Ken credited Linda with finding a good way to introduce matrices to students. From section 5 of http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/autobio.htm :
There were also surprises in the writing. Although the great utility of matrices was recognized (as in a 3-by-2 to represent a triangle), there was a great reluctance to use them because the concept was considered to be too difficult. Linda Alvord said to introduce the matrix as an outer product — an idea that the rest of us thought outrageous, until Linda pointed out that the kids already knew the idea from familiar addition and multiplication tables. On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 10:03 AM, Roger Hui <[email protected]>wrote: > An amusing anecdote about Linda by Eugene McDonnell, from 31 years ago > http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/qq111.htm > > > > > On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 4:29 AM, Linda Alvord <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Thanks. Almost 40 years, retired in 1995, now watercolor, guess I >> missed it, got excited about j701jhs. NB. My first 'literary' train. >> >> Linda >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] [mailto: >> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Kip Murray >> Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2011 2:47 PM >> To: Programming forum >> Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] table challenge in simple J >> >> Have you been a teacher? Great exposition! >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
