thnik again!

What is mathematics and why does it work? In this talk, John Barrow will look at some of the ways in which mathematics can tell you things about the world that you cannot learn in any other way: how computers have extended the reach of human mathematicians, the simple nature of many hard problems that no computer can solve, how to win at dice, coach Olympic sports champions, and even discover whether the Premier Football League is just a random process.

Click here for the talk with slides. Click here for more TV from the Royal Society.

The cartoon is taken from http://spikedmath.com/hot.html.

Do you have a favourite math cartoon?

Here is one of mine.

After creating them, God told all the creatures to go forth, be fruitful, and multiply. All the animals dispersed except for two little snakes, who were looking very sad. Adam asked them why they were sad. “We’re adders,” the snakes replied. “We can’t multiply.” Adam thought for a minute, took his little hatchet, chopped down a couple of small trees, constructed a table, and presented it to the snakes. “Here’s a log table,” he said. “Now you can multiply.”

This joke, and other stuff, you’ll find here.

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.

Here are some quotes I like:

“We never learn to think for ourselves! The teachers don’t like to admit it, but I also have a brain. They always try to fill my brain with all kind of garbage, but I am not a garbage dump. It drives me mad!” – A student quoted by Matthew Lipman

“It is really no less than a miracle that the modern ways of teaching have not completely killed the inquirer’s sacred curiosity, since this fragile plant needs, in addition to stimuli, above all freedom; without freedom it will without fail be lost.” – Albert Einstein

“The communication that takes place between the indoctrinator and the student intends apparently to resolve a problem or seek the truth. However, the fact is that the indoctrinator has decided beforehand which opinion the student shall reach, and all his actions have the sole purpose of bringing forward the desired state of mind in the student. The crime must be considered as especially severe if it is carried out by a person that the society has given the mandate to educate children and young people.” - Jørgen Brun Pedersen

“The secret of communication is to liberate the other. Therefore one should not communicate in a straight forward fashion, yes it is even ungodly to do so.” - Søren Kierkegaard

“The child’s mind is a fire to be ignited, not a pot to be filled.” – John Locke

“Some … say that the introduction of heuristic style would require the rewriting of textbooks, and would make them so long that one could never read them to the end … The answer to this pedestrian argument is: let us try.” – Imre Lakatos

“The modern adult industrial world … tries to acquire its supply of trainees, and in doing so … a paralysis of the child’s mind results … (I am tempted to term that ‘the child’s final paralysis.’)” – Martin Wagenschein

“Modern mathematics teaching should start with problems and attempts at solving them, which should lead to a mathematics as a strategy of such attempts … Self-reliant thinking is not learned by the acceptance of ready made patterns, but by modifying and enlarging one’s own patterns.” – Erich Wittman

“The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader to self activity.”  - Carlyle

“Proficiency in enquiry, if it can be acquired at all, will be furthered much more through specific living examples, rather than through pallid abstract formulae that in any case need concrete examples to become intelligible.” - Ernst Mach

“… much of the scientist’s success depends upon “tacit knowledge,” i.e. upon knowledge that is acquired through practice and that cannot be articulated explicitly.” – Thomas Kuhn

“The dialogue form … is especially cherished by authors eager to eschew the forbidden tone of formality that often accompanies the expression of serious thought. The writer of a dialogue does not directly address his public, but instead revels in the multiple facets of ideas … The advantages of the dialogue are clear: ideas that might have remained abstruse and abstract become concrete and alive. They assume dramatic force … The writer of a dialogue cannot affect the same casual and self-indulgent attitude as the author of a personal essay since the characters and their statements must be plausible. Nor can he pursue an argument consistently, as he might in a critical, historical or philosophical essay. Something must persist in the dialogue of the spontaneity and the versatility of an actual conversation among witty and thoughtful people.” - Encyclopædia Britannica

“One thing I am ready to fight for as long as I can, in word and act – that is, that we shall be better, braver, and more active men if we believe it right to look for what we don’t know than if we believe there is no point in looking because what we don’t know we can’t discover. - Socrates

I have started to write a book called “Mathematics is not mathematics.” The draft of a chapter called “Crossing the Motorway in a Wheelchair” is here.

My publisher’s claim: If the book is used everywhere all problems will be solved and coconuts will only fall on those who don’t have a copy.

I did not know this:

Google is committed to promoting computational thinking throughout the K-12 curriculum to support student learning and expose everyone to this 21st century skill.

What is Computational Thinking?

Computational thinking (CT) involves a set of problem-solving skills and techniques that software engineers use to write programs that underlie the computer applications you use such as search, email, and maps.

Click here for description of specific techniques, classroom lessons, and resources.