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Re: OT: A Mathematician’s Lament

Matt Faunce

7/16/2011 2:45:00 PM

On Saturday, July 16, 2011 1:24:38 AM UTC-4, Slogoin wrote:
> On Jul 14, 10:15 pm, Biendoducedodièse <rei...@telus.net> wrote:
> > http://www.maa.org/devlin/Lockharts...
> >
> > Sent to me by my son ... he raves about this article, saying "you'll like it dad"
>
> Geez, I almost missed this. Thanks Alain, your son, and Will(for
> picking it up again).
>
> "CALCULUS - To be taken again in college, verbatim."
>
> One of my guitar students is retaking Calc and Physics. Not pretty.
> He could not understand the monkey rope problem like some in RMCG.
>
> This part was written for Matt, I hope he reads this and Miguel might
> want to also.
>
> " All metaphor aside, geometry class is by
> far the most mentally and emotionally destructive
> component of the entire K-12 mathematics curriculum.
> Other math courses may hide the beautiful bird, or
> put it in a cage, but in geometry class it is openly
> and cruelly tortured.
> (Apparently I am incapable of putting all metaphor aside.)"
>
> I love it! I mean he tortured that metaphor to death with his
> strawberry huller, pin feather plucker (I once wrote a song about them
> pluckers...)

I downloaded the pdf. I'll read it sometime. ... Geometry was my favorite class in high school. I thought the bird flew and sang the most beautifully in this class. (Maybe I didn't notice the empty gasoline drums.)

Matt
5 Answers

Richard Jernigan

7/16/2011 7:10:00 PM

0

On Jul 16, 9:44 am, Matt Faunce <mattfau...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, July 16, 2011 1:24:38 AM UTC-4, Slogoin wrote:
> > On Jul 14, 10:15 pm, Biendoducedodièse <rei...@telus.net> wrote:
> > >http://www.maa.org/devlin/Lockharts...
>
> > > Sent to me by my son ... he raves about this article, saying "you'll like it dad"
>
> >   Geez, I almost missed this. Thanks Alain, your son, and Will(for
> > picking it up again).
>
> > "CALCULUS - To be taken again in college, verbatim."
>
> >   One of my guitar students is retaking Calc and Physics. Not pretty.
> > He could not understand the monkey rope problem like some in RMCG.
>
> > This part was written for Matt, I hope he reads this and Miguel might
> > want to also.
>
> > " All metaphor aside, geometry class is by
> >  far the most mentally and emotionally destructive
> >  component of the entire K-12 mathematics curriculum.
> >  Other math courses may hide the beautiful bird, or
> >  put it in a cage, but in geometry class it is openly
> >  and cruelly tortured.
> >  (Apparently I am incapable of putting all metaphor aside.)"
>
> >  I love it! I mean he tortured that metaphor to death with his
> > strawberry huller, pin feather plucker (I once wrote a song about them
> > pluckers...)
>
> I downloaded the pdf. I'll read it sometime. ... Geometry was my favorite class in high school. I thought the bird flew and sang the most beautifully in this class. (Maybe I didn't notice the empty gasoline drums.)
>
> Matt

Shorn of his righteous indignation, Lockhart's critique of high school
geometry is that the student is almost always reduced to being a
spectator, not a participant in discovery.

RNJ

Slogoin

7/16/2011 10:08:00 PM

0

On Jul 16, 7:44 am, Matt Faunce <mattfau...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Geometry was my favorite class in high school.

I loved the subject and had two teachers, one really really bad and
one really really good.

The dodecahedron is more than a hobby for me. The history of the
shape in art and science makes it the quintessential geometric object
for how they intersect. A truly wonderful set of stories revolve
around the shape; philosophers, scientists, artists, musicians, in
other lands, at other times.... it's all so romantic, no? :-)

I hope you can read the article before you continue your maths
explorations.

Che

7/16/2011 10:13:00 PM

0

On Jul 16, 5:08 pm, Slogoin <la...@deack.net> wrote:
> On Jul 16, 7:44 am, Matt Faunce <mattfau...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Geometry was my favorite class in high school.
>
>    I loved the subject and had two teachers, one really really bad and
> one really really good.
>
>    The dodecahedron is more than a hobby for me. The history of the
> shape in art and science makes it the quintessential geometric object
> for how they intersect. A truly wonderful set of stories revolve
> around the shape; philosophers, scientists, artists, musicians, in
> other lands, at other times.... it's all so romantic,<

http://www.hideawayinn.com/upload/Romant...(1).jpg

saraband

7/17/2011 12:08:00 PM

0

I don't buy Lockhart's holier-than-thou statements like "Mathematics
is the purest of the arts" and "mathematicians sit around making
patterns of ideas". There are plenty of researchers in applied
mathematics working on modelling real things in the world. Sometimes
even for "unpure" reasons, like making the richest richer. (See the
role of the "quants" in the global financial crisis.)

Slogoin

7/17/2011 2:01:00 PM

0

On Jul 17, 5:08 am, saraband <darwin_...@yahoo.ca> wrote:

> I don't buy Lockhart's holier-than-thou statements
> like "Mathematics is the purest of the arts" and
> "mathematicians sit around making patterns of ideas".

I read it as way over the top black & white satire. I thought this
part was really funny... "pure" and "applied" art, delightful! :-)

The picture of maths dudes sitting around a campfire making farting
patterns? Come on, that's funny.