"D" is for DONE

OK, I finished Math 112, college algebra.

Believe it or not, I enjoyed the class and am glad I took it. I got my first "D" in about 40 years, but that is fine (good for humility and when my students complain about getting a "B" I can just smile inside).

I guess I bombed the final. If I had gotten a "C" in the final, my grade for the course would have also been a "C". Didn't happen. I thought I had done an adequate job "reverse engineering" enough of the multiple choice questions, but it didn't happen.

Still, I feel good about how much I did learn. I am confident that I could have gotten 100% on the final if it were an open book test. I couldn't say that back in August when I signed up for that first Pima College class. It was all Chinese to me back then. And a reason I feel good about that is that no one remembers any of this stuff anyway. Most people can't. Plus, when it really matters, I think it's irresponsible to rely on your memory for stuff anyway.

I was talking with my cousin Joel who is a senior engineer and project manager at Boeing in L.A. When I rattled off some of the stuff we were going through in Math 112, he said he couldn't do any of that stuff by memory. I'm OK with knowing the language and having enough knowledge to go through a book or some documentation if I need to solve a problem. Or, even more important, be able to intelligently interview someone who does use all this stuff.

I'll have more reflections in a future post, but for now I want to share with you a letter I wrote to Prof. Reyes about the class and my current (still evolving) thoughts about math education. I sent this letter by email earlier today:

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Dear Steve,

I want to thank you for a good class and tell you how impressed I was with you as a teacher.

Over the years, I have taken a lot of classes at this university and have rarely experienced a teacher as prepared, organized, and professionalas you. You are really impressive and a credit to the Math Department and the whole university.

Even though, in my case, algebra didn’t click as well as I would have liked, having been in your class this semester has made me a better teacher and has made me appreciate math even more. At the same time, going through Math 112 has allowed me to think a lot about education in general and math education in particular.

I hope you will allow me to share some thoughts that are intended in a positive way to stimulate some discussion if you ever serve on curriculum development committees that consider these things. (And, of course given my grade in the course, you might just dismiss my impressions as those of a disgruntled student. However, there is a difference between a poor student and a disgruntled student. I am not disgruntled. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been exposed to the many new things I learned in your class).

Fairness

I really believe that the course was more than fair to students.

Any student willing to put in the time should be able to pass this course at either the A or B level. The necessary skills are simply mechanical and learning them is a matter of concentrated repetition. The handouts were well done and the way you walked the class through the problems was straight forward.

One of the hardest things for my own journalism students to grasp is how much work it takes to do anything really well. I stress that over and over and when I bring speakers into my classroom, they also stress that. Some of the students begin to absorb that eventually.

Textbook/workbook/web assign

I believe the textbook was weak. There are better tools for learning available, some currently being used at Pima College. I hope someone would look into other options such as the Bittinger series that includes extensive online support, CDs, online video instruction, and hundreds of online exercises. I found WebAssign to be a fairly useless learning tool. It may be an adequate assessment tool for you and the other instructors. For many students, it was unfortunate and disheartening that they were led to buy the workbook and answer book and those were not used. It is not that much of an issue for me, but for many students every $20 or $40 matters a lot. Having students purchase materials that don’t necessarily advance their educational goals signals that the faculty really isn’t “on their side.” Not a good thing.

On Math Education (my son disagrees with me about most of what follows)

I ran into an old friend of mine who is in the UA’s nursing Ph.D. program. We spoke about classes and her program generally. And I told her about my taking math 112. She was supportive and asked what kind of things I was learning. I went through the litany of kinds of new things we were getting into and when I got to dividing polynomial functions she finally stopped me, somewhat incredulous, and asked, “Don’t they have machines that do those things these days?”

She then went on to tell me about some of the sophisticated statistical modeling she was getting into and about how she and her cohort were being taught to use all of the most recent tools to solve problems. “Why aren’t they doing that with you?” she asked me.

I think she has a point.

Students in one of the courses I teach produce an online publication called Border Beat. It is viewed by people in all 50 states and (so far) 30 different countries. It has won national and regional awards.

The students learn and use several state of the art video, audio, and photo editing programs in addition to the content management system that controls the site. I don’t take a minute of their time to lecture about the underlying code. It simply doesn’t matter. It helps if they know about five HTML tags, but that’s all.

What does matter is that they can visualize how they want to present a multimedia story to the world and use the tools available to them (Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Audacity, Joomla, Dreamweaver, etc.) to get it done.

What does this have to do with math 112?

In my blog about my math adventure, I posted this about two weeks ago: “A Kino Bay neighbor, an engineer, told me, ‘Math is a tool. Nothing more,nothing less.’

