The Calculus of History

the paper I’d assign to a calculus class if everyone shared my slightly skewed sense of intellectual fun and my excessive fondness for mathematical metaphors

The New Math Teacher

Have you met our new colleague? He's a teletubby whose stomach plays Khan Academy videos.

Anxiety, Mathematics, and Words of Kindness

Last April 13th, I emailed a few friends to let them know I was starting a blog. “I’m a little afraid it will land with a dull thud against the hard pavement of the internet,” I wrote. Two weeks later, I posted an essay called What It Feels Like to Be Bad at Math, about … Continue reading Anxiety, Mathematics, and Words of Kindness →

A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.

Yes, mathematicians turn coffee into theorems. But that's not all they do.

A Teaching Philosophy I’m Not Ashamed Of

I’ve always dreaded being asked for my “teaching philosophy.” For years, I gave nonsense or scattershot answers.

The Argue-About-Anything Club

No question is too trivial. No topic is too dull.

Sorting the Tools from the Toys

Mathematical tools shine floodlights into dark corners. Mathematical toys are more like flashlights dangling off of a keychain: fun, cute, and basically powerless.

The Four Operations of Arithmetic

Abdication, Submission, Frustration, Derision...

The Real Bracketology

I’m here to offer a hymn of praise to the poor, misunderstood public servants that make income taxes work. No, not IRS agents. I’m talking about tax brackets.