Through Math for America, I am part of an on-going collaboration with the New York Times Learning Network. My latest contribution, a Test Yourself quiz-question, can be found here:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/test-yourself-math-march-23-2011/
This question is based on Apple’s total profits from the sales of iPads. Selling 15 million units at 25% profit really adds up!
As someone who has long considered himself a “pure math” person, as opposed to more of a “science” person, I never really cared much about the units of expressions; kilograms, meters, Newtons, and the like. The numbers were all I ever really cared about. Well now I see what can happen when this attitude is taken too far.
It took me about 3 days of driving around Puerto Rico before I realized that speed limits were posted in miles per hour and mile markers were posted in kilometers. Driving around a foreign country (territory?) is challenging enough without having to perform a bunch of conversions in your head.
Just to further complicate matters, plenty of signs left it open to driver interpretation.
My niece took this photograph. We played around with these magnetic polygons for an hour or so, during which time she showed off her arithmetic skills, impressed me with her ability to estimate and verify, and actively engaged me in a rather sophisticated discussion about infinity.
Then she told me, “I don’t like math.”
Related Posts
The other day in class during an exploration into solid geometry, we discovered we could make these lovely flowers
by smashing the paper cones we had made.
Now, if I can just figure out how to test the students on this material.
Related Posts
Through Math for America, I am part of an on-going collaboration with the New York Times Learning Network. My latest contribution, a Test Yourself quiz-question, can be found here:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/test-yourself-math-march-16-2011/
This question is based on Google-search statistics, specifically how much traffic is driven to the top two Google search results.
Based on the numbers, it’s easy to see why companies are willing to bend the rules to climb the rankings!