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A mixed bag
Jun. 8th, 2004 11:31 amYesterday was distinctly up-and-down. I got back my student evaluations from spring semester, and they were not good. If I'm to get a Satisfactory rating in teaching next spring, I'll have to do better than that in the three courses remaining this year. (That was down.)
This summer, I'm teaching Math 400, "Development of Modern Mathematics" - basically, the history of math from Descartes to the present. I normally begin somewhat earlier than that, though, to make it clear what factors set in motion the explosion of mathematics in the West in the past few centuries. The class meets Mon/Wed from 5:00 to 7:50, so in essence I have to give three consecutive lectures each time. Anyway, I talked about the arrival of decimal notation and paper in Europe, the development of the standard symbols of arithmetic, the solution of the general cubic and quartic equations, the beginnings of algebraic symbolism at the hands of Vieta, and approximation techniques (and the advantages that decimal notation gives for such techniques). Along the way, I also talked about the importance of Islam in the intellectual history of the West, the rise and fall of absolute monarchy in Europe, the guilds of medieval Italy, Omar Khayyam and the Rubaiyat, and whatever else struck my fancy as directly or tangentially related. Did I mention that I love teaching this class? (I was shocked, though, that not one of the students recognized Khayyam's name, the Rubaiyat, or any of the snatches from it that I quoted to them. Kids today...) (All this was up.)
Arriving at home, I discovered that I've been targeted by a company of scam artists, using the "opt-out" trick and threatening to charge one of my credit cards $108 for unspecified, unrequested, and undesired services. A quick google verified that there've been numerous complaints about these guys. I think I have a plan for getting them off my backs, but I was upset enough that I had a hard time getting to sleep. Buggers. (That, of course, was down.)
Ah, well. Today seems to be going better, but I haven't gone onto campus yet. (I've got one more 400 student who has to take it as an independent study due to schedule conflicts; I'll be meeting with him this afternoon.)
This summer, I'm teaching Math 400, "Development of Modern Mathematics" - basically, the history of math from Descartes to the present. I normally begin somewhat earlier than that, though, to make it clear what factors set in motion the explosion of mathematics in the West in the past few centuries. The class meets Mon/Wed from 5:00 to 7:50, so in essence I have to give three consecutive lectures each time. Anyway, I talked about the arrival of decimal notation and paper in Europe, the development of the standard symbols of arithmetic, the solution of the general cubic and quartic equations, the beginnings of algebraic symbolism at the hands of Vieta, and approximation techniques (and the advantages that decimal notation gives for such techniques). Along the way, I also talked about the importance of Islam in the intellectual history of the West, the rise and fall of absolute monarchy in Europe, the guilds of medieval Italy, Omar Khayyam and the Rubaiyat, and whatever else struck my fancy as directly or tangentially related. Did I mention that I love teaching this class? (I was shocked, though, that not one of the students recognized Khayyam's name, the Rubaiyat, or any of the snatches from it that I quoted to them. Kids today...) (All this was up.)
Arriving at home, I discovered that I've been targeted by a company of scam artists, using the "opt-out" trick and threatening to charge one of my credit cards $108 for unspecified, unrequested, and undesired services. A quick google verified that there've been numerous complaints about these guys. I think I have a plan for getting them off my backs, but I was upset enough that I had a hard time getting to sleep. Buggers. (That, of course, was down.)
Ah, well. Today seems to be going better, but I haven't gone onto campus yet. (I've got one more 400 student who has to take it as an independent study due to schedule conflicts; I'll be meeting with him this afternoon.)
