
False beliefs in mathematics (conceptual errors made despite, or because of, mathematical education)
Over on mathoverflow, there is a popular CW question titled: Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics. I thought it would be nice to have a parallel question on this site to serve as a ...
2
votes
2answers
354 views
Is most of the GM-AM Inequality in its codicil?
Let’s define the codicil of the Geometric Mean – Arithmetic Mean Inequality to be the statement that if the means are equal, then all the terms are equal. Then: I conjecture that most of the GM-AM ...
9
votes
4answers
2k views
Is “locally linear” an appropriate description of a differentiable function?
In this answer on meta, Pete L. Clark said:
I think the question concerns the idea that a differentiable curve becomes more and more like a straight line segment the closer one zooms in on its ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views
What should the high school math curriculum consist of?
"Life is open book."
With the advent of widely accessible, inexpensive (or even free) computational tools and Computer Algebra Systems (TI-89, Wolfram|Alpha, etc.), much of what traditionally ...
11
votes
9answers
582 views
Sources of problems for teaching/tutoring young mathematicians
I am tutoring several talented students, middle school level and early high school level, in mathematics. I am always looking for new sources from which to draw questions. Can anyone recommend books, ...
69
votes
18answers
2k views
Good Physical Demonstrations of Abstract Mathematics
I like to use physical demonstrations when teaching mathematics (putting physics in the service of mathematics, for once, instead of the other way around), and it'd be great to get some more ideas to ...
