Two articles in The Mathematics Teacher, October, 1998, I found very interesting. Since I'd read so many responses to "Learning in the Key of Life," from the Utne Reader, I think I was predisposed to looking for mathematical expression of the humanities; and these two articles fit that bill. The first article is "Quotations for Every Mathematics Class," by Julian Fleron. Mr. Fleron teaches at a college in Massachusetts. During his school years, he thought math was dry and boring until he found quotes in his calculus book that spoke of math as a "creative, humanistic endeavor -- words full of passion, inspiration, and wonder." Thus began a remarkable transformation: he became intrigued by the nature of the infinite, chaos, mathematical paradox, etc. Math became his calling -- thanks,in large part, to the quotes that showed him he was missing something. He now starts each class with a discussion of a quotation that he puts on a side board. He feels that the use of quotations illustrate math's "rich historical, aesthetic, humanistic, intellectual, artistic, philosophical, & epistemological aspects." They also help to meet NCTM's Standards first "New Goal for Students: Learning to Value Mathematics." A couple of the quotes he uses: "Mathematics...is never deductive in its creation." Paul Halmos "Mathematicians create by acts of insight and intuition. Logic then sanctions the conquests of intuition." Morris Kline "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here." An inscription over the door of Plato's Academy I often think that the little, discrete parts that we take for math -- so disconnected from a body of use -- are really the baby steps used in order to have the big picture. But, often the big picture, the beauty, and even sometimes the utility, is overlooked.

The other article was "Stitching Quilts into Coordinate Geometry" by Susanne Westegaard. She gave illustrations of quilt squares that could be copied and handed to students. They could then find the coordinates of the vertices of the shapes, the equations of the lines that form the shapes, and probability that a particular point, chosen at random,would lie within a particular shape. I think it would be a rather intriguing way to reinforce some of the basic algebra concepts.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 1998