Mathematics Educators Weekly Newsletter - Thursday, October 30, 2014

Mathematics Educators newsletter

Top new questions this week: Dividing by zero I was having a discussion with a friend and fellow mathematics teacher the other day when the topic of dividing by zero came up. She is the department head and had this in a questionnaire she gave to ... division   asked by Andrew Sanfratello 13 votes answered by NiloCK 18 votes Distinction between problems (such as equations), and universal truths How the distinction between problems (find/describe such values of x that… ) and universal truths (identities) is taught to secondary-school students and higher? Especially in English-speaking ... secondary-education algebra logic language-use   asked by Incnis Mrsi 7 votes answered by Steven Gubkin 4 votes Is there an advantage to teaching solution of simultaneous equations by setting equations equal to each other? Let's say we're asked to solve the following system of equations for the unknowns $x$ and $y$. $$x+y=1 \qquad \text{(1)}$$ $$x-y=3 \qquad \text{(2)}$$ My approach, which I'll refer to as serial ... algebra   asked by Ben Crowell 6 votes answered by Alecos Papadopoulos 2 votes At what stage during an undergrad degree should a student move beyond just 'doing' the equations? I ask "At what stage during an undergrad degree should a student move beyond just 'doing' the equations?" because I am taking some Year 1 maths papers in 2015. I am worried I won't be able to actually ... undergraduate-education intuition   asked by user3754366 5 votes answered by Chris Cunningham 2 votes Pedagogy, mathematics and Dieudonné's Foundations of Modern Analysis I've heard from a friend of mine that Dieudonné's Foundations of Modern Analysis is "painful reading" and "a little outdated"; however, my teacher actually suggested it to me, describing it as a ... mathematical-pedagogy textbooks   asked by Dal 4 votes answered by Georges Elencwajg 6 votes Teaching number theory: geometric approach Are there any books that are substantially based on a geometric approach to explain topics in number theory (elementary and more advanced)? If so, is such approach -- judging from your teaching (or ... undergraduate-education mathematical-pedagogy number-theory   asked by Dal 4 votes answered by J W 3 votes What else we miss? Context: Some time ago there was a post on a brief study conducted by Alexis Wiggins (she was shadowing two students for two days), you can find it here, which got quite an attention. One interesting ... secondary-education reference-request teachers   asked by dtldarek 3 votes answered by Jared -3 votes Greatest hits from previous weeks: How to justify teaching students to rationalize denominators? I'm teaching an "intermediate algebra" college course ($\approx$ junior high school or beginning high school algebra) and we have a bunch of problems on rationalizing denominators. How do I motivate ... secondary-education student-motivation concept-motivation algebra   asked by Dan Drake 13 votes answered by Jyrki Lahtonen 13 votes Is there a good way to explain determinants in an elementary linear algebra class? Many colleges offer an an elementary linear algebra class for sophomore math, science, and economics majors. Such a class typically covers a chapter on determinants, including the following aspects: ... pedagogy undergraduate-education linear-algebra   asked by Jim Belk 17 votes answered by Loop Space 21 votes Can you answer these? Is there a repository with K-12 math exercises and problems written in LaTeX (English or Spanish)? I've been searching for a repository or a database with math problems (K-12 levels) written in LaTeX, but with no luck. Neither in Spanish (my student's language) nor in English. But I bet this is ... textbooks homework problem-design exercises   asked by Pablo B. 2 votes Immersive attention when learning mathematics In Jennifer Roberts' article The Power of Patience: Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention she talks about intentionally slowing down to contemplate deeply a work of art. ... reference-request mathematical-pedagogy   asked by J W 3 votes Visualization and learning algebra Are there books (apart from the well-known Visual Group Theory) that give a concrete "picture" of algebraic structures (groups, rings, fields, vector spaces, and so on)? In general, do you think that ... undergraduate-education reference-request   asked by Dal 1 vote

Subscribe to more Stack Exchange newsletters Unsubscribe from this newsletter or change your email preferences by visiting your subscriptions page on stackexchange.com. Questions? Comments? Let us know on our feedback site. If you no longer want to receive mail from Stack Exchange, unsubscribe from all stackexchange.com emails. Stack Exchange, Inc. 110 William St, 28th Floor, NY NY 10038 <3