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Macalester Problem of the Week
http://mathforum.org/wagon/
MacPOW is back! After a semester's hiatus, Stan Wagon, of
Macalester College, has resumed posting a mathematics problem
to his students every week. The Math Forum posts these
problems and keeps an archive of past problems. Over 365
challenging, undergraduate math problems are available in our
archive, dating back seventeen years.
Problem previews announced to the macpow mailing list of more
than 800 subscribers have led to the publication of several
research papers. For subscription instructions, see:
http://mathforum.org/wagon/about.html
Macalester's Problem of the Week tradition was started in 1968
by the late Professor Joe Konhauser. Professor Wagon took over
in 1993. Since the problems are meant to be accessible to
first-year college students, very little background is needed
to understand or solve them.
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PoW taking place: math problem-solving moment of the week
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"This problem was easier than most on the Math Forum, but it
still made you think. I enjoyed this problem, because it
included a challenging problem, but not so hard it made you
frusterated like some do. This problem was fun, and I would
like to do more like this. To help another student solve this
problem, I would say to think it through. If you rush through
a problem like this, you might mi!
scalculate and miss something
important. I would also remind the student to remember that
there are 2 pairs of jeans."
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- Natalie, reflecting on solving the
- Pre-Algebra Problem of the Week: Back-to-School Shopping
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http://mathforum.org/pows/solution.htm?publication=4109
What's Your Wolfram|Alpha Story?
http://blog.wolframalpha.com/2012/09/05/
tell-us-how-you-use-wolframalpha-in-the-classroom/
Tell Wolfram how you use its computational knowledge engine in
the classroom for a chance to win an iPa!
d and a slew of
Wolfram|Alpha-powered apps -- plus a year's subscription to
W|A Pro.
Just email teachercontest@wolframalpha.com with the details
requested on the blog post, above, and your responses to these
three questions:
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What's your Wolfram|Alpha story?
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What "wows" your students when using Wolfram|Alpha?
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What's your favorite use of Wolfram|Alpha, whether inside or outside of your field?
For complete rules of W|A's Teacher Story Contest, consult
http://blog.wolframalpha.com/official-rules-for-the-
wolframalpha-teacher-story-contest/
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Now taking place: math education conversation of the day
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"I see you revised your answer David! Thank you! We will use
Math Forum a lot, so I think you will see your communication
and problem solving skills improving! Don't forget that the
first 'box' is ONLY for the answer. You don't need to explain
how in that box. You only have to say, 'The jeans were $21.32'
You have had a great start to the school year. I am so
proud of you!"
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- teacher, responding to a student's submission to
- Pre-Algebra Problem of the Week: Back-to-School Shopping
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http://mathforum.org/pows/solution.htm?publication=4109
Mathematical Moment Friends Facebook
http://www.ams.org/mathmoments/mm99-facebook.pdf
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) recently released a
new Mathematical Moment -- and it's about Facebook.
Among other insights, "Finding Friends" states: "The average
distance between Facebook users -- the number of friend-links
to connect people -- is less than five."
Each of these free one-page PDFs describes how mathematics
helps solve a problem in science, nature, technology, or human
culture. The AMS web portal of more than 100 Mathematical
Moments also offers podcast interviews with experts in these
applied mathematical topics, some of which are translated into
Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese,
Hebrew, Greek, and Russian.
http://www.ams.org/samplings/mathmoments/mathmoments
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