Anti-science Policy and the Censure of Discourse on Race and Racism

A statement from the MAA Committee on Minority Participation in Mathematics We stand in the midst of a year of transitions. We have long been aware of broad shifts in the postsecondary education landscape, but 2020 has also been marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and emergency distance/online/hybrid teaching. Each of these new challenges for higher...

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Proving Unprovability

by Keith Devlin @profkeithdevlin Euclid’s Elements (ca.350BCE) presented geometry and number theory based on axioms, using proofs to establish truth based on those axioms Proof is the gold standard for determining truth in mathematics. While it is possible to determine that some statements are true by everyday practical rational activities, these are generally the most...

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The Strange Role of Calculus in the United States

By: David Bressoud @dbressoud David Bressoud is DeWitt Wallace Professor Emeritus at Macalester College and Director of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences This month’s column is a collection of the main points from a paper I recently published in ZDM Mathematics Education, “The strange role of calculus in the United States,” available here....

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The Evolution of Power, and the Power of Education

By Michael Pearson, MAA executive director Joseph N. Abraham, MD is a Physician, Biologist, Educational Activist, and Natural Philosopher. He is the author of the award-winning Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander to Hitler to the Corporation; the much lighter Happiness: A Physician-Biologist Looks at Life; and is currently writing Darwin, Dada, Dalí, Duke, & Devadevàya....

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Primary Historical Sources Enrich Undergraduate Mathematics Instruction

By: Erin R. Moss, Co-Editor of DUE Point, Millersville University of Pennsylvania The purpose of TRIUMPHS (TRansforming Instruction in Undergraduate Mathematics via Primary Historical Sources) is to develop, test, and evaluate projects for students based on primary historical sources related to core topics in today’s mathematics curriculum. These projects take a “guided reading approach” to...

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Remote, But Not Alone: School from Seclusion

by Tim Chartier @timchartier My college experience didn’t turn out how I imagined. Twenty years ago – well before ‘social distancing’ entered the lexicon — I had to stop attending classes and learn from home. In 1990, I had just begun my studies at Western Michigan University. I was thrilled to be there because I...

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What Would Martin Gardner Think?

By Michael Dorff, MAA president @mdorff44 and Michael Pearson, MAA executive director As most of our readers are likely aware, Scientific American endorsed Joe Biden for president -- the first time that this storied magazine has made such an endorsement in its 175 year history. The endorsement is not framed as a partisan statement, but...

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Fun Math For Girls

By Natalie Shell Consider this school-themed math problem: 10 students are at their school dance. If each student dances with each other student once, how many combinations are there? Now, if everyone wants to dance with the popular girl twice (note that this girl is popular because of her dazzling intellect), how many more combinations...

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No One-Size-Fits-All: Participation in the Mathematics Classroom

By Megumi Asada and Pamela E. Harris How many of us continue to use participation as a percentage of final course grades? How much do we weigh the value of participation in the learning process as grades are assigned? In this process of assigning participation grades, what equity issues arise that we are not aware...

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Stop Making My Class So Hard to Teach

by Tim Chartier @timchartier I look forward to the energy of the first day of class. There is hope in students' eyes as to what the term will offer.  But, this term is different. For the first time as I walk into the fall, I am bracing myself for a skeptical or even pessimistic classroom. Why? I'm teaching...

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