Algebra is essential in a 21st century economy

Andrew Hacker’s New York Times Op-Ed

A few days ago, Andrew Hacker, an author and former Professor of political science at Queens College in New York City, created quite a stir with a New York Times Op-Ed entitled Is Algebra Necessary, where he argues that it is no longer necessary to expect the vast majority of K-12 students to study algebra, geometry or calculus.

Hacker argues that the teaching of mathematics takes a toll beginning with students in junior high or middle school. “Algebra is an onerous stumbling block for all kinds of students,” ranging from the disadvantaged to the

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A former climate-change skeptic now agrees most warming is caused by humans

In a remarkable New York Times Op-Ed, former climate change skeptic Richard Muller of the University of California, Berkeley, declares not only that global warming is real, but also that “humans are almost entirely the cause.” This is an even stronger statement than that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which in its 2007 report concluded only that “most” of the warming during the past half-century was attributable to human causes.

Muller’s Berkeley Earth group approached the problem by rigorously analyzing historic temperature reports. As he described their efforts,

We carefully studied issues raised by skeptics: biases from

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The uneven preparation of K-12 math teachers

Mathematicians and parents

We, the present authors (DHB, from USA, and JMB, from Australia) are research mathematicians/ computer scientists. We are also the proud fathers of seven adult daughters, and a gamut of grandchildren of whom the the oldest is starting school.

Together with our spouses, we have attended a multitude of PTA meetings, sports games, concerts and science fairs. We have read almost as many report cards (and not all of them have been glowing). At the end of the day, our daughters include PhDs, veterinary doctors, lawyers, teachers, web designers, postgraduate students and one senior undergraduate. We have

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Higgs discovery underscores effectiveness of mathematical theory

Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN facility on the French-Swiss border today confirmed what many have suspected over the past few months — they have discovered a new subatomic particle that appears to be the long-sought Higgs boson, which is widely regarded as the key to why some elementary particles have mass, and thus why a universe with matter (and us) exists at all.

With the words “I think we have it,” director Rolf-Dieter Heuer signaled the longest (and most expensive!) search in the history of science. While more work needs to be done, the

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