I didn't want to believe him. I wanted math to be poetry. If it was poetry, I didn't get to see it. I saw tools. I think my neighbor was right.”

Although I don’t have survey data to support this assertion, it seems to me that math 112 will be the last math course many of these students will take for the rest of their lives. If that is the case, I think we are doing them a disservice by focusing on the underlying mechanics rather than the actual use of math as a tool that can solve problems. It seems that apart from the mental calisthenics (that might be useful for people like me who are pushing 60) there is no reason to ask a 19 year old to take the time to learn (for a semester) how to derive square roots or divide polynomials manually. As my friend said, “There are machines that do that these days.”

The idea that math departments across the country refuse to allow lower level math students to use any tool available to solve problems feels a little nutty. I really don’t get it. No matter what math education theorists might say, it doesn’t seem intuitive that working through the underlying math is a necessary precondition to be able to use applications on Matlab or even pre-programmed handheld calculators. When I went through my MBA, students spent useful time learning how to use tools from the still great HP 12C business calculator to fancy forecasting software.

Today, there just isn’t enough time to learn it all.

If we had taken the time to learn how to manipulate logs by hand, we never would have been exposed to the many ways to solve real problems using today’s technology.

In my world (journalism education) we spend time talking about how necessary it is for students to know grammar. We are even discussing requiring a one-unit class in grammar. There are faculty members who insist that a student needs to know the mechanics of "adverb clause devices" and "subordination by appositives" and "choosing modifiers after sense verbs" before they can be a credible journalist.

Well, it turns out, that simply isn’t true in real life, or even the classroom.

A person’s ear for English is in tune or it’s not. A reporter is curious or she’s not. The person values the truth or they don’t. The reporter can feel empathy or not. When a junior wrote a story about a 20 year old man who was suffering emotionally because the young woman who he impregnated choose to have an abortion rather than let him raise the child, it really didn’t matter whether she could on a test, differentiate between “reflexive, intensive, demonstrative, and possessive pronouns.”

On the other hand . . .My son Seth, who has taught pre-calc/trig, at University High all year points out to me that my assumptions are wrong – he says that many of my classmates will go on in math and they absolutely do need to know what’s going on from a math point of view. He also says that there is no way that an individual could be even an accountant, much less an engineer or scientist, without being completely comfortable with logs and functions and the rest. He also kinda accused me of being “elitist” by assuming that most students have the opportunity to take college level math in high school. He says that is not the case, and the UA is right to provide students with the kind of math that allows them to continue rather than assume that it is “terminal” course.

In any event, I am so happy that I had the chance to take your class and will always value the time I put into it and be grateful for the time and energy that I know you devoted.

As I mentioned in class, please don’t take my grade as a reflection on your teaching at all. I think you are an excellent teacher and I’m glad I lucked out and landed in your section.

Best wishes to you and good luck where ever your future takes you. I hope to see you around and just visit some day.

Sincerely,

Jay M. Rochlin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Practice
School of Journalism
University of Arizona

Final Monday

I can't make myself study for Monday's final.

It is scheduled for Monday between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., but I hit the wall two weeks ago.

Yesterday I tried to spend some time going over study aids and practice tests. Pretty futile. I have learned more algebra than I thought I could, but I've also forgotten a lot already. I suppose it could come back if I put in the time. But my mind and my motivation seem to have moved on already.

On Wednesday, Prof. Reyes handed out individual stats letting students know where they are in terms of points. Before the final, I'm teetering between a C and a D. If I do well on the final I get a C. If I do poorly (likely) I'll get a D.

Before a student can be admitted to the School of Journalism they must pass this math course or a similar one with a B or better. Friday night at a School awards ceremony I was given the incredible honor of being named "Teacher of the Year" for our J-school. I was (am) grateful and honored and somewhat embarrassed, but still couldn't help but think for a moment how curious it is that I get to be an award winning professor in the School but wouldn't be accepted into the program as a sophomore.

The math test is multiple choice. I should have absorbed enough to be able to get through at least part of the test by reverse engineering it. We'll see.

I feel for the kids who have to pass this course. There is a lot to learn and if they were good at it they wouldn't be in this class in the first place. They would have had this as sophomores or juniors in high school. At the same time, if they are willing to take the time, there isn't much of an excuse not to pass. Between the study guides and the in-class handouts, the whole final is there. And, I am convinced that it's not a matter of brains, it's a matter of reps. If a student puts in the time, he or she can pass this class with an A or a B. But, as I'm demonstrating myself, putting in the time is easier said than done. There is almost always something better to do than solve math problems for practice.

