http://www.maa.org/devlin/devangle.html A montly column by Keith Devlin en-us Copyright 2011 Mathematical Association of America webmaster@maa.org http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:14:26 GMT http://www.maa.org/style/online_logos/Icosahedron_blue_large_r.gif http://www.maa.org A brief discussion with a reader of my personal blog (profkeithdevlin) reminded me once again of the common confusion between instruction/training and teaching/learning... http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2012/03/difference-between-teaching-and_01.html Thu, 01 March 2012 12:01:00 GMT Last month I promised I would say a bit more about my collaboration with the choral group Zambra to provide musical interpretations of mathematical equations. I will definitely come back to that in a future column, but right now I want to pick up a theme that emerged in a Finnish-American education summit at Stanford last month, for which I led the home-team organization... http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2012/01/if-you-dont-have-web-presence-are-you.html Wed, 01 February 2012 12:01:00 GMT In the early 1990s I deliberately set out to help create a meme: mathematics is the science of patterns. My inspiration was... http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2012/01/patterns-what-patterns.html Sun, 01 January 2012 12:01:00 GMT I’m writing this month’s column from the Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi in Finland to be precise, home of the University of Lapland, where I am visiting to give a lecture, and home too for the real Santa Claus, or so they say around these parts... http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-trees-from-land-of-santa.html Thu, 01 December 2011 12:01:00 GMT A familiar joke in mathematical logic (the field I worked in for the first twenty years of my career) is the following hypothetical entry in a mathematical dictionary: http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-multiplication-is-really-defined-in.html Tue, 01 November 2011 12:01:00 GMT If you are a professional educator (and if you are reading this blog the chances are high that you are), you likely noticed what seemed to be opposing philosophies behind the two books I published earlier this year. http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2011/10/mathematics-recyclable-tool-for-modern.html Mon, 03 October 2011 12:01:00 GMT The image above shows the initial page of the first arithmetic textbook in the western world. Written (in vernacular Italian) around 1290 CE by an unknown author in Umbria, it begins with the declaration: “This is the book of abacus according to the opinion of master Leonardo of the house of sons of Bonacie from Pisa.” http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2011/09/first-arithmetic-textbook-in-western.html Thur, 01 September 2011 12:01:00 GMT The young man could hardly contain his excitement. He was sure the invention he had just seen could change the world. It would usher in a new era of personal computing. No longer would a businessman or trader have to rely on a member of the select brotherhood of computing professionals to crunch the numbers. He could do it himself. http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2011/08/first-personal-computing-revolution.html 01 August 2011 12:01:00 GMT In my last column I defined what I mean by "everyday math" and pointed out that the term refers to a collection of quantitative and logical skills that are essential for everyone who wants to play a full role in twenty-first century life in an advanced nation. http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_11.html Fri, 01 July 2011 12:01:00 GMT For some years now, I have been using the term "everyday mathematics" to refer to the following collection of topics: http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_11.html Mon, 06 June 2011 12:01:00 GMT Last month, this tweet from NCTM caught my eye: http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_05_11.html Mon, 02 May 2011 12:01:00 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_04_11.html Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:00:00 GMT According to 2008 figures from the Pew Research Center, 97% of today's K-12 students spend many hours each week playing video games. By the time they graduate from high school they will have spent some 10,000 hours doing so. During the course of that game play, they will acquire a vast amount of knowledge about the imaginary worlds portrayed in the games, they will often practice a skill many times until they are fluent in it, and they will attempt to solve a particular challenge many times in order to advance in a game. Would that they devoted some of that time and effort to their schoolwork! http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_11.html Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:11:00 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_01_11.html Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:14:26 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_12_10.html Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:14:26 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_11_10.html Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:14:26 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_09_10.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:44:37 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_10.html Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:37:34 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_10.html Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:51:03 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_05_10.html Wed, 05 May 2010 19:02:36 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_04_10.html Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:15:10 GMT http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_10.html Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:12:36 GMT Cross Talk http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_11_09.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:23:48 GMT Soft Mathematics http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_10_09.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:23:47 GMT Reaching Out - With Style http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_09_09.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:52:23 GMT In Praise of Good Editors http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_08_09.html Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:18:57 GMT Trisecting Devlin's Angle http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_09.html Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:59:06 GMT Trisecting Devlin's Angle - Episode 3 http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_09.html Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:07:50 GMT Trisecting Devlin's Angle - Episode 2 http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_09.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:50:13 GMT Trisecting Devlin's Angle http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_09.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:48:11 GMT What's the Real Story? http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_09.html Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:19:09 GMT Do You Believe in Fairies, Unicorns, or the BMI? http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_05_09.html Fri, 01 May 2009 14:46:04 GMT Stanislaw Ulam - a Great American http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_04_09.html Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:34:45 GMT What is Experimental Mathematics? http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_09.html Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:55:52 GMT When the Evidence Deceives Us http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_02_09.html Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:57:59 GMT Should Children Learn Math by Starting with Counting? http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_01_09.html Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:36:37 GMT How Do We Learn Math? http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_12_08.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:52:54 GMT Polling, Polling, Polling http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_11_08.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:58:46 GMT The Big Mortgage Surprise http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_10_08.html Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:20:51 GMT Multiplication and Those Pesky British Spellings http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_09_08.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:12:33 GMT It's Still Not Repeated Addition http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_0708_08.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:07:15 GMT It Ain't No Repeated Addition http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_08.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:21:35 GMT Lockhart's Lament - The Sequel http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_05_08.html Fri, 02 May 2008 16:05:57 GMT The Napkin Ring Problem http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_04_08.html Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:50:36 GMT Lockhart's Lament http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_08.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:20:42 GMT Mathematics for the President and Congress http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_02_08.html Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:22:22 GMT American Mathematics in a Flat World http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_01_08.html Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:29:03 GMT Predicting Mathematical Ability http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_12_07.html Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:31:22 GMT The Smallest Computer in the World http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_11_07.html Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:45:31 GMT Kinds of Math http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_10_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:49:16 GMT What is Conceptual Understanding? http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_09_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:48:51 GMT The Professor, the Prosecutor, and the Blonde With the Ponytail http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_07_08_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:48:24 GMT The Trouble With Math http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:47:59 GMT The Myth That Will Not Go Away http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_05_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:47:17 GMT Finding Musical Beauty in Euler's Identity http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_04_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:46:46 GMT E8 Mapped http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:46:10 GMT How to stabilize a wobbly table http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_02_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:45:40 GMT DNA math and the end of innocence http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_01_07.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:44:25 GMT The biggest science breakthrough of the year http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_12_06.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:43:37 GMT