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
Continue reading Algebra is essential in a 21st century economy
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
Continue reading The uneven preparation of K-12 math teachers
We woke up last Friday (in Oz) and Thursday (in the US). As usual, we scanned a selection of online newspapers, magazines and blogs: “Eurozone crisis will cost world’s poorest countries $238bn” blared the UK Guardian (once known as the Manchester Grauniad because of its typographic lapses). Really, not $237 billion or $239 billion? Perhaps this was just a dodgy headline. Sadly it was not — the article soberly reports that the cost will be exactly this figure, an impossible level of certainty for an economic forecast!
Many other such examples come to mind. On 18 Oct 2006, the venerable
Continue reading Bad numbers are bad news
Introduction
Since the middle of the last decade, well before the worldwide run-up in fuel prices during 2008, it has been widely believed that we are entering a new era of scarcity in carbon-based fuels such as oil and natural gas. Such concerns are not new, having first become prevalent in the 1970s. However, a rather quiet revolution is taking place on both fronts, leading to a new era of abundance that may prove as problematic as scarcity.
U.S. production
The United States, long an international symbol of profligate energy consumption, with a thirsty appetite for imported oil and gas,
Continue reading Feast or famine? Promoting green energy in an era of abundant gas and oil
Introduction
In the field most commonly known as “postmodern science studies” or, more specifically, “postmodern philosophy of science,” scholars attempt to critique science and mathematics from a high-level perspective. Two of these writers, Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn, in the view of the present bloggers and many other working scientists, have significant and lasting merit and are worth taking seriously; for a mathematical perspective see, for example, our 2011 article [Exploratory Experimentation and Computation] and [Borwein2012]. Both Popper and Kuhn brought out their most influential books roughly fifty years ago.
Karl Popper
Karl Popper (1902-1994), the Austrian born British philosopher,
Continue reading Is modern science “forever tentative” and “socially constructed”? No Way!
The 1969 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” was a landmark science-fiction film, in many ways far ahead of its time. With the recent release of a 1080p Blu-Ray video version, home viewers can enjoy nearly the same stunning level of graphics and visual effects of the original big-screen theater release. Forty-three years later, in the wake of films like Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien and Avatar, and with full-time SciFi channels on cable/satellite TV, it is easy to underestimate the impact that “2001” made when it was first released. Steven Spielberg called it his film generation’s “big bang,” while in
Continue reading “2001: A Space Odyssey”: Art versus 2012 reality
Introduction
In the past few years, modern genome sequencing and computer technology have placed enormous volumes of DNA data at the fingertips of researchers worldwide. The first complete human genome sequence was completed in 2000, after a ten-year effort that cost over USD$500 million. But genome sequencing technology is advancing very rapidly — human genomes can now be sequenced for roughly $100,000, and some groups are targeting a price as low as $1,000 [Pollack2008]. This same sequencing technology has enabled biologists to study the genomes of thousands of other biological species, including many common (and not-so-common) plants and animals. This
Continue reading What does the latest DNA data say about evolution?
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of famed British mathematician Alan Turing (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954). The outline of his remarkable life and sad ending has by now become fairly well known. Turing laid numerous foundation stones of modern computing, ranging from the deepest mathematical nature of computing (using what are now called Turing machines he provided the modern approach to incompleteness and undecidability) to specific issues of practical design; he also contributed to mathematical biology (morphology) and much else. At the same time, he played a key role in the British government’s breaking
Continue reading Is your mate actually a computer? Would you pass the “Turing test”?
Games are as old as human society as the image below illustrates. But as with all other parts of society, games and gaming are being profoundly changed by the computing and communication revolution.
Some of the changes are obvious, some are less so.
© Maler der Grabkammer der Nefertari. This work portrays the ancient Egyptian game of Senet
Computer games humans play
It is both useful and sobering to consider the enormous progress that has been made in computer technology over the past 50 years. Back in 1965 Intel co-founder Gordon Moore observed in a little-noticed article
Continue reading Are computers playing games with us?
With all the attention given lately to the tentative discovery of the long-sought Higgs boson in experiments at the Large Hardon Collider (LHC) in Europe, one would think that more attention would be drawn to Amalie Emmy Noether, a woman who made groundbreaking contributions to both mathematics and physics.
Noether (pronounced “ner-ter”) was born in 1882 to a Jewish family in Bavaria, Germany. Both her father and her brother were also mathematicians of some renown. She started out studying English, French and piano, which were thought to be more appropriate for a woman, but inevitably she became interested in mathematics.
Continue reading Emmy Noether: pillar of 20th century mathematics and physics
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