> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Michel Paul
...del... > I have learned just enough Python to have shown a little of it to my math > department at a meeting recently. I think they liked what they saw, in > fact I know they did, but I sense that they're pretty much entrenched in > their TI calculators. I sense that they feel the TI is enough. I don't > think they quite appreciate the significance of creating something like a > Fraction class. I showed them a set of functions: > > mean(aList), > squares(aList), > deviationScores(aList) > variance(aList): returns mean(squares(deviationScores(aList))) > standardDev(aList): returns sqrt(variance(aList)) > > These could SO easily be implemented in a math class with Python! And I > think it would be so much better for Stat students to ARTICULATE these > functions rather than to just use a standard deviation key. I just love > how the formula for variance turns into a concept rather than a bunch of > variables. Of course, you can do the same thing in other languages, but > with Python you can so EASILY do it in an ordinary Stat class! I have not taught math with Python (yet), I only use Python in my intro CS1 class. (Some colleagues of mine at Chapman University are very happy with Python in various math courses, such as abstract algebra and discrete math). While reading Michel's post on the importance of Python in math education, I remembered a recent conversation with a student in one of our Python-based CS1 classes at Chapman University. This student was very positive about how he manages to understand Python and how he becomes more and more interested in CS. Then, all of a sudden, he told me that because of his study of Python (in CS1), he now understands math better and is more confident in his math potential! It was certainly a very pleasant surprise to hear that CS1 with Python enhances student's math background. Why and how? - I can only speculate (as Norbert Wiener put it, a professor is someone who can talk on any subject - for exactly 50 minutes :-) > So, I'm glad to have found Python and this new educational culture. You will be glad when you see real results after a while. Python can be very rewarding. > Peace, > > Michel Paul Speaking of Atanas Radenski mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.chapman.edu/~radenski/ There are wavelengths that people cannot see, there are sounds that people cannot hear, and may be computers have thought that people cannot think -- Richard Hamming _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
