Mathematics Educators Weekly Newsletter - Thursday, December 31, 2015

Mathematics Educators newsletter

Top new questions this week: What does maths teach you that logic does not? [Source:] Having studied maths gives you a particular way of thinking through problems that Intro to Logic just doesn't. Will someone please explain and explicate the quote above? Please pardon ... logic   asked by LePressentiment 10 votes answered by Joseph O'Rourke 6 votes Advice on Proof-based Math Topics for High Schoolers I have a handful of high school students that are all prospective math/physics majors and have pooled their resources to hire me to teach them a proof based math course because it has become apparent ... proofs   asked by Zaid Khalil 8 votes Good explanation of algebraic geometric proof of FLT for polynomials when $n = 3$? There do not exist nonconstant, relatively prime, polynomials $a(t)$, $b(t)$ and $c(t) \in \mathbb{C}[t]$ such that $$a(t)^3 + b(t)^3 = c(t)^3.$$ See my answer here. Let $a(t)$, $b(t)$, ... undergraduate-education mathematical-pedagogy geometry abstract-algebra intuition   asked by Kevin Dong 6 votes Is simplifying a rational function considered as a continuous extension? Given the rational function $f(x)=\frac{x^2-1}{x+1}$. The expression can be simplified to $g(x)=x-1$ and thus the singularity at $x=-1$ is removed. I would personally claim that $f$ and $g$ are the ... secondary-education functions   asked by Philipp Imhof 5 votes answered by mweiss 7 votes Elementary physics course for pure math student Are there any mathematical departments which present the course "elementary physics" for pure math undergraduate students, separately? Is there a way to present this course with the most pure ... undergraduate-education mathematical-pedagogy reference-request physical-sciences teaching   asked by Ali Taghavi 3 votes answered by Roland 3 votes Greatest hits from previous weeks: How do you explain why perpendicular lines have negative reciprocated slopes? For my purposes, I am interested mostly in a medium-sized liberal art college setting. My students have mostly seen this before, but it is not something they understand. When discussing parallel ... undergraduate-education secondary-education analytic-geometry   asked by David Steinberg 12 votes answered by David Ebert 6 votes Pi or Tau? How should the circle constant be taught? Tau ($\tau = 2 \pi$) has more merits in its application, but pi is the established standard in industry and education. Is the trade-off of teach-ability of circle concepts worth the subsequent ... secondary-education geometry trigonometry   asked by jpd527 14 votes answered by Markus Klein 33 votes

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