Math hurts

A few weeks ago, there was an entry of the CNN medical blog, The Chart, which talked about a recent psychological study related to math anxiety. In this study, researchers wanted to investigate through the use of MRI which areas of the brain were active while solving math problems, and whether it was different for people with math phobia and people without. In fact, they were more interested in seeing the brain activity in anticipation of the math problem. The study found that the area of the brain that was activated was the same that gets triggered when faced with threat of physical pain.

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The mathematics of democracy

With only a few days left until the U.S. presidential elections, I thought it would be appropriate to write about some of the mathematical and teaching opportunities an event like this provides. Especially because this has such a high profile in the general public, talking about election-related mathematics is much easier than just talking about math on any other day. Here are a few of the things that I have been talking about with my family during dinner, sharing with friends on facebook, and if I were teaching classes this semester I would like my students to read and discuss. Continue reading

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Rapunzel: The new math heroine?

Yesterday, the Women in Film Foundation announced the recipients of the 2012 Film Finishing grant. There were two narrative films and seven documentaries awarded the grant, but the film that caught my attention is an animated short called “The Etymology of Zero.” In this short, Rapunzel is a princess with a useless superpower (she can grow her hair really fast), which makes her very attractive to princes. She is more interested in studying math than getting married, so she locks herself in a tower and grows her hair at a rate proportional to the prince’s climbing, so that he will never reach her and can leave her to prove her theorems. The movie is based on a play written by Katie May.

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