Ontario has a math culture problem
The latest lacklustre EQAO math results in Grades 6 and 9 have once again brought mathematics education in Ontario’s schools back into the headlines. The debate about what to do next follows familiar lines. Perhaps more funding or a new curriculum will fix things. Perhaps the tests themselves are the problem. As a mathematician who…
A day in the life of a mathematician
It’s Mathematics Awareness Day at my home institution of Ryerson University. In honour of the occasion, I wrote a special blog cataloguing a day in the life of a mathematician (me!). Also, I am taking over @RyersonSci on Twitter for the day. There will be special tweets and surprises there. Watch out for #FOSBoss! *** “Woke up,…
Interview with a mathematician: Izabella Laba
Izabella Laba is a leading mathematician working at the University of British Columbia. Her research spans several fields such as harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory, mathematical physics, and the relatively new (but fast-breaking) area of additive combinatorics. She is highly awarded, having won the prestigious Coxeter-James and Krieger-Nelson Prizes of the Canadian Mathematical Society. In 2012, she became a fellow…
Get thee to a nunnery… and study math
Sisterhood of Mathematics My grade 11 Physics teacher was a nun. Thinking back, she reminded me of the famed mathematician Emmy Noether: she was big framed, wore simple clothes (no habit in class, however), and didn’t wear make-up. I think my classmates were frightened of her, but I wasn’t and she liked me. Maybe we were kindred spirits: my passion for…