For example, I rode my bike to the top of Mt. Lemmon with about 2oo other crazies on Friday. Way better than sitting at my dining room table figuring out functions.

My own journalism students don't get it about how much work it takes to do anything really well. But I imagine they all have things they'd rather be doing also. I hope my assignments for them are things they think are worth their time. Last night I saw Ira Glass at the UA Centennial Hall. One of the things he spoke about was how incredible difficult it was to find people to feature on This American Life. The producers might talk to 50 people and begin working on stories and interviews with 10 or more and complete all the work on five just to come up with the two or three that are actually broadcast. And, if you don't put in the time, it just won't be all that good.

So this phase of my math adventure is about to end and the results, at least measurable results, won't be that good. And I wonder whether that is OK.

My friend Keith (who does just about everything well) was being a good friend and feeling bad for me for my poor performance. For him, to do something (anything!) less than excellent is to fail. He was concerned that I might be depressed or unhappy as a result of probably getting a D in algebra. I don't know whether he believed me when I told him that I was fine with it. I enjoyed the ride and it was worth it and the grade I received or even the level of excellence I attained, really didn't matter to me. The process was worth it and I'm glad I did it. And even if I fail math, they're not going to take away my Ph.D. or fire me from my teaching job and Gail and Seth will still love me.

At the same time, Keith did make me think about whether I should be more concerned about doing well for the sake of doing well. My yoga teacher quoted a teaching that said, "How you do anything is how you do everything." I don't think I believe that, but it makes me think anyway.

Keith didn't ride to the top of Mt. Lemmon on Friday, partly because he didn't believe he was in shape or the right frame of mind to do well. I did ride to the top and had a great experience even though I was one of the last guys up the mountain and one of the last guys down.

Anyway, the algebra final is Monday and I've enjoyed the ride.

I'll report back.

A Success and a Failure

Since my last post I've had two quizzes. I passed one with a much higher grade than I expected, 79 out of 100. The other, which I took yesterday, I know I failed.

I hit the wall at logs.

I can't tell for sure whether it is simply my own lack of capacity or the failure to put in the time, but manipulating logarithms is simply not clicking for me. I'm finding that a little sad because I remember in 7th grade, when I was a potential math wiz, I was excited to learn how to multiply and divide using logs.

In any event, I can feel that my two-semester romance with algebra is coming to an end. Every time I try to make myself try to study for the May 11 final, I find something more important that has to get done -- grade my own students' papers, review Border Beat stories, start to learn Joomla for next semester. Or, even better, take a bike ride to train for BTC or RAGBRAI.

I'm glad to took these two courses and don't regret any of the time I put into studying. I've learned a lot about algebra and lots of other things.

Here are some thoughts I have about the enterprise:

Learning math at this level is a function of time and practice, not brains. It's all mechanical. You learn the steps and do them. Some people can learn the steps faster than others, but ultimately, it's just steps. I don't know yet whether that changes the higher you go in math.

Even though Steve Reyes, my teacher, is very good, except for the use of calculators, it feels like the the University of Arizona classroom experience is much like what it would have been in 1955 or 1963. I was disappointed that the UA is not taking advantage of some of the wonderful computer video and animation teaching tools that are available, tools that Pima College does provide for their students.

A Kino Bay neighbor, an engineer, told me, "Math is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less." I didn't want to believe him. I wanted math to be poetry. If it was poetry, I didn't get to see it. I saw tools. I think my neighbor was right.

Fantasizing about the Math book for Journalists was fun. But it didn't meet any one of my three criteria for taking on that kind of a project. If I were to commit to writing a book it would need to satisfy one (more is better, but at least one) of the following conditions: 1) It would be amusing and fun as a project for its own sake, like making a painting that you'll never sell; 2) It would do some good for other people, satisfy a need, or help make the world a better place; or 3) It would make a lot of money, or at least some. The Math book for Journalists didn't pass.

My plan is to take the final, but not to put too much time into studying for it. Then I will make what, for the time being, will be a final entry in this blog, and then move into whatever I want to put energy into next.

But right now, I need to read the final stories that my students in my feature writing class wrote.

The Adventure Winding Down (I think)

Dear Steve,

(who, according to Justin, is a skinny kid from Cambridge who is "acquiring a bunch of science credits from Columbia via their post-back program.")

Thanks for reading my blog and sorry I haven't posted for awhile. Whats going on is that I hate blogs that are mainly whining. I like blogs, like WPM, that tell real stories about real people and real things and stuff that happen in real places. I thought my math adventure might be like that, but so far, for me at least, it hasn't.

