Timeline for Best way to teach concept of real numbers using a hands-on activity?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 9, 2010 at 8:12 | comment | added | gowers | I too was going to suggest calculating square roots by means of successive approximation. I wouldn't go as far as to discuss the subtleties of the real number system, but this would allow them to feel it at an intuitive level. | |
| Mar 9, 2010 at 6:12 | comment | added | Bruce Westbury | @Pete: This behaviour is as old as mathematics. It certainly is not helpful. On the positive side communicating mathematics does seem to be a skill that is getting better appreciated. | |
| Mar 9, 2010 at 4:07 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @Bruce: your edit and new reponse is appreciated. I was speaking out against a sort of strange behavior that mathematicians sometimes exhibit, which is to grossly exaggerate how early certain concepts could/should be taught and learned. This is really not helpful. Let me try a little honesty: I did not know one iota of calculus until I was 16 years old. When I was in middle school I had my hands full learning about division of polynomials. Any talk of limiting processes would have sailed right over my head. (And I was a strong student.) | |
| Mar 9, 2010 at 3:39 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @BW: Please see my response. | |
| Mar 9, 2010 at 3:31 | history | edited | Bruce Westbury | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
New answer as I was way-off.
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| Mar 9, 2010 at 2:28 | comment | added | Bruce Westbury | Could someone say what "middle school" means? Thanks. | |
| Mar 8, 2010 at 21:10 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | Sin(x) in middle-school algebra? Again, this is off by several years from actual middle-school curricula. | |
| Mar 8, 2010 at 21:04 | history | answered | Bruce Westbury | CC BY-SA 2.5 |