# Monthly Archives: September 2012

## Nice geometry problem

From the MAA minute math! a problem on 3d geometry. I must confess I peeped at the hint.

## Magic formula

Was grading some student work and noticed that when they are supposed to solve for $\left(\frac{5y}{4}-\frac{1}{2}\right)^2 +\frac{1}{16} = 1$, 10 out of 16 students expanded the above into a quadratic equation and then used the quadratic formula to get … Continue reading

Posted in Algebra, Teaching | 2 Comments

## MOOC

stands for Massive Online Open Course. Not exactly a very recent concept since some universities have already been making their courses online for years. The “novel” bit perhaps lie in universities or institutions going out to woo international audiences, even … Continue reading

## Of Dice and Math

With apologies to steinbeck. An article by Posamentier on how he taught arithmetic of fractions through applications to dice games. There is often talk of making mathematics relevant to students. This is important, but only when it relates to the … Continue reading

## My infallible calculator

A student came to me today and asked if there was something wrong with my notes because I claimed that $\sin x \ge 0$ for $x \in [2k\pi, (2k+1)\pi]$. The reason that I was wrong was that … Continue reading

## Writing mathematics

The literal physical act of writing out mathematics, I believe, helps in our learning. Even if it was just plain old brainlessly copying down what the lecturer is writing helps to a certain extent. But teaching locally has regressed “evolved” … Continue reading

## Uses of social network theory

Recently, I’ve come across a few studies that modelled certain phenomena and compared these to typical social networks. For example looking at the actual network of characters in myths. Another is modelling the passes of a football match as a … Continue reading