Numbers with Personality

 

    The First stop for me within the reading was the concept of OLP, Ordinal Linguistic Personification, which we find in the portrait variant of the Mayan numbers. The way Physicist Richard Feynman saw coloured equations illustrates how our students will understand the math concepts in different ways. It is essential to keep this in mind when planning our lessons, as it enables us to include various types of explanations and examples around concepts, providing different paths to understanding.

     found the following sentence interesting for math teachers, encouraging to know more about "synesthesia": "synesthetic research can inform questions about how the brain combines information from different sensory modalities."

I also value the fact that the different personalities a number has, it is demonstrated by real-time observation, on how that number stimulates different parts of our brain.

Cords and Sagita... Ancient problems reflection

 

Ben, Damanjit and me thinking about the problem.

We ask some classmates for some ideas too.

It was an interesting experience to work with ancient Babylonian problems involving the circle. As we explored them, I found myself taking notes to return to later when planning my lessons. I appreciated how these problems were formulated in ways that naturally encourage thinking and curiosity.

In particular, the task about the relationship between chords and the diameter of the circle stood out to me. It feels like a rich, almost limitless resource for introducing trigonometry to students. There is something powerful about showing how ideas that emerged thousands of years ago can still spark understanding today.

Throughout history, the circle has held a kind of magical attraction for humans, and engaging with these ancient problems reminded me of that. It was inspiring to see how timeless mathematical ideas can support meaningful learning in the classroom.

Malihe Manzouri on the history of Iranian/Persian Number systems.

 I am fascinated and at a loss for words by the rediscovery of Iran.

I remember studying Persia and the wars in my high school back in Colombia, but I never heard of that marvellous place again, which lived in my memory like a fantasy tale of history.

Thank you, Maliha, for bringing a piece of memory that enriches our journey to teaching. I couldn't watch the video before your class, but I watched it today, and I spent the following 2 hours googling facts and stories about Iran. Now Iran is in my list of places to visit. Fascinating!!

Euclidean Geometry

 

Euclid and Euclidean geometry history reminds me of the history of Jesus Christ and the Catholic church. Some men imparted knowledge and leadership. Those men left lessons in different fields, but their dedication and ideas turned on the flame of curiosity and inspiration in others who continued their work. On one hand, we have Euclid with a scientific approach and on the other hand, Jesus with a spiritual approach. Both are remembered and followed by people to our day.

I think the beauty of Euclidean postulates roots in its validity throughout time and the simplicity of the proof procedures. Those postulates invite us to think mathematically in a transcendental way.