Following Recipes

Another pep talk with the class, another metaphor hijacked. This is a theme in my life.

The Quadratic Formula Must Die! (or, Long Live the Quadratic Formula!)

It’s beyond me why I memorized the quadratic formula as an 8th grader, but didn’t hear the tale of Galois until college. If you ask me, the latter might just enrich the mind more than the former. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that math isn’t romantic.

Why can’t you divide by zero?

Suppose you’ve got a pizza. A nice charcoal-cooked one from New Haven, or an oven-hot Chicago deep-dish, or even one of those organic San Francisco artisan pies that somehow make artichoke hearts seem like they belong on a pizza. And, generous soul that you are, you’ve decided to share.