CTK Insights

In the Chinese calendar, years are named cyclically after the Chinese zodiac symbols: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. Until 1912 the traditional Chinese calendar was the only one in use. Traditionally, the signs of the zodiac played a more universal role that included, e.g., the designations for time [...]

I've been reading an outstanding collection An Invitation to Mathematics edited by D. Schleicher and M. Lackmann. There are 14 contributions by leading mathematicians, each introducing a direction of current mathematical research. The remarkable aspect of all the articles is that they all start at a level that could be appreciated by a curious high [...]

This is a beautiful pieces by Andy Liu, University of Alberta, from the College Mathematics Journal, Volume 42, Number 5, November 2011, p. 372 Parallel lines are usually defined as lines with no points in common. Parallelism is clearly symmetric. If line 1 has no points in common with line 2, then line 2 also [...]

If you have not read yet a memo by Steve's Google Platform rant, you should. A first-hand account on management practice and philosophy differences between Amazon and Google. The memo has been intended for internal google distribution but somehow found its way to a wider audience. Besides revealing some truths about the two successful online [...]

Years ago, in a now defunct Borders store I came across two books that partially shared the titles: Christa Brelin (Editor), Strength in Numbers: A Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Resource, Visible Ink Pr, 1996 Sherman K. Stein, Strength in Numbers: Discovering the Joy and Power of Mathematics in Everyday Life, Wiley, 1996 The incongruous semantics [...]

Just received a review copy of a new book from Princeton University Press: Uneducated Guesses by Howard Wainer. Have been reading it for the last hour - an absolutely absorbing book. Feels like a must for politicians, reformers, educators - math educators in particular. From Introduction: In the chapters to follow I will show that [...]

The two activities described below require nothing beyond a paper and a pencil. Both activities consist of carrying out iterative processes whose results becomes - hopefully - predictable after a few tries. When this happens, i.e., when children become able to predict the result, they can start using online simulators to verify their intuition. Until [...]

Here is a quote from Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology (pp.16–17) I came across in a forthcoming book by Alexandre Borovik (p. 194 as of 3 May, 2011): This example, one we have studied quite thoroughly with many children, was first suggested to me by a mathematician friend who quoted it as the point of departure of [...]

On January 28, 1986 the shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after the lift-off. All seven astronauts perished in the explosion. Who does not remember this horrible disaster? Next to this memory, I have stored the famous, broadly televised presentation of Richard Feynmann's experimental demonstration. It was so simple, one could not help but wonder why [...]

In an early June issue of the NCTM newletter, President Mike Shaughnessy offered a Problem to Ponder: Scenario: Students at your school have just finished competing in the qualifying round of a nationally sponsored contest on mathematical reasoning and sense making. When the work was scored, it turned out that four students at your school [...]