The 2012 edition of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are in, and once Asia leads the way, with China, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Japan scoring very well, while many first-world nations, such as Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., lag behind.
In Canada, which placed 13th overall in mathematics, “alarm bells went off” as
[m]ath scores, the focus of 2012 PISA tests whose results have just been released, declined 14 points in nine years in Canada. And the country produced fewer students who were high achievers – 16 per cent were at Level 5 or
Continue reading PISA international test scores show Australia, Canada, UK, USA lagging
In the latest issue (December 2013) of the Notices of the American Society, noted mathematician Doron Zeilberger has published an Opinion piece on the state of pure mathematics, and then contrasts this with experimental mathematics. His article, entitled “[Contemporary Pure] Math Is Far Less Than the Sum of Its [Too Numerous] Parts,” is available here.
Doron Zeilberger is perhaps best known for his work with Herbert Wilf in developing the Wilf-Zeilberger method for computer-based proving of combinatorial identities, a problem that mathematician-computer scientist Donald Knuth once rated as “50” (meaning of the greatest difficulty) in his book The Art of
Continue reading Doron Zeilberger comments on experimental mathematics in AMS Notices
Homer contemplates pi
Mathematics in the Simpsons
In a newly published book, Simon Singh presents a too little-known back story about the Simpsons TV show: underlying much of the clever screenplay are numerous references to somewhat sophisticated mathematics both in the Simpsons and in the follow-up Futurama.
Simon Singh is no stranger to either mathematics or show business. He directed an award–winning BBC documentary on Fermat’s Last Theorem and authored the best-selling book Fermat’s Enigma on the same topic. He is a physicist by training, with a Ph.D. from Cambridge and is engaged in a host of science
Continue reading Pi in the Simpsons
Jeopardy! is arguably the most popular North American trivia quiz show. Traditionally the show has shied away from mathematical topics, but, in the past year or two, it has featured some interesting and relatively sophisticated mathematical categories.
For example, on 9 May 2013, Jeopardy! featured an entire category on the Abel Prize of mathematics. A listing of the individual questions, together with some background on the Abel Prize, is available in a previous Math Drudge blog.
And, lest we forget, in February 2011 Jeopardy! featured a three-day competition between IBM’s “Watson” computer system and the two best human contestants, Ken
Continue reading Jeopardy! features a category on pi
One of the most perplexing side-effects of the Information Age is the means it unfortunately grants to many pseudo-scientific and science-denial movements to gain foothold and mutually strengthen numbers. Gone are the days when everyone would read or listen to common, well-researched, professionally written news.
Nowadays, everyone can withdraw into a self-imposed cocoon of “personalized” (and often erroneous) information. This includes big players such as Fox News — as Americans, Brits, and Australians hostage to the Murdoch empire know only too well. In reaction, liberals rely on their own reinforcement via MSNBC and similar venues.
Recently American palaeontologist Donald Prothero
Continue reading When skepticism becomes denial: The unholy alliance between science denial movements
Introduction
Once again, Texas has joined a list of U.S. states that are fighting a rear-guard war against the progress of modern science.
On September 9, 2013, the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network issued a joint news release expressing alarm at comments made by members of a Texas state committee reviewing proposed science textbooks for the state. If a publisher’s textbook does not obtain the highest rating, because of ill-informed comments by the state review panel, then it is likely that the textbook will not be approved by local school districts. In fact, a sub-par
Continue reading Please mess with Texas: Texas textbook fiasco threatens US science
For many years, educators in the U.S. have been able to do little more than cry at the disappointing test scores. For example, in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which tests mathematics and science, U.S. eighth graders ranked 11th in mathematics and 10th in science. While not disastrous, these scores are not very impressive for a nation that claims to be the world’s pre-eminent force in science and technology.
By comparison, Australian eighth graders ranked 19th in mathematics and 12th place in science. In Europe, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, England and Russia did fairly well in
Continue reading Massachusetts leads the way in science and math education
On 21 Aug 2013, at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), an employee was struck by lightning, as he was clearing guests away from the museum’s zip line, in the wake of an approaching thunderstorm. Fortunately, the employee was not seriously injured and was quickly released from a nearby hospital.
But according to a commentary in Slate by Mark Joseph Stern, other troubles are brewing for the museum, which is operated by Answers in Genesis, a leading creationist organization headed by Ken Ham.
The Creation Museum, according to its official website, features 70,000 square feet
Continue reading Troubles beset Kentucky’s Creation Museum
Creationists on dinosaurs and dragons
On 5 Aug 2013, creationist Ken Ham addressed the issue of why dinosaurs are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, given that, according to the creationist worldview, the earth and all its living inhabitants were created in a few days about 6000 years ago (so that dinosaurs were created with humans and must have co-existed with humans).
Ham’s view is that not only did dinosaurs co-exist with humans, they were also taken aboard Noah’s ark. He cites, for evidence, Gen. 6:19-20, where God instructed Noah to take two of every land animal onto the ark.
Continue reading Did dinosaurs live with humans? Were dragons real?
OnlineMathDegrees.org, a not-for-profit resource for students wishing to pursue a mathematics degree online, has published 101 Prime Resources on Advanced Mathematics, a useful resource with numerous web resources on mathematics education and research.
Some of the items listed include:
American Mathematical Society blogs, an interesting collection of blogs edited by Brie Finegold, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona, and Evelyn Lamb, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah. Encyclopedia of Mathematics, an open-access resources covering many subdisciplines of mathematics. The Pi-Search Page, an online facility to search whether a given decimal string appears in the first 200
Continue reading 101 Prime Resources on Advanced Mathematics
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