Undergraduate Mathematics for the Life Sciences
Undergraduate Mathematics for the Life Sciences

Author: Glenn Ledder

Publisher: MAA

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0883851911

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There is a gap between the extensive mathematics background that is beneficial to biologists and the minimal mathematics background biology students acquire in their courses. The result is an undergraduate education in biology with very little quantitative content. New mathematics courses must be devised with the needs of biology students in mind. In this volume, authors from a variety of institutions address some of the problems involved in reforming mathematics curricula for biology students. The problems are sorted into three themes: Models, Processes, and Directions. It is difficult for mathematicians to generate curriculum ideas for the training of biologists so a number of the curriculum models that have been introduced at various institutions comprise the Models section. Processes deals with taking that great course and making sure it is institutionalized in both the biology department (as a requirement) and in the mathematics department (as a course that will live on even if the creator of the course is no longer on the faculty). Directions looks to the future, with each paper laying out a case for pedagogical developments that the authors would like to see.

Loving and Hating Mathematics
Loving and Hating Mathematics

Author: Reuben Hersh

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-12-13

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 1400836115

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An exploration of the hidden human, emotional, and social dimensions of mathematics Mathematics is often thought of as the coldest expression of pure reason. But few subjects provoke hotter emotions—and inspire more love and hatred—than mathematics. And although math is frequently idealized as floating above the messiness of human life, its story is nothing if not human; often, it is all too human. Loving and Hating Mathematics is about the hidden human, emotional, and social forces that shape mathematics and affect the experiences of students and mathematicians. Written in a lively, accessible style, and filled with gripping stories and anecdotes, Loving and Hating Mathematics brings home the intense pleasures and pains of mathematical life. These stories challenge many myths, including the notions that mathematics is a solitary pursuit and a "young man's game," the belief that mathematicians are emotionally different from other people, and even the idea that to be a great mathematician it helps to be a little bit crazy. Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner tell stories of lives in math from their very beginnings through old age, including accounts of teaching and mentoring, friendships and rivalries, love affairs and marriages, and the experiences of women and minorities in a field that has traditionally been unfriendly to both. Included here are also stories of people for whom mathematics has been an immense solace during times of crisis, war, and even imprisonment—as well as of those rare individuals driven to insanity and even murder by an obsession with math. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand why the most rational of human endeavors is at the same time one of the most emotional.