Last night a friend rang with a mathematics problem. He is selling a property with an irregular shape and wanted me to check his calculation of the area. Just in case you want to try before I proceed, the boundaries are straight with lengths (in order going around) 36.0, 21.3, 28.1 and 22.7 metres. When Continue reading

The normal distribution is a fixture in any first course on statistics. My experience teaching the topic is almost entirely in courses servicing students whose main interest is elsewhere: management, accounting, science or psychology. My approach is I guess typical; I present the distribution as a picture like the one below. I claim that this Continue reading

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Hint: It’s not “order”. The herd seems to be following an internet meme that O stands for “Order”. And what does that mean? “Power” or “Index” we are told. Other equally silly suggestions for O are “Operations” and “Other”. Once upon a time, the 1950s in my case, BODMAS was taught long before the introduction Continue reading

You might think that discovery based learning (DBL) is some fancy new approach to teaching mathematics. But I for one have been using DBL since the 60s. And I’m pretty sure my teachers in the 50s used this approach. But a discussion reported in the BAD MATHS blog shows me that some teachers think it Continue reading

In the site Bad Mathematics, Marty and Christian R have recently been discussing the relation between History and Mathematics. Their discussion was wide ranging but the pointy end of it seems to be whether maths teaching benefits from presenting a topic in its historical context. Such an approach may offer a natural introduction, motivating the Continue reading

Part of the fun of one-on-one tutoring is the chance to tailor a lesson to the interests of the student. Suppose we have a student, let’s call her Idil, who’s first passion is writing and language, and who seems curious about the world and its history. She was initially bored by mathematics but responded to Continue reading

My daughter no. 1 () has long covid: lack of energy, brain fog, etc. Luckily her GP had her iron levels tested, they were almost zero. Two separate infusions have restored the levels and her health is much improved. Nurses at her hospital say that low iron levels are common with long covid patients. D_1 Continue reading

from Terry Mills On constructing mathematical questions. For some time, I have been opposed to the usual multiple choice questions. My reasoning is as follows. If I give the answer (c), then that tells you nothing about my learning. This week, my view has shifted. I like questions like this. Which of the following statements Continue reading

The wonderful John Stillwell has done it, a 44 minute video that gives a fascinating picture of the vast sweep of mathematics. John is a Melbourne boy made good, but sadly more honoured overseas than here. Continue reading

Maybe you are teaching a topic for the first time and need guidance. Maybe you are a student who found a particular topic interesting, or difficult, or a waste of time. Maybe you are an old hand at teaching a topic and want to share what you have learned. By replying to this post you Continue reading