Maths can have a life too.
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Hi,
Some students tell me that maths is boring and dry.
Often, I try to make the subject alive by adding some personality to it. It is not difficult because names do appear in questions such as "Argand diagram", "Maclaurin's series", "Poisson distribution", "t-test", "de Moivre's theorem", "Newton's cooling curve", "cartesian equation", etc.
Argand, Maclaurin, De Moivre, Poisson, Newton and Descartes were mathematicians. You may be interested to read about them through these links:
1. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Argand.html
2. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Maclaurin.html
3. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/De_Moivre.html
4. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Poisson.html
5. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Newton.html
6. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Descartes.html
Descartes was well-known for his quote "I think, therefore I am."
It is interesting to know that the t-test was the invention of Gosset, another mathematician, who wrote under the name "Student". You may read about him at:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Gosset.html
Sometimes, names are given to curves too:
1. http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Curves/Newtons.html
You may see the type of curve (above) when you are asked to sketch the graph of y^2 = f(x).
2. http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Curves/Serpentine.html
You may see the type of curve (above) when you need to find areas/volumes.
3. http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Curves/Witch.html
You may see the type of curve (above) when you sketch its parametric equations.
4. http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Curves/Pursuit.html
Perhaps the curve (above) is some solution curve of a DE.
Maths can have a life of its own too. Thank you.
Cheers,
Wen Shih -
Math is still dry and boring. =P At least for the other natural sciences, you can actually see your work happening right in front of you. For math, just rows and rows of lines on paper for calculations and a few diagrams.
If you want to sell Math via diagrams though, you should have intro-ed to them the Mandelbrot set. =)
PS. Reading up about the lives of dead people may not be at all that interesting.
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sometime the kids don't get why they have to learn algebra, draw graph... because they don't see the relevance of the it applying to their life.
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Personally as a student 10 years back i would actually like to know how those algebras are being applied in real life.
It's rather irritating to remember those formulas but can't picture what i can use it for.
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okie . lets face it. education is a scam =XXXXXXX
kidding ! =o
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I am doing a Minor in Maths in uni now and it's killing me...but I love it....
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Originally posted by Stevenson101:
Personally as a student 10 years back i would actually like to know how those algebras are being applied in real life.
It's rather irritating to remember those formulas but can't picture what i can use it for.
Something cliche which I tell students
It's true that you don't need to remember the formulas in your future work life unless you are in the education business or in something very technical.
Even for other natural sciences, we most likely don't even need to remember or regurgitate anything in our work life.
What for learn all these when all we need is a powerful computer that can solve everything?
What school education is training you is your analytical skills, how flexible you are in applying concepts, how many different things you can juggle in your head at the moment, how much stress you can handle, your time management skills, your team work skills, etc...
Even for maths... if you are good in it, you will understand faster how to apply certain stock market theories to calculate with reasonable probability where it will move... That's one "application" if you would call it. One example would be the usage of golden ratio in Elliot Wave Principle.
Just my 2 cents. ;)
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Actually if Mathematics is conducted in E-Learning or in interactive way like animated or flash this will improve learning and prove that Maths is fun.One good example in Singapore is the Heymaths or the PRIME - Program from Raffles Institution. You can check out their link : http://www.heymath.com/main/productSG.jsp . In fact unless you are willing for pay some $$$ to learn how algebra can be fun and apply in real life, otherwise you can just enjoy maths in column like "fun stuff" section : http://www.heymath.com/main/storymath.jsp
Other recomend sites will be from University of Virginia Center for Technology and Teacher Education : http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/
Maths is Fun
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Hi,
Imagine we take a boat from a place to go to another place. When we reach the destination, we do not need to carry the boat with us any more to proceed on.
The same goes for knowledge we learnt at school. We simply take those that stay relevant in our daily lives.
For those who are still on the boat, it will be good if they enjoy the journey.
Cheers,
Wen Shih -
Lol Maths is the only subject I truly enjoy most. Next is Biology. I guess it's how the subject is taught. So blame your teachers if you hate the subject!
lol kidding
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Originally posted by Lawtoc:
Lol Maths is the only subject I truly enjoy most. Next is Biology. I guess it's how the subject is taught. So blame your teachers if you hate the subject!
lol kidding
I may like Maths, but I hate Biology to the core man... those terminology is driving me nuts.
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I used to hate Biology too. Failed all chapters in Sec 3. This year (Sec 4) change teacher. Interesting guy who brags a lot haha. And this year I'm learning Reproduction in Humans woot!
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Happy learning! I think you are going to enjoy it.
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Haha thanks. I think so too. Along with those jokers in class who can only think and talk about blah plus blah equals foetus.
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Originally posted by Lawtoc:
Haha thanks. I think so too. Along with those jokers in class who can only think and talk about blah plus blah equals foetus.
lol guys are perverts XD
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Originally posted by eagle:
Something cliche which I tell students
It's true that you don't need to remember the formulas in your future work life unless you are in the education business or in something very technical.
Even for other natural sciences, we most likely don't even need to remember or regurgitate anything in our work life.
What for learn all these when all we need is a powerful computer that can solve everything?
What school education is training you is your analytical skills, how flexible you are in applying concepts, how many different things you can juggle in your head at the moment, how much stress you can handle, your time management skills, your team work skills, etc...
Even for maths... if you are good in it, you will understand faster how to apply certain stock market theories to calculate with reasonable probability where it will move... That's one "application" if you would call it. One example would be the usage of golden ratio in Elliot Wave Principle.
Just my 2 cents. ;)
i guess we learn all these stuff to make us think.. u know, use brains.. honestly i also forget everything i learnt =XX
it's totally true that usually what we study has little application to life.. its like, for eg, pouring/throwing things require physics. but we dont really think of angles, calculate and stuff. we just use estimation but i guess subconsciously we use physics.
hmm maths isnt a dead and boring subject.. depending on the teacher, the student's mentality and attitude.. and of cos IQ. but IQ isn't all that important, mostly depends on the student's determination to like/hate maths.
for the life of me, i excel (well, almost ^^) at E maths but totally flunked A maths all the way to prelims. i just cannot do A maths without the formula book right in front of me!
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Originally posted by lianamaster:
I may like Maths, but I hate Biology to the core man... those terminology is driving me nuts.
biology terminology rawks man!! ^^ haha!
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the most useful maths theorem i ever learned was pythagoras theorem.
walking a shorter distance....is a favourite solution for lazy people like me.hahaha.
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Maths on Topic such as Indices can be used in Chinese 8-Trigram (2 the power of 3) and 64-Trigram - I Ching to understand the Nature and do prediction.
Maths on Topic such as simultaneous equation can applied in Martial Art. In Wing Chun Fighting system, we attack and defence simultaneously.
Maths on Topics such as Line of Symmetry can be applied in Chinese Art of Face Reading.
Maths on Topics such as Pythagoras' Theorem can be applied in both close and far range fighting with your enemy.
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I used to love maths but only up to sec 4. I love biology now.. Science especially biology is so much fun. Learning how diseases come about, how to fight them, how the human body works, etc etc there is so much to learn and it is definitely no dry. Maths is very dry but mentally challenging.
Each subject has their own pros and cons. it is just up to us to see which occupation we are in and which is more applicable. For example an accountant do not talk reproduction in his work. Similarly, a gynae does not talk about sin-cos-tan with his patient.