by Derek Smith
I would like to share a collection of mathematical articles I read every so often for inspiration and motivation. The only real criteria I used for inclusion in this list is that they be available online. The first in the list is G. H. Hardy’s “A Mathematician’s Apology.”
by Vishal Lama
As part of a series on mental illness, to which I wrote a preface of sorts, earlier, the next few posts will be on the subject of depression (a kind of mood disorder) that affects a significant minority of math students. I shall, later, broach other forms of mental illness, but, for now, depression, which arguably is a more prevalent form of mental illness, will be the focus of this series. I know a few math academics who have had to deal with depression, mild or severe, at some point in their lives, and I hope to bring out their stories to a wider audience (while maintaining their anonymity, of course) and talk about how they dealt with their illness and the ensuing struggles, in the hope that others will benefit from such personal accounts. Continue reading
by Kareem Carr
One of the essays that has had the deepest effect on my thinking about mathematics is ‘On Proof and Progress in Mathematics’ by William P. Thurston.
As I mentioned in my last post, earlier this year I volunteered to mentor a primary school student in mathematics. At the end of the first section, Thurston writes, “[t]he measure of our success is whether what we do enables people to understand and think more clearly and effectively about mathematics”. While it may be difficult to argue that someone who does not spend a large proportion of their time doing research mathematics is a mathematician, I consider mathematics to be fundamentally about the above quote and that there is a significant proportion of mathematics that involves human beings and human understanding of mathematics. For me, this may involve increasing my own understanding (as I am also a human being after all); tutoring or inspiring others; lecturing; and researching and publishing, that is, endeavoring to understand a particular piece of mathematics and then to transmit that understanding to others. For this reason, I see lecturing, mentoring, and tutoring as important parts of a mathematical life.
I was recently reading about Eugene Lim’s experiences teaching mathematics in Haiti. I do not often think of a researcher as being in a position to provide much help in the aftermath of an earthquake. His account makes it evident that he clearly did make a difference. He ends his article by saying,
I will be leaving Haiti in a few days. Personally, I found the teaching experience and my interactions with the Haitians incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. But it was also very sobering to see the damage, destruction and human misery caused by the quake. There is a lingering sense of not having done enough, and that there is so much more left to be done. I do plan to come back again, and perhaps learn enough Creole to teach in it next time.
You can read all about it in his guest post at Cosmic Variance.
Do you have any volunteering experiences you would like to share?
by Diana Davis
As previously discussed, it’s a good idea to go to the MAA/AMS Joint Meetings in January. However, it’s expensive to fly there and stay in a hotel, so you’ll need to find some funding to cover it. Here are some places you should look. I have ordered this list from most obvious to least obvious:
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by Brian Katz
I recently read a great book by Leonard Mlodinow (sometimes coauthor of Steven Hawking), called The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives about “the kinds of misconceptions of randomness that fuel many of the common fallacies” (p7). I think this book is excellent for several reasons and for several groups of readers.
