thnik again!

Over the summer break at least three important events took place:

1. Google+ opened its doors for math educators and everyone else wanting to share ideas and what have you. I am at gplus.to/jannordgreen.
2. I installed Ubuntu, the free operating system, on my WinXP machine. Now they are co-existing peacefully.
3. The head quarters of thnik again! was moved from Santa Cruz de Tenerife to El Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Spain.

To evaluate teachers is difficult. Can mathematics help? The formula above is part of a system of formulas to find out who should be sacked, who should get tenure, and who should be better paid.

The sad thing is that the system concludes that one of the best teachers, evaluated non-mathematically, is doing a worse job than 93% of her colleagues. With, hold on to your chairs, a margin of error so big that she may actually do a better job than 52% of them.

Read the amazing story here.

What’s the morale? That mathematical formulas are of no use or that they should be used with caution? If the latter, how should caution be exercised?

Here is an alternative explanation for why you never win in lotteries.

Our brains adapt in response to the demands we put on them. – Link