We’ve all seen them. Mathy t-shirts, mugs and social media graphics that offer a fun phrase for those who can decode the message. But have these ever made you feel a little, well, not so mathy? Me too.So let’s unlock the mysteries
In recent months, there’s been a tremendous amount of buzz regarding an educational change called Common Core. And a ton of that buzz perpetuates down-right false information. There’s so much to say about this that I’ve developed a five-part series debunking
So the person who inspired this series on Algebra is my dear friend Michele “Wojo” Wojciechowski – a very funny writer and stand-up comic. In her honor, I thought I’d wrap things up with a post looking at the humorous side of algebra.
The classic answer to the question, “When am I going to use algebra?” is spreadsheets. Now I will admit straight up — I am a spreadsheet junkie. I’ll build one for just about anything, from menu planning to blog schedules to
There must be a special circle of hell for those of us planning our weddings and receptions. I know this first-hand, because I’m planning my own nuptials for this summer, and I’m about to pull my hair out. (No wait! If I
So I’ve been harping on the fact that math is flexible. And I’ve also said more than once that we do the math that we need to do. (No one here is suggesting that calculus computations are necessary for everyday
Parks and Recreation, the Amy Poeler-driven mocumentary on NBC about a small-town parks department, features a tightly wound character, Chris Traeger, whose favorite word is literally – as in: “Biking for charity is literally one of my interests on Facebook.” It’s funny because it
Math is black-and-white, with right-or-wrong answers. It’s hard to color outside the lines in math. While I often argue with this point, there is some truth to it. Just like grammar, chemistry and baking, math is a pretty precise subject
A Math for Grownups follower asked me earlier this week to define algebra, and I thought that was an excellent place to start this month-long discussion. I think that most people might be surprised by what is generally found under the
Wednesday on Facebook, I had the most amazing experience. Suffering from an all-day migraine, I had spent the afternoon bored out of my mind, obsessively checking Facebook while the television droned in the background. At one point, this status update from
Earlier this week, Andrew Hacker, a political science professor at Queens College, City University of New York, opined in an essay for the New York Times that high schools should stop teaching higher Algebra concepts — because kids don’t get it. I’m sure Mr. Hacker isn’t
One of the complaints I’ve heard about Math for Grownupsis that it only covers basic math. And I’m not apologetic about that. The whole point of the book is to make basic math a little less mysterious and a little more