Whose Math Is It Anyway?
Michael Paul Goldenberg
Ann Arbor, MI
How a math-avoiding English major Goddard College hippie came to
love and teach mathematics in spite of himself.
What Math Looks Like To Most of Us
(thanks, Ben Orlin of MATH WITH BAD DRAWINGS)
Math and I part company (1964-66)
Almost a reconnection. . .
If only he’d shown me:
Part 2: Random Acts of Mathness
• Summer of ‘72: Eric Weitzner
William R. Robinson, c. 1974-76
• “Movies are the art form of the 20th century. And if you want to
understand the movies, you need to understand light. And that
means understanding modern physics.”
• Oops: no trig, no calculus, no differential equations. Uh, oh!
Thank You, Ernö Rubik
and Douglas Hofstadter (1981)
Can you help me with my trig homework?
(1984)
• What do you mean you never heard of SOHCAHTOA?
Back to School 1985 - 1998
That Weitzner Moment: 1992
• Graph isomorphism
This is math!
This is math!
This is math!
This is math!
• Vi Hart Thanksgiving Math