Mathematics Educators Stack Exchange
Mathematics Educators Stack Exchange

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5 answers

Students using ambiguous notation

I've noticed that many of my calculus students (all college students) will write, e.g., $1/3x$ to mean $(1/3)x$. This is an inherently ambiguous notation which I'd like them to avoid. Is simply pointing this out in class effective? Edit: Here's a…
Avi Steiner
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Tutoring a recalcitrant/awkward/exasperating student---special needs?

As part of my duties at a GTA, I spend several hours per week in our department's drop-in tutoring center. The center is open to all students enrolled in 100- and 200-level math courses, with the majority coming from Calc 1 & 2. A typical load would…
erfink
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Is there a good way to explain determinants in an elementary linear algebra class?

Many colleges offer an an elementary linear algebra class for sophomore math, science, and economics majors. Such a class typically covers a chapter on determinants, including the following aspects: Cofactor expansion using any row or column. How…
Jim Belk
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Gender and groupwork

What does current evidence suggest: doing group work in mixed/balanced gender groups or doing group work in single gender groups? Setting College level mathematics/science course Group size approximately 3 or 4 (so for mixed gender groups there…
Willie Wong
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Hand out lecture notes or not?

It lectured a stochastics course for pre-service teachers last semester and had a teXed manuscript for myself which grew as the course was running. After some debate with the students, I made a version accessible online. In university courses, my…
Anschewski
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How do I nicely tell my coworkers that they are NOT mathematicians?

I teach for a company along with a large group of teachers, almost all of which are people who have graduated with the standard Bachelor level education in Education and Science/Mathematics. I am currently teaching senior high school and…
Trogdor
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Introduction to Topology for 11 year olds

I am planning a 1-hour lesson for a group of 20 11 year olds. I would like to expose them to topology, as an area of research-level mathematics that could be accessible to them. I want to convince them that maths can be visual and beautiful! The…
Jeremy Judge
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The purpose of mathematics in a liberal education when it is not a prerequisite to other subjects

Suppose a calculus classroom is full of students majoring in Classical Greek or music or literature or sociology or pre-medical studies or any of many subjects that do not require the course as a prerequisite, and not one of them intends to take a…
Michael Hardy
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How can I discourage proof by patchwork?

I have a student who is working in their spare time on proving or disproving a conjecture of the form $$\exists x.\forall y.\phi(x,y).$$ Right now their strategy is to construct an $x$ and then show $\forall y.\phi(x,y)$. So far so good. The…
forritari
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How to give homework for integration techniques?

When I was a freshman in Mathematics we learned the usual integration techniques (lots of standard integrals, integration by parts, substitution, partial fractions,…). As homework we simple got a bunch of integrals we had to determine. Now I am…
Dirk
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Non-Rigorous Use of Differentials

Consider the following example of working "directly" with differentials. One way to approach the problem of determining the arc length of the graph of a single-variable function is to imagine the arc broken up into infinitesimal line segments. Such…
Austin Mohr
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Which universities teach true infinitesimal calculus?

My colleague and I are currently teaching "true infinitesimal calculus" (TIC), in the sense of calculus with infinitesimals, to a class of about 120 freshmen at our university, based on the book by Keisler…
Mikhail Katz
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To what extent is math research in the United States subsidized by calculus teaching?

I read an interesting article earlier this year about the future of mathematics. It claimed that math research is possible in the United States because of service courses (especially calculus). Calculus is by far the most common course taught at…
Brian Rushton
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How can I choose a free calculus textbook?

As I have been recently informed, it is a good idea to consider free calculus textbooks for college and university courses. However, this feels risky to me, because: I don't know anyone who is using one, so I don't have a core "users group" to chat…
Chris Cunningham
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Real time interactive whiteboard for tutoring math

I have reposted this question on Software Recommendations. I'm looking for a web app for tutoring math remotely to high school and junior high kids that ideally has the following: Build in graphing. The exemplar for this is the application…
Sherwood Botsford
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