math
Math Parables 3: The Fable of the Fearsome √2
Allow me to tell you The Fable of the Fearsome √2, a proud irrational number with an unsettlingly sinister story behind it. Feel free to share this story with the little children whom you tuck in. Please note that this is, like any respectable fairytale, the stuff of legend. Furthermore, as is a storyteller’s prerogative, …
Math Parables 2: Welcome to the World of Hyper-Sur-Reality
In my last article, “Can Mathematics be Parables?” I considered the fantastical realm of “imaginary” numbers. Now, wander with me across a terrain of numbers even more dazzlingly head-spinning . . . and even more hazardous, perhaps, to encounter. I’m sure you’ll remember that there is a whole category of numbers that is (gasp) “irrational”? …
Math Parables 2: Welcome to the World of Hyper-Sur-Reality Read More »
The Beauty of Algorithms
“Why do we have to know this?” This question is the bane of every math teacher’s existence. It gets asked in math class more frequently than in any other subject area (Latin teachers, please form a queue if you wish to lodge a complaint against that claim). But many math teachers don’t know how to …
Educating For Slavery using Algebra
Originally posted on 12/14/2008
The Musical Root of Science
As a physics teacher, I get to play with toys as part of my job. Physics labs give me the chance to dig out classic favorites such as Slinkys and Hot Wheels cars and put them to educational use. Occasionally I get catalogs from laboratory equipment manufacturers full of strange and sterile contraptions, but I …
How the Nature of Story Taught Me To Love Math (with a Little Help from Euclid)
I have been told that fear of math is irrational. Perhaps this is so, but it seems very rational to acknowledge one’s algebraic limitations or to express a tested dislike of geometry. I have also been told that math is good for me. To this I reply that Brussels Sprouts are good for me as …
How the Nature of Story Taught Me To Love Math (with a Little Help from Euclid) Read More »
Leave No Student Behind – Especially the Lost One
I used to think that classical Christian education was all about rigor and challenge–a time-tested method by which to best develop intelligent, logical minds. The Christian piece came in either when I gave an especially difficult test and students needed an “I can do all things through Christ” kind of prayer or when I needed …
Leave No Student Behind – Especially the Lost One Read More »