I'm still enjoying learning new things, but haven't figured out how to write about them. Like, how would you tell Justin how cool it is to create an exponential function that will let you create a graph of a catenary. Or how slick "e", the Euler number is?

My teacher is still very good. No complaints at all. What I think I was looking for was something like "the aesthetics of math" or just, as trite and unrealistic as it sounds, some kind of truth and beauty. Well, not yet. Most likely, maybe never.

There are about four more weeks left in the semester. There is a test this Friday and the final around May 9. I'm likely going to get a passing grade for the class, but that never mattered, but it is nice. I'm probably not going to take the next class, trig, because my own teaching load is cranking back up next school year and I want to do a better job for my students. Also, there are too many other things to learn.

I imagine these couple of algebra classes I have taken have been good mental calisthenics. Plus I really "get it" about how compound interest and half-lives work, but I can't honestly say the the end result was worth the investment in time I have made so far. On the other hand, the process probably was worth it. Like going on a great bike ride. The finish is fine, but the ride through beautiful mountains and along rivers with changing leaves is what it is really all about.

One way I can tell I am winding down is that I am sitting here typing rather than diving into inverse functions. Another part of the reason I haven't posted was because if I had some "math time" I would want to study rather than write this blog.

One thing that I have learned is that learning math takes time. Lots of time. Just like music or writing or sports or anything. I tell my own students that they can't possible write a good story on their first try and easily. Pros can't, so why should they be able to. I can tell I haven't put in nearly enough time, even though Seth can't believe how much time I do put in. I still would like to try calculus and have a feel for it. But that's not going to happen yet. I certainly have a lot of respect and admiration for people who can do this stuff. But I still wonder whether they see "larger" things that I can't, or if they put in the time to learn the mechanics. You probably have a better feel for that than I do.

I can tell that I'm rambling but I did want to post again. Right now I need to switch focus and learn how to "find the inverse of a function with a restricted domain."

Still Counting

Still Counting


I haven’t posted for about three weeks, but I am still studying and even learning some new things.

Since my last post I’ve thought a lot about wanting to quit this whole enterprise and re-focus on teaching, photography, and bicycling – with some music, writing, and hiking thrown in. But I’m hanging in there.

We had our second test last week. Steve provided the class with an abundance of study aids. As I began to look the material over I got discouraged because I couldn’t believe how much I had forgotten during the three or four weeks since the last exam. The stuff just wasn’t sticking.

As I approached the first test I told myself that I might quit the class if I got a “D”. This time I was pretty sure I would get an “F” but wasn’t convinced I should drop, no matter how tempting. Since my grade doesn’t matter at all, I thought if I stayed in the class for as long as I could understand the lectures and still do the homework, some information might seep in and if I took the class again (like many of my classmates were) then I might have a better shot at passing.

After Steve passed out the test (I got the blue version) I looked over the problems and pretty quickly figured out which I could do, which I could guess on, and which I didn’t have any chance of getting even any partial credit on for a good try that was at least in the right direction.

As I got into the test, some things started coming back to me and so did some numerical intuition that seems to be growing, if ever so slightly

When Steve handed the tests back, I was amazed to see that I had gotten a 71, just barely in “C” range. As it turned out, a whole lot of my educated guesses were right on target. I was also somewhat encouraged that many of the points I lost were for pretty silly things that I could have done, things like naming units instead of just writing down the numerical answer. OK, it looks like I’m still in.

But a whole lot of my classmates aren’t. Monday, the day after Steve handed back the test was the last day to drop a class with a “W” rather than stay in and risk an “F” or a “D”. By Wednesday, our class size had fallen to 22 from 35.

A new word

One of the best parts of this math adventure is learning new things I wouldn’t have otherwise, frequently not about math at all.

Last week, I learned the word: equitation.

I learned that word because the girl that sits next to me just won a national competition in “Hunter Class: Equitation.” She is a national class Arabian Horse rider. From what I could tell, it has a lot to do with how you and your horse look as you ride around the circuit.

I need to add her to the list of people who, when they feel comfortable enough, immediately ask (about this math quest), “Why ARE you doing this?”

Steady as She Goes

Earlier this week I was pretty much over my head.

We moved into an area that has to do with manipulating functions in terms of each other – adding, subtracting, multiplying and then dividing functions by functions.  And on top of that, we started solving functions “in terms of” other functions.

 I didn’t know what that stuff meant either only five days ago.

 I struggled with the textbook and just couldn’t get past the language. I’d start reading and simply get lost. I’d see the words and numbers but they just didn’t make sense.

All of which got me thinking about my own approach to teaching. 

