*To Anna:*
Thanks for the clarification. I can understand that punchcard *should* be
clear to me - but to me I've never seen or used one in my life; I only hear
of them in fairytales with abbucusses and dragons.
*To Kirby:
*You can always subscript with words instead of just letters! That enables
On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 9:52 AM, kirby urner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<< SNIP >>
> I think rank and file math teachers over-hype this "beauty" business,
> then hypocritically suppress fractals pre-college, even in the face of
> obvious public demand and clear relevance to the complex plane, an I
2008/10/7 Matt K <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> I'm changing pace slightly, after making 2 points:
>
> (1) Dot notation does exist in Maths. Its just called "subscript" notation
> instead. But its the same thing. I try to make a habit of using subscripts
> (and sub-subscripts) as much as possible because i
On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 7:18 AM, Matt K <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Anna, is what you describe programming (as in Python)
>
Back then it was basic. ;-)
> or using graphing software (as in Maple/Matlab)?
>
Never used it.
> I am not certain which you are referring to by reading your email.
>
Anna, is what you describe programming (as in Python) or using graphing
software (as in Maple/Matlab)? I am not certain which you are referring to
by reading your email.
I think the difference is significant - the latter converts an equation to a
graph, the former might show students the generalis
2008/10/7 Matt K <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
> (3) *A practical question* - can any *high/middle-school *teachers give me
> clear pros/cons of using programming as a tool to teach algebra? I'm
> rewriting the Year 8 maths program for next year (13-14 year olds) and am
> considering trialling using Pyth
I'm changing pace slightly, after making 2 points:
(1) Dot notation *does* exist in Maths. Its just called "subscript" notation
instead. But its the same thing. I try to make a habit of using subscripts
(and sub-subscripts) as much as possible because it shows the same logical
relationship.
(2) T
On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 10:05 PM, DiPierro, Massimo
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I agree with this
>
> 1. The importance of 'computational thinking' as a math standard
> 2. Python as a vehicle for this
>
> But it is important to make a distinction:
>
> a) a math formula represents a relation bet
e never been good at.
Massimo
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of michel paul [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 10:09 PM
To: kirby urner
Cc: edu-sig@python.org
Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] Algebra 2
My spin in Pythonic Math has
>
> Continued fractions do, especially:
>
> IDLE 1.2.1
> >>> from __future__ import division
> >>> 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1))
> 0.61904761904761907
> >>> 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1))
> 0.61538461538461542
> >>> 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 +
>
> My spin in Pythonic Math has been to suggest "dot notation" become accepted
> as math notation
I absolutely agree with this.
In about 5 weeks I'll be giving a California Math Council presentation that
I titled *Fractions are Objects, not Unfinished Division Problems*.
I submitted the propos
On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 1:28 PM, Ivan Krstić <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> [Kirby, I find it very difficult to follow your messages; they tend to be
> long and meandering. I'm certain I'm not the only one. Please try to be more
> directly on-topic and succinct.]
>
[ they have been lately, yes, tho
[Kirby, I find it very difficult to follow your messages; they tend to
be long and meandering. I'm certain I'm not the only one. Please try
to be more directly on-topic and succinct.]
On Oct 6, 2008, at 10:56 AM, kirby urner wrote:
What passes for "pure math" would be something to study in co
2008/10/4 michel paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> For math classes I think it's more pertinent to focus on functional
> interactions and not on IO issues, and that was what I was trying to get at.
>
I'm enjoying this thread.
My spin in Pythonic Math has been to suggest "dot notation" become accept
The best discussion I have seen on the "Phony GOTO Debate", as Steve McConnell
calls it, is in his book "Code Complete", 2nd ed. chapter 17 "Unusual Control
Structures". Without taking sides, he summarizes the arguments for and
against, shows examples of really bad code, examples where GOTO is
Thanks, it's good to be clear about these things. I hate perpetuating old
myths.
I'd say that in the context of secondary math classes a good reason to use
GOTO would probably never arise? What I want to do is use programming in
these classes in a way that resembles the algebra as much as possib
m = float(rise)/run # avoid dividing two integers ...
...
print "y = %f x + %f" % (m, b)
with perhaps some thoughts given to having a set number of decimal
places for the floats.
Certainly, these things makes sense, but given the strange mindset I'm
trying to work in, a secondary math curriculu
On Oct 3, 2008, at 9:22 PM, michel paul wrote:
ever since those days GOTO has been considered bad style. It
produces crazy and cumbersome code.
(This generalization is patently incorrect. *Bad* use of GOTO tends to
create more spectacular problems in code organization than bad use of
a nu
2008/10/3 michel paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
[SNIP]
>
> Here's the same solution in Python:
>
> x0, y0 = input('Enter x0, y0 --->')
> x1, y1 = input('Enter x1, y1 --->')
> rise = y1 - y0
> run = x1 - x0
> if rise == 0: print 'y =', y0
> elif run == 0: print 'x =', x0
> else:
> m = rise/run
>
In our 'more motivated' Alg 2 classes we use Paul Foerster's *Algebra
Trigonometry* text. I really like what he does, but it's clearly from
another age. He integrates programming into the curriculum, but it's all in
BASIC. Following is something I sent to my dept chair and colleagues that
teach
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