Reviews
I’ve been wanting for some time to incorporate mathematical equations into my blog posts. What I’ve done up to now is to use this nice web site that Brent from Math Less Traveled pointed me to. You enter a LaTeX expression and the web-site creates an image which you then copy over to your web server and reference from your blog post. This system works great if you only need a small number of images. As an example, I used it to typeset the problem in Monday Math Madness #7.
A while ago I received an email out of the blue from Texas Instruments (TI). One of their marketing people discovered this blog and offered to send me a TI-Nspire calculator to review. I quickly accepted, after all, who would turn down a free fancy calculator, right? Once I received the calculator I realized that this was no ordinary calculator; it was a visual Math learning system. I did nothing with it for a couple of months until I finally realized that I was not the best person to review it as it would take me quite a bit of time and effort to learn and appreciate its power. Sure, I could read the manual and run some demos but I didn’t think that would give me enough experience to write a very in-depth review.
In discussing my challenge with TI, I learned of some teachers who were successfully using the TI-Nspire in the classroom. One person in particular, Eric Butterbaugh, was teaching Math in Harlem, New York. It occurred to us in that conversation that readers of this blog would appreciate hearing about Mr. Butterbaugh’s success with the Ti-Nspire system. I created some interview questions and received back the interview you’re about to read.
Brian Foley runs a web-site, Math Mojo and a blog, The Math Mojo Chronicles. The web-site aims to make, in Brian’s words, “Math meaningful.” While I enjoy the site, I struggled to explain what Math Mojo was about until I found this description in the What is Math Mojo page:
Math Mojo is a way of looking at math that fosters a sense for numbers. The more new ways you learn and practice, the more of a feel you will get for manipulating and understanding how numbers work. They will become less of a mystery, and you will feel better about your ability to do math. These methods are based on several different speed-math techniques. They all work at least as well as the methods that you were taught in school. In fact, schools that teach these methods do much better than the national average.
A while ago I discovered an interesting web site, Berkeley Science Books, that publishes a set of very comprehensive Ebooks called “Calculus Without Tears.” Author Will Flannery has a pretty detailed explanation on the home page of his web-site of why he thinks Calculus can be taught in elementary school. His view is that Calculus in college is bogged down with lots of theory; if you change the focus of Calculus to application first and theory later, and if you teach the fundamentals of Calculus that don’t require algebra, trigonometry, or geometry (except for the formula for the area of a rectangle) then you can teach Calculus to 4th graders. Flannery sees the motivation for all of mathematics, beyond basic arithmetic, to be physics, and the building basics - derivatives, integrals, and differential equations, which are fundamental to physics and to Calculus - can be taught to those with no mathematical sophistication.
Flannery questions the wisdom of the Math and science curriculum teaching algebra, geometry, and trigonometry before teaching the physics that drives the need for these other branches of mathematics. To be honest, part of me agrees with Flannery and part of me doesn’t. I’ve always enjoyed pure and recreational Math. I absolutely love Math for the sake of doing Math. I love the logic, the creativity, the problem solving, the beauty, the joy, and the elegance of mathematics. But, I get that I’m not typical. Many people find Math to be too abstract and don’t see the value of manipulating abstractions. For those people I can see the value of learning Math in a very concrete fashion. I can see the value in approaching Math from the desire to understand how our physical world works, starting with basic formulas for force and distance, and proceeding from there. I believe that someone with an engineering mindset or teachers who want to approach Math from the very concrete will really appreciate Flannery’s books. I’m not an educator so I can’t speak to what works best in the classroom. I would suspect that a combination of concrete and abstract might work best but I’m not sure in what combination or sequence.
I know Maria Miller through her Homeschool Math Blog. As a fellow Math blogger I like to know what others in my community are up to so I follow her blog along with others. I’m also aware that Maria has a series of Math worktexts (workbook + textbook) and worksheets that she offers online through her Math Mammoth business.
I was curious about Maria’s offerings and thought that others might be as well, especially homeschool parents, so I asked Maria for a review copy of one of her books. What follows is an unpaid review. I am not currently reselling Maria’s books although I might in the future. Beyond a free copy of the book I am reviewing I have received no other form of payment.
I chose the Math Mammoth Geometry 1 Elementary Math Workbook to review. It’s a 113 page book, filled with great explorations, clear explanations, and nice illustrations. And it sells for all of $5 as an electronically downloadable PDF file. This is a great value and the deal is even better for folks ordering a number of different books as a set to download or on CD.
Tags: geometry, homeschooling, math, Math Mammoth, mathematics, review
Last November I proposed to exchange blog reviews with other Math bloggers as a way to get our blogs a wider audience. In that same post I threatened to review the blogs I like if I got no takers. Well, I’ve gotten no takers to date and I’m making good on my threat of reviewing blogs I like.
I really like Dave Marain’s MathNotations blog. I’ve been following it for a few months and had the
pleasure this morning of conversing with Dave over the phone. Dave shared with me that he’s been involved in mathematics research and in Math education for many, many years. Dave loves Math tremendously and he’s particularly interested in guiding students in mathematical investigations. Investigations are also a particular interest of mine as I’d rather guide a student to learning something neat and let him or her make the discovery than merely try to insert information into the student’s brain.
Tags: blog review, math, math exploration, mathematics, MathNotations, Stuyvesant High School
I remember riding the subway to high school in the late 1970’s. I rode from Manhattan to the Bronx five days a week for four years. When I wasn’t chatting with one of the other kids I’d often be reading some “Mathy” thing or working out a Math problem. Yes, I was geeky even back then. A number of my very favorite mathematical excursions came from Martin Gardner’s “Mathematical Games” column in Scientific American. Gardner’s column ran from 1956 to 1986. Gardner is one of my Math heroes, and I know his writing is enjoyed by many many people who enjoy recreational mathematics. In my opinion, Gardner has done more than anyone to popularize recreational Math in the US.
Over the years I’ve read a number of Gardner’s books and enjoyed many of his diversions. A year ago for my birthday I received a copy of Martin Gardner’s Mathematical Games CD, published by the Mathematical Association of America. The CD contains every single one of Gardner’s articles in Scientific American. Wow! I was pleased.
