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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
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Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Book Review: The Seduction Of Curves By Allan Mcrobie, Hans J. Rindisbacher
Book Review: The Seduction Of Curves By Allan Mcrobie, Hans J. Rindisbacher
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
This review emphasizes, as does the compelling and beautiful book, The Seduction of Curves by Allan McRobie, the “lines of beauty” that link art and mathematics. McRobie and his collaborator on the indispensable visuals of the volume, Helena Weightman, succeed admirably in connecting theoretically and visually the mathematical field of singularity or catastrophe theory and its graphical representations on the one hand and the seemingly intersecting lines around the volumes of the human body in the artistic representation of the nude. This book thus constitutes a creative and illuminating overlap of mathematics and art that lets the practitioners on both …
Mathematics Out Of Nothing: Talking About Powerful Mathematical Ideas With Children, Matthew Oldridge
Mathematics Out Of Nothing: Talking About Powerful Mathematical Ideas With Children, Matthew Oldridge
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Parents and educators have powerful opportunities to introduce children to big mathematical ideas, when those ideas become necessary. Children are capable and curious. They don’t need to be sheltered from big mathematical ideas. Bring out mathematical ideas when kids are ready, or when they are needed. This article describes one such instance, when I helped my six-year-old son move beyond zero in the negative direction when subtracting.
Mathematics Versus Statistics, Mindy B. Capaldi
Mathematics Versus Statistics, Mindy B. Capaldi
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Mathematics and statistics are both important and useful subjects, but the former has maintained prominence in the American education system. On the other hand, statistics is more prevalent in daily life and is an increasingly marketable subject to know. This article gives a personal history of one mathematician’s bumpy road to learning and teaching statistics. Additionally, arguments for how and why to include statistics in the K-12 and college curricula are provided.
Sandor Szathmari's Kazohinia: Mathematics And The Platonic Idea, Susan J. Siggelakis
Sandor Szathmari's Kazohinia: Mathematics And The Platonic Idea, Susan J. Siggelakis
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
In this article I analyse Sándor Szathmári’s utopian, satiric novel, The Voyage to Kazohinia, as an exercise in the portrayal of Platonist ideas. Through a discussion specifically of Szathmári’s portrayal of the way mathematics is conceived in two different, imaginary societies, I aim to reveal his preoccupation with exploring a solution to the essential political and moral problem of the alienation of interests between the individual and the group. This analysis locates Szathmari’s ideas within the Platonic tradition as well as within the context of 20th century philosophical ideas, particularly those of Georg Lukács. Szathmári’s portrayal of two …