I try to get my students to “jump in now” and start doing journalism, especially multimedia journalism. I (along with millions of 20 and unders and not a lot of over 40s) am convinced that you can’t learn Photoshop or Final Cut Pro or any complicated piece of software by watching some expert demonstrate tools on a video projector and lecture about techniques. You gotta do it with your own hands and fingers and make mistakes and try again until it gets into your muscles.

Seth tells me that’s how it works in sports. Reading might be good for motivation, but a chapter in a book is probably not going to help you two-putt as much as getting on the green for 200 strokes a day.

I think the same is true for math. Watching even a very good teacher such as Steve takes you only so far (not very). It takes reps for the ideas to begin to sink in.

I didn’t used to believe that.

Back when I cared about playing music, especially recorder or clarinet, rather than practice, I’d read books. I read about the clarinete’s history and construction. I became an expert on the different woods that a craftsman could make a recorder out of. I knew the attributes of rosewood, ebony, and boxwood. I took a course about music theory at the University of Arizona and got an “A” (one of my few).  But I never got very good at either clarinet or recorder.  When I should have been practicing an A minor scale or learning how to improvise by memorizing chord progressions, I was reading an article or listening to a lecture.

Photography was different. I got out in the field and took pictures. Thousands and thousands of them. And, amazingly, I got better and better. Portraits, landscapes, sunsets, still lifes.  I used all kinds of formats. Large format, 2 ¼, 35mm, minox, and digital. Now I give lectures about photography to people who ought to be out shooting instead of sitting in a fancy meeting room listening to me talk about taking pictures.

Which brings me back to math.

I was saved once again by the  online math program from last semester’s course through Pima Community College, mathxl.com. 

The access to the program that came with last semester’s book gave me a full year's access to all the textbooks the site serves and its supporting online exercises, videos and animations. 

I found an equivalent level textbook, signed on to it, and started doing my “reps.”

At first I let the program walk me through solving the problems, then I was able to do more on my own. In not too much time I was actually beginning to “get it” enough to be able to tackle this week’s homework assignments. Even the book began to get a little bit more comprehensible. For the first time in at least a couple of weeks, I’m feeling somewhat encouraged.

It felt good to look at the homework assignments in the book and reflect back only a week to where I didn’t know even how to begin to approach solving a single one. Now I’ve done them all, mostly correctly, and sorta get what’s going on.

The skills might not stick, but that’s a story for another time.

Hint Hint

I got a kick out of this email that Stphen Reyes sent to my Math 112 class today:

Class,
This is just a reminder that the last day to drop a course without record of enrollment is today (Tues Feb 10). You can drop via WebReg. Some of you *may* want to consider this option especially with the first test now behind us.

Also, I will be in my office today from 1:30pm to 3pm for those wanting to discuss this. I have the last two homeworks graded if you'd like to pick those up and could also show your grade in the course thus far. I will be distributing print-outs of grades on Wednesday if you'd rather wait.

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Okey Dokey. I'm still in. And in good part, thanks to Seth, I think I'm getting the next section about how graphs of functions move up or down or left or right or compress up or down or left or right.

I'm interested to see how many of my classmates took Steve up on his "suggestion."

Barely

I passed the first test, barely.

My deal with myself was that if I got an F I would drop. If I got a C I would stay. If I got a D, I'd need to decide.

Poor Steve Reyes the teacher didn't look good when class began today. He hadn't shaved and his eyes looked glassy. He started class by telling us what a terrible weekend he had between having a bad cold and spending the whole weekend grading bad homework and even worse tests. He spent the next fifteen minutes discussing how he didn't understand how poorly so many of us had done. As I glanced around at other students' tests I saw scores ranging from the mid 80s to the low 20s. The girl who sits next to me who hopes to be a physiologist got in the mid 70s.

I got a 62, two points above failing.

I was surprised that I wasn't even tempted to quit.

Now I have a chance to once again be my class's most improved player.

But what I found even more encouraging was that I actually understood how I messed up and basically understood everything on the test, even thought my score didn't show that. Also, Steve took off points for some petty "Mickey Mouse" things. I figured out one answer and wrote $4100. The answer for full credit was "$4100 in taxes." What the heck?

I got no credit at all for that problem about the rectangle and the wall and the fence that I mentioned in the last blog. Zero. But I worked through it on my own at home. I brought it to class and Steve said I did it exactly right. He also asked why I didn't do it that way on the test. OK, so now I feel better about that even thouth on the test I clicked that 240 was peremiter rather than area.

Tonight Seth showed me a bunch of good things to know about how to manipulate graphs. I think I have a head start on that and am ready to tackle the next homework assignments.

