Author Archives: msaul

Three Mathematical Cultures: What Can We Learn?

Three Mathematical Cultures: What Can We Learn? Mark Saul July 2023 Everyone needs mathematics.  It is the heavy industry of scientific development, the unseen basis on which the more spectacular advances in science, in technology, and in medicine are often … Continue reading

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Putting Sums back into Summer

by Scott Taylor Colby College Waterville, ME  Every math teacher hears the “What’s it good for?” complaint. Even elementary students want to know what math is good for. But children, especially those who are at risk of not succeeding academically, … Continue reading

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Finding Pedagogy in Recreational Problem Solving: reflections and lessons learned

Posted on January 4, 2022 by msaul By Dimitrios Roxanas A few years ago, when I started my tenured job at the University of Sheffield, one of my first initiatives was to start a problem solving seminar for students (undergraduate and graduate) and … Continue reading

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Finding Pedagogy in Recreational Problem Solving: reflections and lessons learned

By Demitrios Roxanas A few years ago, when I started my tenured job at the University of Sheffield, one of my first initiatives was to start a problem solving seminar for students (undergraduate and graduate) and also academic staff.  I … Continue reading

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Access To Epidemic Modeling

Kurt Kreith and  Alvin Mendle, University of California, Davis Covid-19 has left teachers seeking topics that are both engaging and lend themselves to online instruction.   As a guiding force for the measures that have reshaped our lives, epidemic modeling stands … Continue reading

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In Memoriam N. N. Konstantinov

by Mark Saul This summer marks the thirtieth year since the end of the Soviet Union.  It also marks the passing of one of the great figures of Russian mathematical culture, Nicholas Nikolayevich Konstantinov.  This note concerns both events, but … Continue reading

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Mathematics as Logic

by Mark Saul Maybe it is obvious, but it is something I’ve come to appreciate only after years of experience: mathematics is logic driven, and teaching and learning mathematics is centered on teaching and learning logic.  I find this to … Continue reading

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A Tale of Two Hats (Terrance and Lamar): supporting students in authentic mathematical inquiry

Terrance Pendleton, Drake University Students who have had me for at least one class are familiar with my alter ego, Lamar. If they were to describe him, they may say that he is the poster child for what not to do … Continue reading

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Happy New Year(?)

Mark Saul, Editor Mathematics and mathematicians rarely make press.  So it was a bit sweet, but mostly bitter, to read in the New Yorker of the deaths of John Conway, Ronald Graham, and Freeman Dyson, three great losses to our profession.  … Continue reading

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Bridging Cultures: An Iranian Woman from an Historically Black College Teaching in a Prison in the US

by Zeinab Bandpey (zeinab.bandpey@morgan.edu) Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251 Prisoners are provided with a college education so that when they are released, they will adjust easily to society and won’t return to prison. I was fascinated by the idea … Continue reading

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