Video killed the lecturing star
I’ve uploaded to YouTube the first of a batch of new videos to accompany my book How To Think Like A Mathematician: You can see more videos on my YouTube channel:...
View ArticleVideo: Common mistakes with square roots
I’ve uploaded a new video. This one is the first of three on common mistakes in mathematics and is about problems with the square root function. You can see more videos on my YouTube channel:...
View ArticleVideo: Why 1 divided by 0 is not infinity
Another video has been uploaded. This one is the second of three on common mistakes in mathematics and is about dividing by zero. You can see more videos on my YouTube channel:...
View ArticleThe Induction Suite: Part 1
After a brief lull in my video making activities (partly due my voice being awful for a long time after a cold) I have produced the first of the induction videos.
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Book anniversary
HTTLAM in charts Last month was the 2nd anniversary of my book How to Think Like a Mathematician. My heartfelt thanks to anyone who has bought a copy or emailed me with praise, suggestions,...
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Parlez-vous francais?
My book is now published in French! You can buy it on Amazon.fr. I’m not sure how long it has been out, I only got a copy today. Here’s the cover: HTTLAM French cover
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Wie man mathematisch denkt!
Wie man mathematisch denkt cover Today is my blog’s anniversary (happy birthday blog!) and, by coincidence, the official release date of the German translation of my book, How to Think Like a...
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How to Think Like a Mathematician
How to Think Like a Mathematician It’s the blog’s birthday! It’s also the week before the start of the university year here and so it’s a good time to shamelessly advertise my best selling book. The...
View ArticleTeaching Problem Solving
Learning mathematics involves solving problems. So, is it a good idea to teach students how to solve problems in the sense of an abstract process called “problem solving”. That is, should we provide a...
View ArticleMinute notes
The main reason for writing these posts is because I am giving a talk about teaching at the British Mathematical Colloquium next week. This has been an opportunity to prepare for the talk by reflecting...
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What goes in the gap?
Lara Alcock wrote about Tilting the Classroom in the London Mathematical Society Newsletter. One of the activities she does that I don’t do but should is what I’ll call What goes in the gap? from her...
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Words into symbols, symbols into words
Mathematicians use a lot of symbols. Everyone knows that. A symbol may represent a simple constant ( is the constant of integration) or represent a collection of difficult concepts ( is a group)....
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Teach the Greek alphabet
Many students don’t know what to call certain Greek symbols. They are happy with common ones like and but show them a or and they get a little shy. This shouldn’t be a surprise but it is just their...
View ArticleJigsaw proofs
Writing a proof is very difficult — even for experts. Here’s an idea that allows students to think about and engage with a proof without starting from nothing. Take a proof and space out separate...
View ArticleBinary marking
An idea recently introduced to me is binary marking. Students receive either a 0 or a 1 for their weekly coursework mark. This makes marking easier — no need to decide if this question is worth 2 or 3...
View ArticleMarks for writing
Writing mathematics clearly is a crucial part of a student’s education. Too often students begin higher education with the misconception that writing mathematics merely involves putting down a sequence...
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Proof: From the particular to the general
A common technique in teaching mathematics is to go from the particular to the general. We can look at a few examples and then state and prove the general result. We can do this for proofs as well....
View ArticleE-assessment
I’ve been attending a conference for the last few days and so didn’t have much time to write a post. I did learn about the e-assessment packages Stack and Numbas. I will definitely be trying these in...
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