The California Community College mathematics controversy
Eloy Ortiz Oakley, the Chancellor of the California Community College system, recently recommended that intermediate algebra should no longer be required to earn an associate degree, excerpt for students majoring in some field of mathematics, science or engineering (see also this Physics Today report):
College-level algebra is probably the greatest barrier for students — particularly first-generation students, students of color — obtaining a credential. … [I]f we know we’re disadvantaging large swaths of students who we need in the workforce, we have to question why. And is algebra really the only means we have
Continue reading Does mathematical training pay off in the long run?
The 1897 Indiana pi episode
Many of us have heard of the Indiana pi episode, where a bill submitted to the Indiana legislature, written by one Edward J. Goodwin, claimed to have squared the circle, yielding a value of pi = 3.2. Although the bill passed the Indiana House, it narrowly failed in the Senate and never became law, due largely to the intervention of Prof. C.A. Waldo of Purdue University, who happened to be at the Indiana legislature on other business. The story is always good for a laugh to lighten up a dull mathematics lecture.
It is worth
Continue reading Pi and the collapse of peer review
We have all seen interesting patterns of tiling the plane with interlocking shapes, known as a tessellation. The process of producing a complete inventory of all possible tessellation has resisted solution for over a century, until now.
The honor goes to Michael Rao of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon in France. He has completed a computer-assisted proof to complete the inventory of pentagonal shapes, the last remaining holdout. He identified 371 scenarios for how corners of pentagons might fit together, and then checked, by means of an algorithm, each scenario. In the end, his computer program determined that the
Continue reading French mathematician completes proof of tessellation conjecture
Hollywood stars as public spokespersons
Nowadays it is not at all unusual for Hollywood stars to lend their public celebrity status to endorse or promote some cause. For example, Angelina Jolie has lent her name and support to international efforts dealing with the refugee crisis. Sean Penn personally assisted efforts to deal with the Haiti earthquake crisis.
What’s more, some Hollywood stars and celebrities have bona fide scientific credentials and achievements. Perhaps the most notable example is Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-American actress who starred in movies such as the 1938 film Algiers, directed by John Cromwell, and the 1949 film
Continue reading Are Hollywood stars qualified to comment on science?
C.P. Snow’s “Two Cultures”
Back in 1959, the influential British scholar C. P. Snow gave a lecture entitled The two cultures and the scientific revolution. In this discourse Snow warned of a widening divide between the scientific world on one hand and the humanities on the other: “This polarization is a sheer loss to us all.” Snow wrote,
A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice
Continue reading Carlos Rovelli’s “Reality Is Not What It Seems”
|
|