2_Popular_Mathematics

=Aim=

The aim of this session is to share with delegates some sources for ‘Popular Mathematics’ and to look at how the course can be enriched by looking at ideas in context. The group should discuss the possible advantages of using resources of this type in attracting the attention and motivation of students. There should also be a focus on exactly how these ideas can be applied in the classroom.

=Session Outline=

‘The Mathematics of War’ – A short video from ‘Sean Gourley’ shows how mathematicians have begun to analyse the mathematics of war. How can this inspire students to learn and use mathematics?

‘False Positives’ – Inspired by some articles in the news, we look at this topical application of conditional probability.

‘The most important video’ – A short look at this series of videos talking about our inability to understand the exponential function!

‘A look at sources’ – Where can we find sources on popular mathematics that help to keep teachers and students up to date and inspired.

Included in this guide

Some items related to the Mathematics of war A copy of articles from John Allen Paulos and Steven Strogatz on ‘False Positives’ A worksheet for students on False Positives

All other resources related to this session can be found on the course wikispace

The Mathematics of War media type="youtube" key="emn28FrJ6CI?fs=1" height="385" width="640"

[] The site to go with the investigation

An early draft of the report - This is detailed but contains useful links



A Venn Diagram from the report



Some Data - A Spreadsheet from []



Information from []

'Sexy Maths', 'More or Less' and 'The Most Important Video You'll ever see' media type="youtube" key="F-QA2rkpBSY" height="344" width="425" Sexy Maths from Marcus du Sautoy

The Complete Sexy Maths
[]

Steven Strogatz on the Elements of Maths
@http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/series/steven_strogatz_on_the_elements_of_math/index.html

Alex Bellos - Adventures in Numberland
@http://alexbellos.com/



[]

Related Classroom Activity - Infection rates and Doubling Time



More sources

@http://www.math.temple.edu/~paulos/ @http://findingmoonshine.blogspot.com/ @http://infosthetics.com/ @http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/ @http://classpress.net/updates/category/maths/ @https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ @http://www.gapminder.org/ @http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/more_or_less/default.stm @http://www.ted.com/ @http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/ @http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/ @http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/from-fish-to-infinity/ http://thinkmathematics.wikispaces.com/ http://ofallthepeopleinalltheworld.wikispaces.com/

=Bayes Theorem= @http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/magazine/13Fob-wwln-t.html @http://yudkowsky.net/rational/bayes [] []

=Monty Hall=



@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night-time media type="youtube" key="mhlc7peGlGg" height="344" width="425"

=Dopey Logic=

=Sets of Countries=

=Input from members of the group= Tarquin books for mathematical curiosities []

Juggler - Colin Wright []

Douglas Butler's (Author of Autograph) TSM webpage - Teacher of Secondary Mathematics []