Students tell me that Math 112 has the highest flunk rate of any course at the University of Arizona. I haven't checked that out but wonder if it's true. I also wonder whether students will drop after seeing their test results today.

I'm still in.

Useful Lecture from a Former Student

Dave Robbins could have put this in comments. Maybe he didn't want you to see his note, but I do.



By the way, he has a terrific blog called "Talking to Strangers." Worth checking out and reading.



Here's what Dave taught his former professor today:



Jay,I just read your latest blog post.



I wanted to comment on the line, "I'm not experiencing a sense of wonder that I could share. I'm experiencing a sense of plodding that I don't imagine a lot of people want to read about."



You're right. No one wants to read about plodding. That's why plodding,suffering and struggle NEVER appear in art. It is the reason why Blues music was never invented, and Shakespeare's Sonnet #30 was never written.



Wait... what? That doesn't make any sense.



What good would a book about learning be if the protagonist never once wanted to quit? Where would be the dramatic ark? Why would the climax be satisfying if it took no effort to get there?



You find me a book where the main character never once suffers - and I'll find you a book that never got published.



What's inspiring about your blog is that it's about a distinguished academic struggling with the same things us lowly undergrads have to struggle with. I don't know how many of your classmates are reading - but how much of a relief do you think that would be to them if they read it and though "Oh... well if he's struggling - I guess I'm not the only one.



"Hang in there, and keep writing about it. It's not suppose to be easy - that's why it's worth reading.



-Dave



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Dave was a member of the Border Beat staff last semester. If you go there and click on "archive" at the bottom, you can find some of the good stories he created.



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About Friday's math test. I'm pretty sure I passed. Barely.

I messed up the final question. It went sort of like this:

A rectangle has an area of 240 square yards. You need to build a wall around it and a fence across the length in the middle. The wall costs $5 a yard and the fence costs $8 a yard. Find a function in terms of the length of the fence determine the dimensions that will cost the least.

I got started by confusing the area with the perimeter and it went down hill from there.

I worked on the problem tonight and think I solved it. I'll ask tomorrow before I find out my score for the test.

On the Edge

It's been awhile since I've posted. This math thing has really slowed down. Some stuff just isn't clicking.

Our first test is tomorrow morning. If I get a C or better I'm staying for sure. If I get an F, I'll probably drop and try again later. If I get a D, I don't know.

---------------

Good things

1. Steve Reyes is a really good teacher. I am impressed at how much he seems to care about doing well, his grasp of the material, and ability to walk a classroom full of math aptitude deprived 18-yea- olds and me through some very complex ideas. Complex to us at least.

I'm also impressed with Steve as a person. He's 28 and is teaching at the UA with only a bachelor's degree. I don't know whether it is in math, math/education, or what, but that's as far as he's gone so far. Steve graduated from Cholla High School in Tucson as valedictorian and is the first member of his family to graduate from college.

Because he is the exact kind of person I was interested in when I wrote my book, I thought he might like to read it, so I gave him a copy. I hope he has a chance to look at it.

2. I now know how to do things in algebra and with functions that I couldn't imagine knowing how to do less than six months ago. In fact, I can do things that I didn't even know existed less than half a year ago. That feels good.

Bad things

1. I'm spending way too much time studying for the amount it seems that I am learning. Seth assures me that no one in my class is putting in as much time and he may be right. So, I don't know whether it's because it's getting harder or what, but I'm thinking that I ought to be spending less time staring at equations and functions in a book or on a comoputer screen and more time working on my classes that I teach and on photography and my own writing and on my bicycle training for the Bicycle Tour of Colorado and RAGBRAI.

2. I'm not seeing a book or even a good article in this pursuit right now. I'm not experiencing a sense of wonder that I could share. I'm experiencing a sense of plodding that I don't imagine a lot of people want to read about. My best case outcome or climax would be passing a course in calculus at the UA or Pima College some day. That is a feat that probably hundreds of thousands of high school juniors and seniors accomplish every year. It's possible the "wonder" and "insights" come later, once I've learned the language. I'm still holding out hope.

3. I am surprised that the textbook and the online support offered by Pima College is far superior to that offered by the UA. As good as Steve is as a teacher, I'm thinking that I should have enrolled in the equivalent College Algebra course at Pima College. Because of the book's online tutorials and exercises, tt's better, at least for me.

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I'll report back on my test.

Starting Math 112

Math 112 met in room 304 of the University of Arizona Modern Languages Building. It struck me as I walked into the classroom that it has been about 37 years since I took a class there.

Professor Stephen Reyes was already in the classroom and most of the seats were already taken. I sat down toward the front of the room on the right as I faced the front.

