The World of Mathematical Reality

I wanted to include this video last week when I mentioned Paul Lockhart’s new book, but I couldn’t figure out how to copy it from Amazon. So today I read Shecky’s review of Measurement, which included the YouTube video. Thanks, Shecky!

2 thoughts on “The World of Mathematical Reality

  1. I just finished _A Mathematician’s Lament_, on your recommendation. I loved it, and I wish I had been trained “organically” in math, so I could teach my own kids that way! It’s so frustrating to be the product of typical school math instruction. My favorite quote:

    “Geometry class is by far the most mentally and emotionally destructive component of the entire K-12 mathematics curriculum. Other math courses may hide the beautiful bird, or put it in a cage, but in geometry class it is openly and cruelly tortured.”

    If I had read this in tenth grade, I’d have quickly printed it out and handed it to my math teacher. 🙂 (We didn’t care much for each other.)

  2. I’m glad you enjoyed this, Sally. I guess I was lucky to get a good teacher, because I enjoyed geometry and thought of the proofs as a series of puzzles. But I do have to agree with Lockhart that the standard, nit-picky approach to two-column proofs is sure way to kill student interest.

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