Thursday, 30 May 2013

More Love 4 Math


How to tell math jokes:
1st Start with a cute joke: 
 "Dear Algebra please stop looking for x. She is not coming back and do not ask y"

   2nd Present a visual joke that requires just a hint.

 Example: 
The square root of -1 is called 
an imaginary number “ i ”

A famous irrational number 
Pi = 3.14… is sometimes 
written by using a Greek letter Pi. 
Keep reading here is a do-not-care-4-math joke              
3rd    Tell a do-not-care-for-math joke:

4th Now, try a math joke with a really short prep talk: You have heard about functions? There is a function written as log x.

 A math student is pestered by a classmate who wants to copy his homework assignment. The student hesitates, not only because he thinks it's wrong, but also because he doesn't want to be sanctioned for aiding and abetting.
            His classmate calms him down: "Nobody will be able to trace my homework to you: I'll be changing the names of all the constants and variables: a to b, x to y, and so on."

Not quite convinced, but eager to be left alone, the student hands his completed assignment to the classmate for copying. After the deadline, the student asks: 
"Did you really change the names of all the   variables?"
            
"Sure!" the classmate replies. 
"When you called a function f, I called it g; 
when  you called a variable x, I renamed it to y; and 
when you were writing about the log of  x+1, 
I called it the timber of x+1..."

Have a joke to share? Post a comment.









Sunday, 19 May 2013

A Mathematician’s Lament by by Paul Lockhart

A story starts " A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. “We are helping our students become more
competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world.” Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made— all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer." 

Then on the next page the story continues "Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a painter has just awakened from a similar nightmare…"

... it is funny , or maybe it is a sad story depending on what you think about math education.  

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Has the student found x?
And here is the the link for full article: