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38k views

Software to create video tutorial of mathematics topics

I came across many video tutorials on youtube regarding mathematics. I found this video amazingly simple to understand for students. I want to know about the tool/software used for it or similar ...
3k views

How to motivate an adolescent who has fallen behind in conceptual development?

I tutor a 16 year old girl. As far as I can tell, she has average talent and interest in math. However, her knowledge of math is that of a 10 year old or even below. She knows the basic operations on ...
10k views

Is this homework problem on counting triangles within a 4x4 grid too vague?

My six-year old daughter was given this maths problem for her homework: Given a regular square grid of 4 × 4 dots, how many different triangles with one dot in the middle can you draw? We were ...
7k views

What do you say to students who want to apply Banach-Tarski theorem in practice?

Once when I was talking about Banach-Traski theorem (paradox) I said: OK! This is Banach-Tarski's theorem which is against our intuition but provable from our intuitive axioms! It says you can ...
3k views

What are the arguments for and against learning the multiplication table by heart?

I think, a lot of students are bothered by learning multiplication tables by heart, in particular when it comes to numbers greater than 10. Why should one learn (or not learn) these things by heart?
27k views

Why should kids learn how to use a compass and straightedge, and not rely on a drawing program?

I am curious why it is necessary for people to learn how to use compasses and straightedges in geometry, and not just rely on a drawing program. I have a couple ideas, but I might be missing ...
9k views

779 views

What is the evidence about the effectiveness of remediation in math?

At many colleges in the United States, incoming students are required to take placement tests in basic skills such as math and reading. Those who score below a cut-off are required to take remedial ...
1k views

Wonder as motivation

Like all mathematicians, I have a deep appreciation of the beauty of mathematics. Many theorems I find amazing even after I fully understand their proofs. (Example: Euler's formula, $V-E+F=2-2g$. That ...
4k views

Open-Source Math Textbooks

It seems to me that an open-source model could work quite well for textbooks, with issues being raised by the users of the book and different forks of the project being created for different ...
2k views

What are non-math majors supposed to get out of an undergraduate calculus class?

When I teach a course for math majors (an analysis course out of Rudin, say), I have a more or less clear idea of what the students should take away from the course, having been in their shoes some 15 ...
20k views

Early vs. late transcendentals

There seem to be two approaches to calculus education: Early transcendentals: introduce polynomials, rational functions, exponentials, logarithms, and trigonometric functions at the beginning of the ...
4k views

How do I teach algebra?

I find that soon I'll be working with high school students that are struggling with math. In particular, we'll be talking a lot about algebra and some basic trigonometry. The latter I have experience ...
8k views

Should LaTeX be taught in high school?

This semester, I was forced to learn LaTeX for my Real Analysis class. The professor wanted all homework assignments to be typed in LaTeX in order to produce "high-quality" work. At first I was ...
3k views

Should figures be presented to scale?

I've been working with a teacher, helping her with tech. One of the things I help with is to convert PDF formatted quizzes or tests to DeltaMath for the students to take online. The issue that I face ...
2k views

Good motivation for the introduction of Lebesgue integral?

When students take a course on real analysis, they have likely learned about Riemann integrals. What is a good motivation why they have to learn a new way to integrate? A student don't want to hear ...
6k views

What was the problem with New Math? Why did it end?

During the 60s, people in the US (and also in Europe), school curricula introduces New Math where students began with set theory in the first grade before learning to perform addition or ...
2k views

How to encourage women to study mathematics?

What are different ways we can get women to study mathematics? In my own experience, the higher the math class, the less women in the class. Most women tend to go on the math education track and do ...
2k views

Should word problems be reasonable?

I've recently run across a series of problems that didn't reflect reality. For example - An algebra problem with two teens on bicycles. The resulting times showed the bike was moving at 120MPH. ...
1k views

Why does high school teaching in the USA require a teaching certificate while college/university teaching does not?

Original post: I have a math PhD. In the United States, I can teach at a 4-year university or a community college without any additional training. However, to teach mathematics in high-school I must ...
815 views

How can we help students who are very anxious about math?

In many parts of the world, the majority of the population is uncomfortable with math. In a few countries this is not the case. We would do well to change our education systems to promote a healthier ...
902 views

We tell undergraduate students that they should study two to three hours for every hour they spend in class. We know that many students don't follow through with this nearly to the degree that they ...
837 views

How to tactfully discourage casual, implicit disparagement of mathematics

I volunteer with a group that provides tutoring to kids from grades nine through twelve. The included kids have been determined to be 'at risk of not graduating high school'. Of course, many of the ...