Minciu Sodas: Difference between revisions

Line 1:

[http://www.ms.lt Minciu Sodas] is an online laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers.

Andrius Kulikauskas is founder and Direktorius. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and (as of December 2008) is teaching algebra at [http://www.aubih.ba American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina].

Edward Cherlin leads the [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthtreasury Earth Treasury] working group at Minciu Sodas.

[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthtreasury/message/161 Andrius's letter to Edward, December 16, 2008]

Edward,

Yes! Please add my interest, and that of our Minciu Sodas laboratory

http://www.ms.lt, to participate in your textbook project. I would gladly

work for you or others to write open source textbooks in math, philosophy,

fighting peacefully or other subjects. I alert others at our lab who

might like to write textbooks.

This semester I've been teaching algebra from my own notes:

http://www.worknets.org/upload/AndriusKulikauskas/precalculus.pdf

which are for teaching math based on the deep ideas behind it. I would

like to write a short book based on that approach. I am thinking to call

it "Classic Math Problems". Each problem would illustrate a particular

idea. I would supplement the text with video and additional materials,

exercises.

So, for example, I tell my students that algebra is the study of "thinking

in steps". And here is a problem that teaches that. Suppose you usually

buy pants in the marketplace because the department store charges

one-third more. But the store is now having a sale, and everything is

one-third off. Where should you buy the pants?

Quite a few people - and sophisticated people - might say that the price

is now the same, for it is one-third off of one-third more. But if you

think through it step by step, then you will see given x, that one-third

more is 4/3 x, and 2/3 of 4/3 x is 8/9 x. So it will be cheaper at the

store with the sale. For the question is "one-third of what?" This one

problem is a good, self-contained point to communicate this idea. It is a

sophisticated problem, but one that you can master. There are many

variants, such as a stock price that goes up 1/3 and down 1/4, or a tax

and a rebate. And if you learn 20 or 30 or 50 problems like that, then

you know all of algebra, or certainly the fundamentals.

Working together I'm sure we'd discover ways to support all manner of

self-teaching approaches and preferences. Myself, I'd like to focus on

self-learning adults (like at our lab) and I'm curious how that compares

with children learning.

I'm also interested in related resources. I've organized my students into

20 teams of 4 or 5 students each. We're collecting quantities (amounts

and units) for a Math Encyclopedia. Each team is working on a dimension

like price, speed, distance, mass.

http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?MathEncyclopedia

My hope is that we'll have 1,000 or 2,000 facts in a few weeks and then

can build from there.

My work and Minciu Sodas's work is in the Public Domain and it would be

great if that might always be an option, if not the default, in your

mission. I wish for a culture centered on ethics rather than law.

Please also know that you can participate at the COMMUNIA meetings in

Europe through our lab. We're a member and we have travel money for our

participants, including from the US. The next meetings are Jan 23 in

Zurich, March in London and June in Turin, Italy. COMMUNIA is, I think,

in need of such projects.

I should learn this week if I'm teaching here next semester.

Edward, Congratulations on your progress! Please keep us posted!

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [http://www.ms.lt Minciu Sodas] is an online laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers.
+Andrius Kulikauskas is founder and Direktorius.  He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and (as of December 2008) is teaching algebra at [http://www.aubih.ba American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina].
+Edward Cherlin leads the [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthtreasury Earth Treasury] working group at Minciu Sodas.
+[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthtreasury/message/161 Andrius's letter to Edward, December 16, 2008]
+Edward,
+Yes! Please add my interest, and that of our Minciu Sodas laboratory
+http://www.ms.lt, to participate in your textbook project. I would gladly
+work for you or others to write open source textbooks in math, philosophy,
+fighting peacefully or other subjects. I alert others at our lab who
+might like to write textbooks.
+This semester I've been teaching algebra from my own notes:
+http://www.worknets.org/upload/AndriusKulikauskas/precalculus.pdf
+which are for teaching math based on the deep ideas behind it. I would
+like to write a short book based on that approach. I am thinking to call
+it "Classic Math Problems". Each problem would illustrate a particular
+idea. I would supplement the text with video and additional materials,
+exercises.
+So, for example, I tell my students that algebra is the study of "thinking
+in steps". And here is a problem that teaches that. Suppose you usually
+buy pants in the marketplace because the department store charges
+one-third more. But the store is now having a sale, and everything is
+one-third off. Where should you buy the pants?
+Quite a few people - and sophisticated people - might say that the price
+is now the same, for it is one-third off of one-third more. But if you
+think through it step by step, then you will see given x, that one-third
+more is 4/3 x, and 2/3 of 4/3 x is 8/9 x. So it will be cheaper at the
+store with the sale. For the question is "one-third of what?" This one
+problem is a good, self-contained point to communicate this idea. It is a
+sophisticated problem, but one that you can master. There are many
+variants, such as a stock price that goes up 1/3 and down 1/4, or a tax
+and a rebate. And if you learn 20 or 30 or 50 problems like that, then
+you know all of algebra, or certainly the fundamentals.
+Working together I'm sure we'd discover ways to support all manner of
+self-teaching approaches and preferences. Myself, I'd like to focus on
+self-learning adults (like at our lab) and I'm curious how that compares
+with children learning.
+I'm also interested in related resources. I've organized my students into
+teams of 4 or 5 students each. We're collecting quantities (amounts
+and units) for a Math Encyclopedia. Each team is working on a dimension
+like price, speed, distance, mass.
+http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?MathEncyclopedia
+My hope is that we'll have 1,000 or 2,000 facts in a few weeks and then
+can build from there.
+My work and Minciu Sodas's work is in the Public Domain and it would be
+great if that might always be an option, if not the default, in your
+mission. I wish for a culture centered on ethics rather than law.
+Please also know that you can participate at the COMMUNIA meetings in
+Europe through our lab. We're a member and we have travel money for our
+participants, including from the US. The next meetings are Jan 23 in
+Zurich, March in London and June in Turin, Italy. COMMUNIA is, I think,
+in need of such projects.
+I should learn this week if I'm teaching here next semester.
+Edward, Congratulations on your progress! Please keep us posted!