I was going to offer each one of my RSS subscribers $5 for enduring my posting sloth over the summer (and last spring), but I found this article in Science Daily about research that indicates all you really want to hear is “I’m sorry.” So there you go, I’m sorry!!!! I’m going to try to stick to a weekly posting regimen this fall. Part of the problem last spring is that my life has become too crazy for the daily post. Wish me luck!
pic by Mike Hulsebus
I use MyMathLab to run my classes and I have all this great info on each assignment called an “Item Analysis”. Below is an item analysis for a sample exam in one of my algebra classes. Here’s my question, which are the most urgent problems to cover when I go to give my class the review? I’m not looking for an intuitive listing of the top problems, but a spreadsheet function that I can use to sort the problems. Note, something that makes this problem harder is that the questions aren’t given with the same frequency. (Hint: the most obvious is calculating the percent of time a question is gotten correct, but there are certain problems with that.)
Happy first day of the semester to Tunxis students. I’m definitely feeling the energy in my online courses. One student has already done all the homework through the first test. My only worry is can I keep up with these kids?
pic by Enno de Kroon
Sue got a flier in the mail and passed on to me about a math performance group set to play CCSU this May. Here’s the premise…
Sara is your typical teenager – good student, stellar athlete- but lately, she’s been struggling with her math classes. On the eve of her big test, she’s visited by some of the luminaries of the mathematical world, including Albert Einstein, Blaise Pascal, Lady Ada Lovelace and Pythagoras. Together, these mathematical luminaries show her how math is part of the world. They explore number theory, order of operations, probability, prime numbers, the Fibonacci sequence, Pascal’s triangle, the origins of the calculator and the computer, lowest common multiples, greatest common factors, and more. They demonstrate the relationships between pineapples, pinecones, and the golden ratio, and help spark an interest in mathematics as the code that defines the universe.
Sounds like something that might be interesting to take a class to. If you are reading this further a field than CT, they seem to have performances in most states sometime this spring. Here’s there schedule. Anyone seen this production?
I got curious what the highest possible number word is. A quick Wikipedia check and I got googolplex which is a one with a googol number of zeros after it. What’s a googol–a one with a hundred zeros after it. Pretty big. Of course, we could make up a larger number word by attaching an arbitrary number name to a one followed by a googolplex number of zeros. This isn’t hard, but how do you keep it going. How do you create a system that can keep going indefinitely? That’s the trick. I guess the only such system that would be guaranteed to keep reaching every number is the word equivalent of the decimal system. i.e. one-two-three- one-two-seven. The decimal system never needs new symbols to build new numbers only new spaces. I guess this means that the only way there would be a highest expressible number in the decimal system is if Space is discrete and bounded. If Space is infinitely divisible but bounded, then the choice of a smaller “font” would always allow us to increase the number of numbers we could express.
…I feel like I’m out there now. I’ve got to stop. I don’t know where this post came from. I promise I’m not using any performance enhancing substances.
pic by jasfitz
My favorite test doodle from the final exam round was this note that prefaced the word problem section of one of the tests. It’s the old ‘I can’t do word problems’, but I think the emotionally charged environment of the final made the student dig deeper: There is no helping me.
Last day of finals! Party like a math star. Congratulations to all Tunxis students for a great semester.
Christina sent over a chapter from a really promising new math for liberal arts textbook called Real World Math: Engaging Students through Global Issues. It covers a lot of the standard topics, but applies the math ideas to critical issues facing the world going forward. The below is a chapter teaser from a Surface Area and Volume chapter.
Its text and exercises get students to think about current product redesign such as the Smart Car and the new Sam’s Club milk carton, and discuss advantages and disadvantages.
(pic stolen from Sustainable is Good, click to go to an excellent post about the new packaging)
I ran across this on Flickr. Too funny. The photographer even sells them. Just in time for Christmas? How about a little math magic under the tree?
