James Tanton Recaps Math Encounters Talk

James Tanton presented a talk, "Laundry Math: An Inside Out View of the World", based on two ideas in his book  Solve This,  at the Museum of Mathematics in New York. Below Tanton recaps the night and discusses future projects. "A few weeks ago I had the honor of giving a Math Encounters talk at the Museum of Mathematics in New York (momath.org). And the topic of my talk was... 'Laundry Math,' fun and mayhem inspired by chapters 5 and 17 of Solve This! I took my favorite ideas from those two chapters, melded them into one experience, and added new tidbits of surprise and delight. (Hang on! New stuff? So where then is Solve This Too?*) A video of that lecture is under edit right now and as soon as it is up and available I will let you know. I am delighted by the emails I still receive asking about Solve This! Folk really seem to like the elements of problem-solving it invites through questions and queries that don't at all have the feel of problems. After all, who wants problems? But with the Common Core State Standards and its over-arching Mathematical Practices, attending to teaching and learning problem-solving is now in most every educator's mind. (Look at MP.1) I am delighted to be working with the MAA on a new Curriculum Inspirations project – teaching how to teach problem-solving in the classroom, in joyful ways. It uses the fabulous and rich resources of the AMC and shows how to connect the material there to classroom content, and to do so in a way that doesn't interrupt the flow of the classroom experience. (I know what it is like being a high-school teacher: There is absolutely no room for anything extra in the class day!) If you are at the NCTM 2013 Annual Meeting this week, come to the presentation at 9:45 on Saturday morning in room 406/407. We'll talk about the delights of Solving This and that and more! It will be fun! (*Maybe the sequel to Solve This is the new book, Mathematics Galore!)" To purchase your copy of Solve This, visit the MAA eBooks Store.

James Tanton's Mathematics Galore!

Mathematics Galore! Showcases some of the best activities and student outcomes of the St. Mark’s Institute of Mathematics and invites you to engage the mathematics yourself! Revel in the delight of deep intellectual play and marvel at the heights to which young scholars can rise. See some great mathematics explained and proved via natural and accessible means. Based on 26 essays (“newsletters”) and eight additional pieces, Mathematics Galore! offers a large sample of mathematical tidbits and treasures, each immediately enticing, and each a gateway to layers of surprising depth and conundrum. Pick and read essays in no particular order and enjoy the mathematical stories that unfold. Be inspired for your courses, your math clubs and your math circles, or simply enjoy for yourself the bounty of research questions and intriguing puzzlers that lie within. Available in the MAA Store and the MAA eBooks Store MAA Author James Tanton talks about his book Mathematics Galore! and future plans below. I am so proud of my students, the intellectual heights to which they can soar! Mathematics Galore! showcases some of the best and most innovative outcomes from the St. Mark’s Institute of Mathematics, a mathematics outreach program founded nine years ago through St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts. The goal of the Institute was simply to promote joyful mathematics thinking and doing, for students and for teachers, and for all interested in thinking deeply about rich mathematical topics. And when given the freedom to think, and explore, and play with ideas, there really are no bounds on the wonders one can encounter. Young students, for example, found a very natural and intuitive means to explain the famous Borsuk-Ulam theorem – at any instant there exist two antipodal points on the surface of the Earth with exactly the same air temperature and air pressure. (Their approach is in the book.) They found a new, purely visual explanation for the Galilean ratios, one that naturally extends to reveal a whole myriad of astounding new fraction ratios. (Their work is in the book.) And they have found astonishing connections between paper folding and counting permutations. All this, and so much more, is in the book! Mathematics Galore! is chock-full of all sorts of intriguing mathematical ideas, ideal for student projects (undergraduate, high school, younger, older) and interesting reflection for one’s own enjoyment. Puzzles and challenges and research ideas abound. (But don’t worry, you are not always left in the lurch – explanations and proofs abound too!) Is there a number N so that it, and all its multiples 2N, 3N, 4N, … each contain the digit 3? What is the Nth non-square number? What’s the Nth squangular number (a number that is both square and triangular)? How do you fold a tie in thirds to any degree of precision you desire? What magical things can happen if you tile the plane with a 1-2-sqrt(5) right triangle? Are any of the repunits 1, 11, 111, 1111, … square numbers? What can you say about those that are prime? (Are any of them, beyond the first, perfect cubes?) Can you find the Pythagorean triples in an ordinary multiplication table? What is the right value of pi for a square? Can you find a polynomial that spells your name? Use Mathematics Galore! as a resource for student projects, math circle activities, math club activities, professional development workshops, personal research ideas, and more! Pick up Mathematics Galore! every now and then and to read just a tidbit or two.  Or sit down and delve deeply into a series of ideas and see what new and exciting connections they inspire. *** This book really does reflect my fundamental belief that mathematics can be a joyful and meaningful experience for all. I have recently focused my career on helping bring joy to the high-school mathematical experience by thinking deeply and realistically about secondary education, by becoming a high school teacher myself, by establishing an outreach Institute and conducting outreach work for educators across the nation too. The content on my math website, www.jamestanton.com, deeply ties in with this work and shows how the approach I have taken with, Mathematics Galore! fits and links in with matters of the curriculum. My plan for the future is simply to continue with this mission of bringing joyful thinking and doing to the general mathematics experience. Use coupon code 1563872069 to receive 10% off your entire purchase. This coupon is good only in the MAA eBooks Store. Offer Expires:  December 31, 2012

James Tanton Presents MAA Lecture and Martin Gardner Celebration of Mind Event

James Tanton will present the MAA Carriage House Lecture and Martin Gardner Celebration of Mind Event "Weird Ways to Work with Pi” on Wednesday, December 5, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. (More information). 

Here are some related MAA Books and eBooks:

Mathematics Galore! by James Tanton

Solve This by James Tanton

Aha! Insight & Gotcha by Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games

New Book: Mathematics Galore!

New in the MAA Store is Mathematics Galore! The First Five Years of the St. Mark's Institute of Mathematics by James Tanton.

Mathematics Galore! Showcases some of the best activities and student outcomes of the St. Mark’s Institute of Mathematics and invites you to engage the mathematics yourself! Revel in the delight of deep intellectual play and marvel at the heights to which young scholars can rise. See some great mathematics explained and proved via natural and accessible means.
 
Based on 26 essays (“newsletters”) and eight additional pieces, Mathematics Galore! offers a large sample of mathematical tidbits and treasures, each immediately enticing, and each a gateway to layers of surprising depth and conundrum. Pick and read essays in no particular order and enjoy the mathematical stories that unfold. Be inspired for your courses, your math clubs and your math circles, or simply enjoy for yourself the bounty of research questions and intriguing puzzlers that lie within. 

Look for Mathematics Galore! in the MAA Store.