Math Future Questions

Yesterday, David Chandler and Allison Krasnow hosted an event at the Math Future series, called “Pi in July.” You can see the full recording here: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/PiInJuly

Here are answers to the two questions, one we always asked before, and one we are starting.

David Chandler: Pi is the Greek letter for P. It actually stood for the perimeter. It was just a symbol that some mathematician dreamed up to stand for this famous ratio – that’s the origin of Pi, as P. If you read a sign on a billboard in Greece, you are going to see Pi’s and Sigmas and all sorts of letters we use in mathematics as extra symbols. Let me tell you a little story. I went to Harvey Mudd, which is a science and math school, and across the street was a girls’ school – excuse me, a women’s college as we say now. One of the students was sitting outside, and she had this book – she was studying Classical Greek. She said, “Boy, is this weird – I can’t read a word of this!” She showed it to me, and I started reading. I did not know the meaning of the words, but I could phoneticize it! Basically, just by doing physics and math, you end up encountering virtually every single Greek letter. You see a Pi – that’s P sound, you see a Sigma – that’s S, and you can figure out the way words are pronounced.

MariaD: This leads to a question we are going to ask everybody from now on. Can you tell us a little story about math from your childhood?

Allison Krasnow: Oh, I can tell you one thing I did not like, but then it led to a teacher, for many years, who I adored. When I was in second grade, I could do all the math that they were doing. I would get kicked out of class every day because I explained I could do everything and I wanted harder work. My teacher had nothing for me to do, and she made me memorize my times tables all the way through 25s. And every day, I would have to come in and tell her the 13s, and the next day the 14s… It was an example of the worst thing you can do to a bright young girl interested in math. Consequently, I finally ended up in a right place for math classes, with a teacher I fell in love is, whom I had for four years. I was really inspired by a teacher who was so excited about math that he taught, and that led me to where I am today.

MariaD: What would you tell your teacher now, if you met – the one who made you memorize times tables to 25s?

Allison Krasnow (laughs): I think I would invite her to one of my classes!

MariaD: Here is the second question we always ask. How can people help you in what you do and collaborate with you?

Allison Krasnow: I met David originally online, and later in person. For me, it’s being a part of professional networks. I am currently at a three-week math institute, where I am meeting the most inspiring teachers from all over the country, and learning so much. It’s staying connected to like-minded people who can really inspire you, help you learn more math, and also become better at your own teaching. I met David through a common interest – “Escape from the Textbook” network – and then we met at this conference in person. (Math Future event with Henri Picciotto, the founder of “Escape from the Textbook” – MD.) He is eager to share his ideas with me, and I sort of took them and ran with them in my own direction, integrating them with GeoGebra which is my own personal interest. So, for me, it’s about staying connected with people who inspire you.

David Chandler: I am doing a lot of things on my own, but I learn by interacting. I only discovered GeoGebra a few months ago. I became pretty fluent at it, but there is lots more… I should not even say “fluent” because I know there is a lot of depth to it I have not even touched yet. I am really interested in various kinds of tools. I have done Algebra I and Algebra II – some people here are aware of that. I have actually recorded an entire school year and I have it out on DVDs. (David’s home study sets are at Math Without Borders – MD.) I am working on Pre-Calculus and one of the things I am doing is integrating various kinds of technology in the process. I am using GeoGebra, Geometer’s Sketchpad, spreadsheets and probably several others – Open Source Physics I really like, and use for math, too. You can take a video and put a number on any frame, so you can toss a ball and study the projectile motion and so forth. All these wonderful tools give you access to the real world at much more depth than you can have with a handheld calculator and pencil and paper. So, if anybody has things like that to share, I am really keen on learning them!