Decreasing at a WHAT Rate?!! A stone falls to the ground faster and faster. Its first and second derivatives are negative. So how should its height above the ground be described? Is it (a) decreasing at an increasing rate? or (b) decreasing at a decreasing rate? Mathematicians are divided over this question. This article provides polling data and samples of reasoning from university math professors and analyzes the matter logically and linguistically. (Read Article)
The Elusive "OF" in Math "Of" means times. Right? Well guess what. It can mean times, divided by, subtracted from, belonging to, and equals. At least that's how people use the word "of" at times. Sometimes the word is even invisible. (Read Article)
Invisible Math Characters One reason math is so painfully confusing to so many people is the fact that there are invisible terms, factors, powers, root indices, logarithm subscripts, parentheses, plus signs, times signs, and words. At grading time, these can be a real problem for people. (Read Article)
Lying Calculator Syndrome Suppose X=2. Depending on the type of calculator you are using, it will calculate 8/2X as either 8/(2•2)=2 or 8/2•2=8. Did your calculator lie? This is user error. Students often read a problem out loud from the book while typing it into the calculator and expect the calculator to understand the expression to be evaluated. But calculators enforce their own order of operations - and even this varies from calculator to calculator. Students must learn how the calculator interprets input! (Read Article)