Timeline for What should we teach to liberal arts students who will take only one math course?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
21 events
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| Jul 29 at 17:23 | comment | added | Michael Hardy | $\ldots\,$and that is only childish naivety on their part. One can be highly sophisticated in many respects while being childishly naive in others. | |
| Jul 29 at 17:22 | comment | added | Michael Hardy | BEGIN QUOTE You can't really explain any substantial part of [mathematics] to "virgins" without some background in mathematics to begin with. Even high school algebra and geometry aren't really enough of a bare minimum to make substantial mathematics intelligible to most newbies. END QUOTE $\qquad\qquad$ I suspect that the truth is that almost all mathematicians DON'T KNOW HOW to explain much of it without "some background" beyond "high school algebra and geometry." And they think that if it seems as if it ought to be elementary and they DON'T KNOW HOW, then it can't be done. | |
| Jan 1, 2012 at 6:03 | history | edited | Andrés E. Caicedo | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jun 22, 2010 at 17:52 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | @Victor: Sure, I have no problem with that. It's just that Andrew L has been making comments like that all over the place, and I thought I should say something. | |
| Jun 22, 2010 at 2:47 | comment | added | The Mathemagician | @Victor Firstly,thanks for standing up for me.Secondly-I was suspended for a day again for numerous comments.So I can't clarify my comments since they got me into trouble.If you want,though,Victor-drop me an email if you want to discuss it further. Be glad to respond. | |
| Jun 22, 2010 at 2:10 | history | edited | Victor Protsak | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Jun 22, 2010 at 2:06 | comment | added | Victor Protsak | Harry: Ok, now I see what you were referring to. To me, the main offense seems poor grammar, so maybe you are overreacting a bit. In fact, I don't think anything will be lost if the offending clause is removed. | |
| Jun 21, 2010 at 9:13 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | @Victor: No, then you misread. He said about the millenium prize: "By American moral standards they can see math indeed is seen to have real-world value (a million dollars)". Suppose we replace the word "American" in there by the name of an ethnicity or some other nationality... It amounts to saying "People X are greedy" or "People X care about money over all else". | |
| Jun 21, 2010 at 3:33 | comment | added | Victor Protsak | Calm down, people. For example, geometry was dropped from the state curriculum in the State of New York for a number of years. Thus it is accurate to say that those high school graduates didn't have $\textit{any}$ geometry course! However: (a) I don't see how this may be viewed as a manifestation of "American values" and (b) Andrew's text didn't claim anything of the sort. Harry: this isn't talk radio, let us stick to rational discourse and focus on the real issues. Besides, accusing someone of "talking trash" isn't civil. | |
| Jun 20, 2010 at 23:22 | vote | accept | Michael Hardy | ||
| Jul 20, 2010 at 22:41 | |||||
| Jun 20, 2010 at 17:00 | comment | added | The Mathemagician | @Kevin Yes,as long as the students KNOW it's just a story,Kevin.If they don't,not only does it trivialize Newton's accomplishments,it creates a perception that science is a humorous undertaking useful for dinner conversation after thier "real" jobs.Sadly,this is how most people process intellectual pursuits. | |
| Jun 19, 2010 at 18:04 | comment | added | Kevin H. Lin | I quite like the story of Newton and the apple. Regardless of its veracity, it's a harmless and fun story, isn't it? | |
| Jun 19, 2010 at 17:09 | comment | added | Andy Putman | @Andrew L : Having the "right" to free speech doesn't mean that you can say whatever you want and no one has the right to be offended, complain to you, disregard everything else you have to say, etc. | |
| Jun 19, 2010 at 16:29 | comment | added | The Mathemagician | @Harry Sigh. Once again,I give up. So much for free speech-ironically.....LOL | |
| Jun 19, 2010 at 9:44 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | @Andrew L: Please stop making nasty remarks about "American values" and otherwise talking trash. It's uncalled for, and if any other country were the target, it wouldn't be acceptable. I'm not the most patriotic person, and I would say that I disagree with the nationalism in general, but you're attacking the values 300 million people with widely varying opinions. I say this only because it's the third time in the past few days I've seen you do it. | |
| Jun 19, 2010 at 2:36 | vote | accept | Michael Hardy | ||
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| Jun 19, 2010 at 1:45 | comment | added | danseetea | (Now that the typos are fixed and that it's divided into paragraphs, I can see this is a great answer) and I especially sympathize with how important it is that such a course should be very historically oriented. This serves many purposes, one of them is to present mathematics as a growing and developing subject. | |
| Jun 19, 2010 at 1:20 | vote | accept | Michael Hardy | ||
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| Jun 19, 2010 at 1:06 | history | edited | JBL | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Jun 19, 2010 at 0:35 | history | edited | KConrad | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Jun 19, 2010 at 0:16 | history | answered | The Mathemagician | CC BY-SA 2.5 |