Re: [MATHEDCC] Marilyn Vos Savant

Martha Haehl (haehl@KCMETRO.CC.MO.US)
Mon, 8 Nov 1999 21:09:51 -0600

I don't give a practical application to every problem. I love "pure" math.
One way I approach graphing polynomials, or sequences, or even the concept
of constants vs. variables is through pattern recognition. Students are
given three note cards numbered 1, 2, and 3 with a pattern established with
sticky dots (for example, 2 blue dots per card, 1 red, 2 reds, 3 reds
successively, 1 green dot, a 2x2 square of green dots, a 3x3 square of green
dots successively). Students determine what cards 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and nth
card would look like to fit the pattern. I may encourage them to discover
more than one pattern. I think pattern recognition helps build abstract
mathematical thinking that may or may not be attached to a specific
application. A pattern with a descending number of dots per card abstracts
the pattern development.

Martha

----- Original Message -----
From: John M. Flanigan <johnf@hawaii.edu>
To: Martha Haehl <haehl@KCMETRO.CC.MO.US>
Cc: <mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: [MATHEDCC] Marilyn Vos Savant

> I wonder if we are doing a disservice to our students if we insinuate,
> with our efforts to give a practical application to every math concept,
> that math is primarily, computational. Arithmetic is primarily
> computational. Math is primarily conceptual, relational, logical. Some
> time ago we started calling elementary arithmetic "math." More recently we
> have begun calling the calculation of area and volume "geometry." It's a
> bit like calling the study of personal hygiene "medicine." The part does
> not necessarily imply the whole.
>
> I believe that the greatest value of mathematics to the average individual
> lies not in its practical value, but in its appeal to the intellect. The
> contemplation of the logical wonders of analogy, of mathematical models
> and isomorphisms, of the realization that the conceptual universe of
> number has been constructed in such an orderly and logical fashion that it
> is not only useful in a practical sense, but is beautiful in itself. How
> sad if we should deny to our students the opportunity to experience this
> beauty by presenting math as a mere workaday tool.
>
> John M. Flanigan <johnf@hawaii.edu> The equation is the final arbiter.
> Assistant Professor, Mathematics --Werner Heisenberg
> Kapi'olani Community College The scoreboard is the final
arbiter.
> 4303 Diamond Head Road --Bill Walton
> Honolulu HI 96816 History is the final arbiter.
> (808) 734-9371 --Edward Gibbon
>
>
>

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