Welcome to Mathematics for General Education

with David Lofte

Dave Lofte

•I was a student at Hartnell from 1999 to 2006! •Majored in Mathematics at Sonoma State University.  I

graduated in 2008   •I Received my Masters in Mathematics in 2010, I kept

studying for another year before moving back to Salinas  

There was Hockey at DU

Outside of School...    I have a family.

•I am Married to Leanna Lofte, she is also teaches at Hartnell.    •I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter

and a brand new baby!

I like Surfing

I enjoy Drinking Beer, er Sampling Beer.

Video Games are fun.

Things that need doing!

• Syllabus• Survey• Attendance

What is Mathematics?

• Break into groups of 3-4 and come up with a definition or your best description of what mathematics is.

What is mathematics?

• "A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat which isn't there,“ Darwin

• "Mathematics is the subject in which one never knows what he is talking about nor if what he says is true” Russell

What is mathematics?

• "Mathematics is the science of saving thought“

• "Mathematics is persistent intellectual honesty”

• “Mathematics is intellectual adventuring” Lofte

What is mathematics?

• "The mathematician studies numbers and geometric forms“ Renyi

• "mathematics is arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy“

• "There are now at least five distinct sources of mathematical ideas. They are number, shape, arrangement, movement, and chance.“ Stewart

What is mathematics?

• "the study of mental objects with reproducible properties is called mathematics.“ Davis

• Mathematical haiku: "Fire and Ice, Strange anomaly, The flame of intuition, Frozen in rigor.“ O’Brian

• "Mathematics combines two opposites, exactitude and freedom.“ Nevanlinna

What is mathematics?

• "But the supreme value of mathematics, insofar as understanding the world about us is concerned, is that it reveals order and law where mere observation shows chaos.“ Kline

• "Mathematics provides the dies by which science is formed, and mathematics is the essence of our best scientific theories.“ Kline

Math myths

• Mathematics is only Algebra, Calculus and Differential Equations.

• Math is all figured out!• Only guys are good at math.• Some people just aren’t good at math.• Only Genius’s are good at math!• MATH IS NOT CREATIVE.

Homework

• Comment somewhere on my website.