Watching the Dancing Euclidean Proofs video gave me new perspectives on mathematical learning. I paused and rewatched the part where Carolina served as an anchor point while Samuel ran around her in a perfect circle. This is a beautiful way in which a circle is illustrated, through an equal radius in 360 degrees. In fact, words like 'radius' and 'degree' aren't even necessary when watching the video. The simplicity of a circle is enough for understanding. Another part which I paused on was when Samuels explained the choreography required a lot of thinking, which is a little unexpected. In my opinion, the choreography is an extension to the existing understanding of the Euclidean Proof which tests the person on his/her true understanding of the concept. This is how I approach mathematical learning as well, a true relational understanding should allow student to extend the topics further than just classroom exercises. People have a stereotypical view of the tedium and...
This has been a wonderful journey to learn about a rich side of Math which I thought really little about. While Susan has structured the course in the chronological order of past civilizations, it was eye-opening to see how capable ancient people were in using mathematics to aid their lives. Learning the intricacies of the base 60 system in Babylonian math and its relationship to time was fun. I still remember that the 24-hour system was introduced as early as around 147 BC Hipparchus. As someone who grew up only knowing base 10 and base 2 systems, I never thought about how base 10 is just a construct instead of an empirical truth. Another aspect of the class I enjoyed was also the recognition that math history and contributions have been largely euro-centric. The progression of the course focusing on other non-European history was helpful and insightful for someone who came from a Chinese background. Math problems have also been a challenge as an ELL student in the past. Seeing ho...
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