New math

some kid's weblog ^ | unk | Jesse Davis

[netmilsmom]

OH this is too good!

Subtitle, why Mom homeschools.

[nuconvert]

sounds like the student could teach the teacher a few things, Pong

[Ciexyz]

Did she tell the kids that their math skills are obsolete, the Excel program can do most of it anyway!

[skinkinthegrass]

#14.....1 + 1/2 + 1/2 = 2 1/2????

HA!HA!HA! LOL!..and I thought, I was MATH CHALLENGED...in addition to....

..and the Education unions wants MORE $$$$ for MATH & SCIENCE Instructors :)

[SlickWillard]

This kid is a real weirdo.

His home page is here: http://www.willamette.edu/~jtdavis/

There's some really bizarre stuff here: http://www.willamette.edu/~jtdavis/saveusdavis/WARNING.HTML.

Hope he's not in any danger of going postal [or should I say, "columbining"?]...

[clyde asbury]

If only the world wide web had existed when I was a kid - or even when I was at the state university.

My teachers would have actually taught for their pay.

[jocon307]

I am of the mind that this must all be true, as it is way to bizarre to be fiction.

[Natural Law]

This is great! This teacher is either a moron or is having some private fun at the kids expense (having been around high schoolers, the later is something I could envision myself doing).

[clyde asbury]

He could be out there, no question.

I looked at only the first couple of pages, but maybe you just aren't familiar with hypertext stories.

[DManA]

I used to make snide little notes about teachers I didn't like too. I see now what an ass I was.

[KC_for_Freedom]

having some private fun at the kids expense

I once took a Geometry class through a long proof with the class agreeing on each step. By the end of class we had proved some really wrong things but the class still kept with me. Finally one student said "Mr. Freedom, this can't be right." Next we asked where the mistake was. (It was quite early in the proof. The premise was that a=b, at some time the equations are divided by (a-b) since division by zero is undefined, lots of phony things occur. I had hoped that students would become uneasy at obvious untruths on the board, but they accepted it for at least 30 minutes, getting farther and farther from reality each minute.)

The point was that teachers are not always going to tell students the truth, they should be capable of understanding and critical thinking. They felt that they had been betrayed. (But I believe they were always more on guard after that.) And no, I did not usually stand at the board and talk all period. I don't know about this teacher, she seems loopy and lazy due to the kid's presentation but she may also have been capable of teaching, there simply is not enough data to tell her level of sarcasm.

[raybbr]

What's so weird about his pages. I think they are funny. He's at least got some imagination.

[clyde asbury]

For some, there is "normal" or "weird." No other possibilities.

His girlfriend's forehead has a photoshopped-tattoo of The Hulk (p. 2 of the story). The text sounded eclectic and funny to me.

[Mudcat]

I don't know about this teacher, she seems loopy and lazy due to the kid's presentation but she may also have been capable of teaching, there simply is not enough data to tell her level of sarcasm.

While data is indeed limited, Mudcat's vote is 100% for the "loopy" category:

44. Told us that although we understood the problem, we'd probably get all confused again once we were further away from her aura.

[Flashlight]

...40. Told us that it's possible for a math problem to be its own grandma...

example: if f(x) = cosh(x), what is f'(x)?

this problem produces the answer (daughter) f(x) = sinh(x).

repeating the problem using the daughter function you get: if f(x) = sinh(x), what is f'(x)?

this daughter problem produces the answer (granddaughter) if f(x) = cosh(x), what is f'(x)?, which is the original problem (so grandma = granddaughter).

makes sense to me. I think this guy should spend more time trying to learn math rather than trying to prove his teacher knows nothing.

also, using sound waves are sine waves, so showing how, say 3sin(x) sounds different than sin(3x) is a good way to learn what they are. (in my example, the 3sin(x) would be much higher pitched and three times as loud as the sin(3x).

[KC_for_Freedom]

Of course I agree, unless these things were seriously taken out of context. Math is not a mystical adventure (although the ancient Pythagoreans applied a lot of mysticism to the math solutions.)

This one is also interesting:

She's a retired high school math teacher.

[watchin]

My son came home late once from shop class (the only class he took in the public school) because he was engaged in a debate with the "teacher" who was explaining the use of the "4, 5, 6" triangle to construct right angles.

When my son and his friend suggested that it should be a "3, 4, 5" triangle, the teacher "corrected" them. He didn't follow their explanation of the Pythagorean theorem, and said that his lesson had nothing to do with that.

BTW, shop is not this teacher's area of expertise. He is really a math teacher. Honest.

[DrDavid]

in my example, the 3sin(x) would be much higher pitched and three times as loud as the sin(3x)

Not that it is important, but sin(3x) would have 3 times the frequency of sin(x) and an octave is just double the frequency. I do like the 3 times louder part of your explanation.

[mikegi]

I do like the 3 times louder part of your explanation.

Not to be picky but loudness is logarithmic with amplitude...