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74 votes
51 answers
28k views

An example of a beautiful proof that would be accessible at the high school level?

The background of my question comes from an observation that what we teach in schools does not always reflect what we practice. Beauty is part of what drives mathematicians, but we rarely talk about ...
48 votes
8 answers
5k views

Ideas for introducing Galois theory to advanced high school students

Briefly, I was wondering if someone can suggest an angle for introducing the gist of Galois groups of polynomials to (advanced) high school students who are already familiar with polynomials (...
44 votes
10 answers
11k views

What kid-friendly math riddles are too often spoiled for mathematicians?

Some math riddles tend to be spoiled for mathematicians before they get a chance to solve them. Three examples: What is $1+2+\cdots+100$? Is it possible to tile a mutilated chess board with dominoes?...
263 votes
29 answers
89k views

Mathematical games interesting to both you and a 5+-year-old child

Background: My daughter is 6 years old now, once I wanted to think on some math (about some Young diagrams), but she wanted to play with me... How to make both of us to do what they want ? I guess ...
9 votes
5 answers
3k views

Assessing effectiveness of (epsilon, delta) definitions [closed]

There is much discussion both in the education community and the mathematics community concerning the challenge of (epsilon, delta) type definitions in calculus and the student reception of them. The ...
13 votes
17 answers
3k views

Short Course Suggestions For High School Students

I am planning to teach a course for talented high school students at a summer camp and I need suggestions for possible topics. The students usually have different backgrounds but most of them are ...
6 votes
0 answers
622 views

How necessary is the knowledge of Lebesgue integral for non-analysts? [closed]

Recently I have learned that at some math department the introductory course to Lebesgue integration not obligatory. Thus in another course on introduction to Hilbert spaces the $L^2(0,1)$ space is ...
49 votes
5 answers
4k views

How do you mentor undergraduate research?

Lets say you had an undergraduate who wanted to do some advanced work and some research, possibly for a thesis, or things like that. There are two slightly more specific groups of questions I have ...
16 votes
12 answers
10k views

How seriously should a graduate student take teaching evaluations? [closed]

Pretty much the question in the title. If a grad student gets bad reviews as a TA, how much does that hurt them later? How much do good reviews help? What if the situation is more complex? (For ...
17 votes
10 answers
109k views

What are the qualities of a good (math) teacher? [closed]

In forming your answer you may treat the qualifier math or maths as optional, since part of the question is whether there is anything peculiar to the subject of mathematics that demands anything ...
19 votes
9 answers
5k views

Mathematics and autodidactism

Mathematics is not typically considered (by mathematicians) to be a solo sport; on the contrary, some amount of mathematical interaction with others is often deemed crucial. Courses are the student's ...