This headline is a lie. It’s not that I think algorithms are bad. They’re not. Honestly, I think that’s how many of us move through our days without killing ourselves or someone else. We habitually take the medications prescribed by
For the Love of Math
Last Friday, my family adopted a sweet, little poodle puppy, named Zipper. The foster mother, Sally, had brought him from a Mexico shelter to her own home in Silver Springs, Md. During the home visit on Friday, we talked about
More Sneaky Math for Kids: Guest post from Erin Flynn Jay
When you’re balancing work and home and all sorts of other responsibilities, it can be downright overwhelming to consider doing everyday math with them, so they can perform well in school. That’s why I invited author Erin Flynn Jay to guest post
Math Homework: 5 important ways to help your kid
By 8:30 on Tuesday night, I was ready to go home and curl up with a good book. But there I was, crammed into a windowless computer lab with 25 other exhausted parents, listening to the new math teacher describe
X to the Power of Huh? Or, How Math Anxiety Almost Ruined My Life
I’m betting that many of you dear readers will identify with today’s guest post from Lisa Tabachnick Hotta. Math anxiety may still dog some of us, but it doesn’t have to ruin our lives. Read my guest post on her blog here.
September: Back to School
Got your sharpened No. 2 pencils? Graph paper? Protractors? It is definitely back-to-school time. Whether your little genius attends public or private school or learns at home with you, as a parent you can look forward to afternoons at the
Algebra: Is It Too Hard for Students?
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
Math Tricks: Good or bad?
When I do interviews or speak to groups about math, one of the things I worry about is that people will expect me to do math tricks. And I worry about this for good reason. I can’t multiply two three-digit
Journey from Math Loser to Math User
Today, I’ve asked Siobhan Green to share her math story with everyone. As the CEO Sonjara, Inc., a woman-owned technology firm, she is a huge proponent of increasing women and men’s math skills worldwide. But she hasn’t always felt confident in her math
Watch Your Language (And Your T-Shirts)
Earlier this year, Forever 21 and J.C. Penny had problems with moms and teen girls, when they retailed their own versions of math-as-gender-warfare–t-shirts that read: Allergic to Algebra and I’m Too Pretty for Homework, So My Brother Does It for Me. Within days,
Allergic to Algebra? Use these resources
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
Math at Work Monday: Tiffany the 6th grade teacher
I know what you’re thinking. “It’s so obvious how a 6th grade teacher would use math! She’s teaching fractions and division and percents!” There’s always a lot more to teaching than the rest of us may think. And that’s why