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.