I noticed that there was an American flag on the wall and the same copy of the U.S. constitution that had been posted in my last classroom. That made me wonder whether there was some kind of mandate that required those objects to be displayed and whether the School of Journalism was in violation.

The classroom actually looked modern. The white boards all around the room were clean and there were plenty of markers in various colors in the trays attached to the boards. And there was a computer terminal on the desk up front. Did I land in a 21st century classroom?

There are 35 students enrolled in the class, mostly women, all except for me, about 18 or 19 years old.

AT 11 a.m. sharp Prof. Reyes started class.

I don't know anything about him yet, but Reyes is listed as a full time instructor, rather than either a graduate teaching assistant or professor. He looks like a newly minted Ph.D. in his late 20s. I found myself imagining Seth in his position in just a few years.

He spoke slowly and softly and was organized and professional. It was beginning to feel like I lucked into a good class.

He conducted a roll call, went through his syllabus, and moved right into material. "What exactly is a function?" he asked. And students actually raised their hands, suggested answers, and the class began.

Dustin Seplow

About two years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Dustin Seplow. Right now, he is a senior in the NYU Journalism Department. During the brief time we visited I was impressed by how he thought and what he said.

Dustin has been a regular reader of this blog and follower of my adventure in mathland.

I was happy yesterday to receive an email from him. He said some good things that I want to share with you.:

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"After months of reading your blog and occasionally commenting under the guise of 'Anonymous' I received an email that immediately prompted me to write you.

"As a senior in the NYU journalism school I am continually bombarded with announcements of class openings and closings. This particular notice caught my eye as it pertains to a topic that you have encouraged me to think about recently, the role of mathematics in journalism and the events it covers.

*JOURNALISM BY THE NUMBERS *

The aim of this course is to give you tools that will make you a better journalist. These are tools that few journalists have and many are afraid of—mathematical tools.

This course will center upon mathematical ideas, but this will still be a journalism class.

The mathematical concepts will be presented in a way that is accessible even to mathphobes, and abstract ideas will be pinned to real, concrete events that have caused headlines.

"I hope this can provide some encouragement to you as you continue the developmental process for your book. Perhaps one day "Journalism by the Numbers" will have some new required reading.

"As for your ponderings regarding the educational value of studying Chaucer versus the names and songs of 50 indie bands, I couldn't agree more. I don't mean to devalue the numerous lessons that one is rewarded with upon reading Chaucer. Yet, often times I cannot help but view education as something much more amorphous than it's commonly agreed upon definition.

"To me, education is nothing more than a lens. Viewing any one thing with an analytical eye leads to learning. Analyzing the separate members of any band, their motivations for playing music, their inspirations, and then the products of their collective efforts can lead to as much enlightenment as learning about a few characters' journeys to and from an English town.

"To me studying any subject, or object, in this manner is education in action. Yet, as I hope to commence on my own teaching career in the coming months I must decide whether or not my definition for education is truly accurate. It would be a great disservice to my students to forgo a system of education proven successful over many decades for the radical ramblings of my own mind.

"I think Tom Miller definitely had a point when he said, 'Geoff Chaucer has lasted more than 600 years for a reason.'

"But does something's duration of study directly correlate to its scholastic value?

"If calculus can answer a question like that, then I am prolonging graduation and signing up next semester, for I have a lot more to learn from my college years."

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Dustin, thanks for an insightful note. And good luck as you finish your student career at NYU and either start now or take the next steps toward a career that I'm sure will make the lives of lots of young people (and some old ones also) better.

I need to find out what book or books they are requiring for that course and also what kinds or other readings or exercises.

I also intend to let the director of our School of Journalism know that NYU is offering Math for Journalists.


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Math 112

I'll write about in a separate post, but I am big time impressed with Stephen Reyes, my college algebra teacher.

Quantoid

I learned a new word:

"Quantoid"

My faculty colleague Kevin Kemper said that's what folks in his Ph.D. program at the University of Missouri called fellow students whose dissertations were getting too quantitative. He told me, watch out, I might become one.

Well, not yet.

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I got a promotional brochure in the mail the other day called "The Great Courses: Great Courses Taught by Great Professors." It was nicely produced and had some great photography in it, so I began flipping through the pages. Even though it is clearly advertising copy, these two paragraphs got my attention and made me wonder:

"One of the greatest achievements of the human mind is calculus. It deserves a place in the pantheon of our accomplishments with Shakespeare's plays, Beethoven's symphonies, and Einstein's theory of relativity.

"In fact, most of the differences in the way we experience life now and the way we experienced it the beginning of the 17th century emerged because of technical advances that rely on calculus. Calculus is a beautiful idea exposing the rational workings of the world; it is part of our intellectual heritage."

OK, I want to learn calculus. (not that I get it about either Shakespeare or Beethoven yet.)

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I'm looking forward to someday studying about the random way so many things happen.

Just yesterday, I got a note from an 18 year old who was in last semester's algebra class. She sat to my right and up a row or two and came the the first half of most of the classes. She asked me about journalism classes and whether there were any that freshmen could take.

I told her that there was one that was being offered for the first time and that there might be one or two spaces still open. And she signed up. No telling if she'll like it or not or do well or not or fall in love with journalism and go on to do great things or find that she might be happier somewhere else. Time will tell.

But it kinda blows me away to know that in some small way she will be sitting in that classroom being exposed to a whole new world with a great professor partly because some guy in his 50s decided to take an intermediate algebra class that semester at that hour and happened to blog about it and she clicked on this blog and sent me an email to ask about journalism.

And that kind of stuff happens all the time.

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Math 112, college algebra, starts for me tomorrow at 11 a.m. I'll take notes. About the algebra also.

Too Much Information

All the parts are in order to get started on my next math class. The right calculator, a TI 84 platinum, silver edition. The textbook. The answer book. The work book.

I think I've got a pretty good head start. I've kind of learned the language the book uses and can do a whole lot of new stuff on the calculator that I will need.

But still. There is so much to learn.

So that got me thinking (again) about motivation.

I have myself pretty convinced, just because I decided to, that to be an educated person in the 21st century, I need to know calculus. Not for any practical reason that I know of. Just to know it. Sorta like how we are told that we need to know about Shakespeare or Plato or the Declaration of Independence.

But then I started thinking about what today might be the futility of deciding anything is something you "must know" to be an educated person. There is just too much information.

I was just over at my friend Keith's house. He just got a "wi-fi" radio that can play something like 30,000 radio stations from all over the world. It's pretty amazing and the sound is great.

And the hundreds of TV channels and billions of web pages and millions of blogs and hundreds of thousands of books and photographs and songs and subjects and subjects within subjects. Wikipedia is approaching 3 million articles. And that's only in their English version.

Doesn't it seem just a little nutty for any individual or committee to say to anyone else that "to be an educated person you must know and understand" this or this or this? Or at least arbitrary?

So, do you just pick your curiosity and go with it? If you can earn a living and help keep yourself and those around you fed, warm, and healthy, I guess, why not?

A girl in my features class last semester hadn't heard of Chaucer. My immediate reaction was surprise and even a little shock. At the same time, she could rattle off the names of 50 indy bands that I had never heard of and also describe their repertories. Way more useful to her and the people who matter to her than the Canterbury Tales.

All this got me thinking back to Viktor Frankl, his book, Man's Search for Meaning, and the whole idea of logotherapy. Is it good enough for any individual to derive meaning from anything they choose to do and find meaning in? Because you can't even begin to do or learn everything, or even imagine what everything to learn might be.

But right now, I need to learn more about functions.

Tools

I was speaking with Dave Schwartz, a neighbor in Kino Bay.  He is a 78 year old still working full time senior engineer.  He said a couple of things I want to remember and think about. 

He reiterated to me that for him, math is a tool - nothing more, nothing less.  Math helps him get things done.  He is an engineer to the core. I imagine most engineers are with him on that thought.  I imagine (hope) that there are plenty of mathematicians who disagree. There has to be an aesthetics of math or a philosophy of math. I look forward to asking a mathematician some day.

He also told me that he thinks of math in terms of specific applications, and that most people who study advanced math, study it in terms of a specific discipline, such as physics. He seemed to say that there is a pretty good chance that the physics guy couldn't really talk to the organic chemistry guy because their math is so different.  If I heard him right, Prof. Saari said just the opposite -- that one of the best reasons to study higher math is that you could converse across disciplines.

And finally Dave said that I should be thinking of what I am doing now (college algebra) as "arithmetic" rather than "math" -- that math starts with calculus.  O.K., but I wonder what makes calculus, math and not algebra.

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Different teacher already

I got online and discovered that the person assigned to teach the Math 112 section I signed up for has been changed.  I'm now looking forward to meeting   Stephen Reyes. He is a full time instructor rather than being a grad student.  I suppose that's good news.  We'll see.

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My getting a head start on the semester is slowing down. There is too much else to read and too many  pictures to take.  Also, thinking about things like functions in terms of other functions and how they interact with each other is not quite making sense yet.  I imagine it will.  And as Gail told me, the course is not supposed to be an independent study.